Actuators are complex devices that mechanically control robotic systems in response to electrical signals received. Depending on the specific application they’re used for, today’s robotic actuators have to be optimized for a variety of features, such as appearance, efficiency, flexibility, power consumption, and weight, and all of those parameters have to be manually calculated by researchers to find the right design; add 3D printing with multiple materials to make one product and things get even more complicated. This obviously leaves a lot of room open for human error.

But, a team of researchers from MIT – which knows a thing or two about 3D printing actuators – developed an automated system that can design and 3D print actuators that are optimized to many specifications. Basically, this system is completing a task that’s too complex for researchers to do the old school way.

“Our ultimate goal is to automatically find an optimal design for any problem, and then use the output of our optimized design to fabricate it. We go from selecting the printing materials, to finding the optimal design, to fabricating the final product in almost a completely automated way,” stated Subramanian Sundaram PhD ’18, a former graduate student in MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL).

Overview of the specification-driven 3D printing process. The structure of individual actuators (or the arrangement of multiple actuators) is optimized using a multiobjective topology optimization process. The optimization uses the bulk physical properties of the individual materials and the functional objectives as inputs. The generated optimized voxel-based representation of the structure is used by the printer to fabricate the optimized structure using a drop-on-demand inkjet printing process. A rigid acrylate polymer (RIG), an elastic acrylate polymer (ELA), and a magnetic nanoparticle (Fe3O4)/ polymer composite (MPC) are the materials used. The contrast in the optical, mechanical, and magnetic properties is used to simultaneously optimize the visual appearance and actuating forces while generating voxel-level design.

Sundaram is the first author of a paper, titled “Topology optimization and 3D printing of multimaterial magnetic actuators and displays,” that was published in Science Advances; additional authors are former MIT postdoc Melina Skouras; David S. Kim, a former researcher in the Computational Fabrication Group; Louise van den Heuvel ’14, SM ’16; and Wojciech Matusik, head of the Computational Fabrication Group and an MIT associate professor in electrical engineering and computer science.

To show how their system works, the researchers used it to make actuators that show two black-and-white images at different angles. When it’s flat, one actuator shows  a Vincent van Gogh portrait, but tilted at an angle once it’s been activated, the image shifts to Edvard Munch’s famous painting “The Scream.” Another example they created are 3D printed floating water lilies, which feature petals that have actuator arrays and hinges that fold in response to magnetic fields that are run through conductive fluids.

When multiple materials are used to 3D print one product, the design’s dimensionality gets pretty high.

Sundaram explained, “What you’re left with is what’s called a ‘combinatorial explosion,’ where you essentially have so many combinations of materials and properties that you don’t have a chance to evaluate every combination to create an optimal structure.”

Three polymer materials were customized with the specific properties of color, magnetization, and rigidity that were needed to build the actuators, producing an opaque flexible material used as a hinge, a brown nanoparticle material that responds to a magnetic signal, and an almost transparent rigid material. Then, the characterization data is added into a property library, and the system draws from this to assign various materials to fill different voxels. Grayscale images, like the flat actuator which displays van Gogh’s portrait until it’s tilted into “The Scream,” are used as system input.

Panel optimization for both optical and mechanical properties, given a pair of target grayscale images.

Then, through a sort of trial and error process, 5.5 million voxels are “iteratively reconfigured” in a simulation to match a specific image and “meet a measured angle.” If the arrangement of voxels doesn’t portray the target images, both at an angle and straight on, an error signal tells the system which voxels are correct and which need to be changed. For example, if the brown magnetic voxels are shifted, removed, or added, the actuator’s angle will change when a magnetic field is applied, but how this alignment will affect the target image must also be taken into consideration.

A computer graphics technique called “ray-tracing,” which simulates the path of light interacting with objects, was used to compute the appearances of the actuators at each iteration. These simulated beams shine through the actuator at each voxel column, which can contain over 100 voxels. If an actuator is flat, the beam produces a dark tone by shining down on a column with lots of brown voxels. But when it’s tilted, misaligned voxels will be illuminated, and clear voxels may shift into the beam, while brown ones move away, so a lighter tone appears.

