ASDA 3D printer builds mini versions of you

If you have ever desperately wanted a mini version of yourself, you are in luck because Asda is selling 3D-printed figurines. The supermarket is holding a trial of the service at their York store in northern England. Having your whole body scanned takes between two-three minutes, with a small handheld machine recording images at a speed of roughly 15 frames a second. After the scan, the image is processed by a computer and then sent to be printed with coloured ceramic fluid, with each eight-inch figure taking around eight hours to produce, although the printer can create several at once. Scanning slots were fully booked on the first trial days, with some customers travelling miles to get one. Asdas parent company Walmart will be watching to see how the trial works out in the UK. But shoppers hoping for an unusual Christmas gift might be disappointed, as Asda will not roll out the service until 2014, if the trial is a success