Human Doll Cloning: 3D Printing a Mini You Costs $1,300

There's plenty of reason to be wary of 3D printing technology -- what with the arrival of 3D printed gummy avatars, fetuses, and most terrifyingly guns. But a Japanese start-up is giving the whole world an entirely new reason to shudder. Human. Doll. Cloning. See Also: We're Doomed: Robot Therapists...

By Katie Johnson

May 24, 2013

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There's plenty of reason to be wary of 3D printing technology -- what with the arrival of 3D printed gummy avatars, fetuses, and most terrifyingly guns. But a Japanese start-up is giving the whole world an entirely new reason to shudder.

Human. Doll. Cloning.

The company is called Clone Factory and it specializes in 3D printing faces onto dolls. For $1,300, customers can have their image (or their beloved's, or their pet's) printed onto a toy replica.

The approach is fairly simple. Clone Factory uses a panoramic display of digital SLR cameras to capture the many angled images of the subject. Those images are used to created a digital map of the entire head and then printed into plaster using a 3D printer.

The result is a doll that shares an uncanny, unnerving likeness to its owner. Clone Factory says one of the biggest motivation factors behind offering the service was so that couples (mostly brides) could commemorate their special day down to the last detail - hair, make up, accessories -- essentially a Mini You Barbie.

Because dolls weren't creepy enough.

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Katie Johnson

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