“We’re comparing what that [voxel column] looks like when it’s flat or when it’s titled, to match the target images. If not, you can swap, say, a clear voxel with a brown one. If that’s an improvement, we keep this new suggestion and make other changes over and over again,” explained Sundaram.

The MIT system uses ray-tracing to align both light and dark voxel columns in the appropriate spots for the flat and angled images. Eventually, after a few to dozens of hours and 100 million iterations, the correct placement of each material in each voxel is found to generate two images at two angles.

A custom 3D printer with drop-on-demand inkjet technology is used to make the actuator. Tubs of the different materials are connected to print heads with individually controlled nozzles, and the designated material is dropped, layer by layer, into each of the voxels.

According to Sundaram says their work could be a step in the right direction for designing large structures like airplane wings. Actuators that have been optimized for appearance and function could also be used for biomimicry in robotics.

Sundaram  said, “You can imagine underwater robots having whole arrays of actuators coating the surface of their skins, which can be optimized for drag and turning efficiently, and so on.”

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French startup XtreeE, continues to be a presence in the construction industry with the introduction of 3D printing on the large scale, and now a new production unit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The opening of this second site comes on the heels of the XtreeE plant in Paris—as the dynamic company forges ahead in their mission to create a worldwide network of over 50 connected 3D printing units by 2025. Local partner Concreative will be in charge of operations at the Dubai facility while using XtreeE technology.

Founded in 2015, XtreeE was borne from a collaborative research project at the Paris-Malaquais School of Architecture and the engineering school Arts et Métiers ParisTech—and their technology is now protected by an impressive ten international patents—offering architects the tools to fabricate complex geometries.

With over 20 projects behind them, XtreeE caters to clients and partners in terms of:

• Architectural elements (walls, columns, façade panels)
• Infrastructure (water and heating networks, telecommunication tower, reefs)
• Interior and exterior furniture (benches, chairs, desks, vases)

“XtreeE’s ambition is, above all, environmental. Through these innovations, it is possible to build better and design new products meeting the major challenges of today and tomorrow. While 3D printing makes it possible to reduce both the costs and the overall impact of construction processes, it also makes it possible to manufacture rather unexpected objects, to restore biodiversity,” says Alban Mallet, CEO of XtreeE.

XtreeE projects include:

• Villaprint (to begin in 2020) —in collaboration with Plurial Novilia (Action Logement group), Coste Architectures firm, and the Vicat cement group, they are constructing five ‘social houses’ near Reims, manufactured with both 3D concrete printing and offsite construction. The XtreeE team points out in their recent press release that this type of manufacturing project is a first in France and offers not only greater latitude in design for the architects, but also other benefits of 3D printing such as less use of materials and optimization in production. They predict up to a 70 percent reduction in the amount of concrete used, along with substantially fewer production delays, and greater affordability overall.
• XReef – In a massive, continued, engineering project involving large-scale 3D printing, XtreeE teamed up with Seaboost (Egis Group) and Vicat to produce ‘a new generation of reefs,’ submerged in May, and meant to provide habitats for fish, coral, and algae.
• St@tion4D – working with construction firm Razel-Bec, the pre-caster Saint-Léonard Group, and the architectural firm Aconcept, XtreeE created a customized, portable bench that is being tested as part of the Grand Paris metro project.

Villaprint project prototype

XtreeE is involved in increasing productivity in the construction sector, encouraging social progress, and saving resources.

“Concrete is the most consumed material after water. With structurally optimized parts, by positioning the right concrete in the right place, 3D printing offers the possibility to reduce concrete consumption in construction by up to 70 percent,” states the XtreeE team in their recent press release sent to 3DPrint.com. “The production of cement, the main component of concrete, generates 8 percent of global CO2 emissions.”

“The removal of formwork also reduces construction waste. Today, XtreeE is active on several fronts, from housing projects to infrastructure. Much remains to be done to transform the construction sector that must meet the requirements of productivity, social progress and save resources.”

