Future Advancement: Although many advances have already been made in the 3D printing domain and it also seems to be a very advanced piece of technology, but soon 3D printing will become an obsolete concept and would then get replaced by a relatively new concept that is 4D printing.
Although there is very little that the inventors have achieved in the field of programmable matter and 4D printing, a lot of research & innovation is getting carried out. One of the patent documents, US 20150158244 A1, explains the concept of 4D printing in a thorough manner.