After two funding rounds and capital infused via other investors, XtreeE has been able to create a strong business model for the future. In 2020, they plan to roll out their ‘XtreeE Printing as a Service’ digital platform, meant to offer interconnectivity between customers and architects, designers, and engineers—and 3D printers.

XtreeE is currently in discussions to open two other facilities in Asia.

3D printing is not only becoming more widely used in construction, as more and more houses and small structures begin to emerge, but also in materials such as concrete. What do you think of this news? Let us know your thoughts! Join the discussion of this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com.

XReef production

St@tion4D

[Source / Images: XtreeE press release]

Lamarre and Bernier

Last year, we learned that Jean-Michel Lamarre and Fabrice Bernier of the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada had created a new process for fabricating electric motor magnets called cold spray additive manufacturing, or CSAM. The technology involves a metal material, in fine powder form, being accelerated in a high-velocity compressed gas jet. A stream of powder hits the substrate at high speed and starts building up a layer at a time, and the process has extremely high buildup rates, which makes it possible to produce several kilograms of magnets an hour.

As metal 3D printing continues to be used in more sectors of the economy in Canada, it seems that more industrial-scale demonstrations are required so that interested parties can see its potential. So now, NRC Canada and Quebec-based Polycontrols, which specializes in surface engineering solutions and equipment integration, are partnering up to improve the accessibility of CSAM for the country’s manufacturers.

The NRC in Boucherville, home of the future the Poly/CSAM facility

Together, the two will be building a collaborative research facility, located at the NRC’s Boucherville site in Quebec, that will work to scale up the CSAM process, as well as help researchers and manufacturers study, adopt, and deploy the technology.

“The National Research Council of Canada acknowledges the value and importance this collaboration can offer the industry and the Canadian advanced manufacturing ecosystem,” said François Cordeau, the Vice President of Transportation and Manufacturing for NRC Canada. “We see great potential in bringing together different stakeholders to enable innovation and to build a network of industrial partners for a stronger Canadian supply and value chain. Our renowned technological expertise and capabilities in additive manufacturing research and development will support Poly/CSAM and contribute to developing demonstration platforms targeted at end user-industries and cluster networks.”

Poly/CSAM facility interior layout design

The Poly/CSAM facility is expected to open in February of 2020, and will help adapt laboratory-developed technology in order to meet factory and mass production requirements. Investissement Québec, the Business Development Bank of Canada, and Bank of Montreal have helped Polycontrols launch the first phase of this strategic growth initiative with an estimated $4 million investment over the six-year venture.

“Polycontrols is eager to leverage its proven track record in thermal and cold spray implementation (aerospace and surface transportation industries) to showcase its capabilities as a large-scale manufacturing integrator offering custom equipment platforms with the objective of bringing disruptive technologies such as hybrid robotic manufacturing, data analytics and machine learning (supported by Artificial Intelligence) to the shop floor,” stated Luc Pouliot, the Vice President of Operations for Polycontrols. “We see Poly/CSAM as a way to strengthen Canada’s industrial leadership in cold spray additive manufacturing and becoming more agile and competitive on the national and international scene.”

The Poly/CSAM facility will offer multiple technologies, including:

• data logging and analytics
• machine learning
• surface prepartion
• sensor technologies
• in-situ robotic machining and surface finishing
• coating and 3D buildup by cold spray
• local, laser-based thermal treatment

Poly/CSAM, a new metal additive manufacturing facility to open in February 2020

In addition, to ensure that the technology will be used safely and securely out in the world, NRC Canada will provide advice, training, and technical services to manufacturers through its professional team of over 40 experts.

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Because continuous carbon fiber reinforced polymer composite materials have such high strength, stiffness, and fatigue resistance, in addition to noise suppression and impact energy absorption qualities, a lot of people are naturally interested in them for multiple applications. But, researchers need to look into ways to address related challenges, such as cost-effective processes to manufacture these materials.

U. Morales, A. Esnaola, M. Iragi, L. Aretxabaleta, and J. Aurrekoetxea with Mondragon Unibertsitatea published a paper, titled “Over-3D printing of continuous carbon fibre composites on organo-sheet substrates,” that looks at combining FFF 3D printing of continuous fiber reinforced composites with organo-sheet thermoplastic composites.

The abstract reads, “Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF), or 3D printing, of continuous fibre reinforced composites allows getting advanced materials (steered-fibres, dispersed stacking sequence laminates or functionally graded composites), as well as complex geometries (cellular structures or metamaterials). However, FFF presents several drawbacks, especially when large-projected area or high-fibre content composite parts are required. On the other side, stamp forming of organo-sheet thermoplastic composites is a cost-effective technology, but with severe geometric limitations. Combining both technologies, by over-3D printing on the organo-sheet, can be a promising approach to add the best of each of them. The effect of the organo-sheet temperature on the shear strength of the bonding interface is studied. The results show that strong bonding interface can be achieved when the correct substrate temperature is chosen. In fact, it is largely improved if the interface temperature is higher than the melting temperature of the substrate layer.”

Figure 1. Set up of the over-3D printing.

While stamp forming organo-sheet thermoplastic composites is a cost-effective method, it can’t produce complex geometries on its own, meaning that it requires assembling operations and parts to do so. You can combine stamp forming with over-injection molding, but then the final part’s mechanical properties will be limited. FFF 3D printing can achieve complex geometries and support advanced materials, but it isn’t perfect. So combining over-3D printing on the organo-sheet can offer the best of both worlds.

The team’s manufacturing process is three-fold:

1. The flat organo-sheet is placed on the 3D printer bed and the complex features are over-printed
2. The over-printed organo-sheet is picked up and fed to the infrared heating station
3. The final shape is achieved by stamp forming once the optimum processing temperature is reached

“Establishing strong bonded interfaces between organo-sheet substrate and over-3D printed polymers is essential to the success of the proposed approach, and it is the motivation of this research, where the main objective is to establish the effects of the organo-sheet temperature on the shear strength of the bonding interface,” the researchers explained.

Figure 2. Geometry of the over-3D printed single lap test specimen (all dimensions in mm)

A standard polyamide 6 (PA6) was used for the infill material, while the printed composite material was a continuous carbon fiber reinforced polyamide 6 (CF-PA6); both came from Markforged. The company’s desktop Mark Two 3D printer was used to fabricate the over-3D printed specimen, the geometry of which consisted of a 2 x 30 x 90 mm3 organo-sheet substrate and a 4 x 15 x 45 mm3 prismatic over-3D printed part.

“To prevent delamination stress in the overprinted zone and assure a pure shear loading at the bonding interface, 2 mm of height tap has designed and glued to the specimen end. Therefore, it has been assumed that the first failure mode of the single lap specimen will occurred due to shearing at the bonding interface and that the tensile failure load of substrate is 10 time higher,” the researchers explained.

“An over-3D printed part has been manufactured layer by layer according to the printer parameter shown in the Table 3. The printed part is assembled by a stacking a sequence of 32 layers: the first 16 PA6 layers are placed to fill the gap of organo-sheet thickness (2 mm), the next two PA6 layers define an interface of 0.25 mm (flexible bed) and the last 14 CF-PA6 layers are devoted to withstand the test load. Therefore, printed carbon fibres are aligned with the loading direction (0º) and extrusion path of PA6 layers are driven in 0/90º direction.”

The team carried out quasi-static shear tests, studied failure modes by using an optical microscopy to analyze the over-printed fracture zones, and conducted differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) on the samples, which weighed between 5.5 and 6 mg.

After all of the experiments had been completed, the researchers felt that their work fully demonstrated a feasible new process that combined stamp forming of carbon fiber reinforced PA12 organo-sheet and over-3D printing of continuous carbon fiber reinforced PA6.

Figure 4. Interface pictures of three different over-3D printed samples; a) original over-3D printed interface, b) fracture surface of the sample with Ti 157.5 ºC and c) fracture surface of the sample with Ti 177.5 ºC.

“The substrate temperature, the only parameter that can be modified in the printer, is critical to get a strong bonding. Increasing the temperature increases the shear strength, and once the interface temperature exceeds the melting peak temperature of the substrate, the shear strength does not increase anymore. Therefore, it can be concluded that an optimum temperature can be found for balancing mechanical performances and cost-effectiveness of the process,” the researchers wrote. “Anyway, another processing parameter (printing temperature or pressure) or surface treatments (texturing or adding hot-melt) must be explored to improve even more the adhesion between the substrate and the over-3D printed features.”

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We’ve got a new partnership to tell you about in today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, followed by a software update and some news about 3D printing in the hospital. FIT AG and Mitsui & Co. Machine Tech Ltd are partnering in Japan. Volume Graphics has released Version 3.3 of its CT software solution. Lastly, Rady Children’s Hospital is bringing the technology in-house with a new 3D printing lab.

FIT AG and Mitsui & Co. Machine Tech Ltd. Announce Partnership

Back, L-R: Alexander Bonke, CEO, FIT Production GmbH; Carl Fruth, CEO, FIT AG; Albert Klein, CFO/CSO, FIT AG)
Front, L-R: Shigeo Watanabe, General Manager, Business Planning Division, Corporate Planning & Strategy Unit, Mitsui & Co. Machine Tech Ltd.; Yasushi Murata, Director Project Management, Japan FIT AG, Takahiro Sueki, Business Planning Division, Corporate Planning & Strategy Unit, Mitsui & Co. Machine Tech Ltd.

German company FIT Additive Manufacturing Group (FIT AG) and Mitsui & Co. Machine Tech Ltd have announced that they will be partnering up to give Japanese manufacturing companies access to proven 3D printing solutions. Mitsui Machine Tech, which is a subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Mitsui & Co., Ltd. will propose that its Japanese customers use FIT’s engineering, manufacturing, and project management services in cooperation with subsidiaries FIT Production GmbH and FIT Japan K.K. In addition, it will offer FIT’s 3D printing solutions to customers in Japan who are looking to invest in their own AM capacity.

“The cooperation of Mitsui Machine Tech and FIT offers Japanese customers the combination of trust and expertise. This is essential during the introduction of new technologies,” stated Carl Fruth, the CEO of FIT AG. ” We have developed a well-defined set of services in the additive design and manufacturing of final products and volume parts, and now Mitsui Machine Tech and FIT offer this to the Japanese market. Our cooperation with Mitsui Machine Tech fills us with pride and joy. We have high expectations as to the results.”

The news about the partnership was announced at the recent German-Japanese Additive Manufacturing Forum.

Volume Graphics Releases Updated Version of Software

Multi-material surface determination

Volume Graphics GmbH has over two decades of experience in developing and providing software for non-destructive testing based on industrial computed tomography (CT). Now, the company has released the latest generation of its advanced CT data analysis software. Version 3.3 of its VGSTUDIO, VGSTUDIO MAX, VGMETROLOGY, and VGinLINE include multiple updates, such as multi-material surface determination and volume meshing for simulations, and Volume Graphics has also announced the addition of a Technical Consulting unit that will provide customers with professional consulting and evaluation services.

Christof Reinhart, the CEO and Co-Founder of Volume Graphics, said, “With version 3.3 of our software solutions, we are once again laying the foundation for customers to make their processes smarter.

“For example, using the new data export, metrology data derived with the tremendous measurement capabilities of our software can be seamlessly shared with QA systems, where the values can then be combined and checked over time. More than ever before, this new feature enables customers to better integrate leading-edge CT technology into their existing software landscape. The new export feature is based on the native support of the widely used Q-DAS format, which makes using results in third-party statistical or analysis software especially easy.”

Rady Children’s Hospital Opening 3D Innovations Lab

In May 2015, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that there are nearly 8.6 million STEM—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—jobs. This number represents 6.2 percent of US employment, with computer occupations making up nearly 45 percent of STEM employment, and engineers an additional 19 percent. But some STEM positions were among the smallest occupations in the country, including mathematical technicians, with only 820 jobs; astronomers and mathematical science occupations, each with less than 2,000 employed in the entire country. School is a decisive time to expose students to careers in STEM, which experts consider will be the most sought after professions in the future. Ninety-three out of 100 STEM occupations had wages above the US national average and nearly double the national average wage for non-STEM occupations ($45,700).

If anything, all this data tells us that students should be preparing for tomorrow today, and 3D printing can help on the way, something bioprinting company Allevi understands. It is one of the big players trying to break the boundaries of bioengineering, leading the way with their easy-to-use and cost-efficient bioprinters, software and, since last year, Allevi has been looking into revolutionizing the education experience via their Allevi Academy, a partnership with educators across the United States to prepare today’s students for the regenerative medicine challenges of the future.

Elementary school children interact with bioprinting technology in the classroom with the Allevi Academy

Allevi calls it “cutting edge biotechnology for tomorrow’s leaders”. Their curriculum is made up of four courses that empower teachers to educate students on the principles and foundations of 3D bioprinting and tissue engineering. Each course includes a lesson plan with teacher notes and answers along with student labs and activities, as well as bioinks and consumables needed to run experiments for the entire class. The focus of the Allevi Education Curriculum is to enhance and develop talent for the future of regenerative medicine, which is where the industry is going. The main goals include providing students with a hands-on interactive experience to go from a design to a prototype; adaptability so that they can apply the skills and resources, and ways to address real-world applications and techniques used in research.

An increased interest in bioprinting has pushed companies like Allevi to enhance their 3D printing systems and develop new tools researchers can use. Their desktop bioprinters, bioinks and software serve the academic community in universities and health centers such as the Brigham and Women’s Hospital of Boston, the University of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University and many more.

“There has been tremendous growth in STEM programs at a K-12 level and a steady rise in Biomedical Engineering jobs as increasing numbers of technologies and applications to medical equipment devices continue to come to market. We created our Allevi curriculum to expose students to biomedical engineering lab procedures at a younger age, provide a hands on interactive experience with 3D bioprinting and help prepare them for real world applications and techniques used in biomedical research. We are constantly inspired by our community of users and are excited to see what tomorrow’s leaders accomplish on our 3D bioprinters,” said Ricky Solorzano, founder and CEO of Allevi, to 3DPrint.com.

Ricky Solorzano CEO of Allevi

Biomedical engineering is one of the fastest-growing jobs in the United States, with a projected increase of 61.7 percent by 2020. So the big question here is whether people will be skilled and readily-available to apply to this type of jobs in the next few years. According to Allevi, people aren’t suited with the skills required of STEM jobs because STEM education isn’t an opportunity for many, nor is it something being ingrained or even presented early enough – or often enough – in a child’s life. 

A CaSE report shows that diversity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is much needed, but by all measures, progress is too slow. There is an estimated annual shortfall in domestic supply of around 40,000 new STEM skilled workers in the UK alone.

Another recent Pew Research Center survey reveals that about half of adults (52%) say the main reason young people don’t pursue STEM degrees is they think these subjects are too hard. And only a third of workers (33%) ages 25 and older with at least a bachelor’s degree have an undergraduate degree in a STEM field. Which is why the report suggests that the best way to attract more people to STEM is by providing quality schooling and an early start to encourage them into the field with repeated support over time. This means introducing these fields early on, in elementary and middle school, and creating an atmosphere where STEM clubs and activities are relevant to children’s after school activities. The importance of incorporating this knowledge has shown to be quite relevant, another study revealed that informal learning environments increase students’ interest in STEM as well as the chances a student will pursue a career in the field.

Teaching biotechnology to children is the focus of the Allevi Academy

When announcing the academy back in December, Allevi bioengineer Lauren McLeod explained that “we’re always looking to the future, how to prepare for future challenges, how to revolutionize and improve on current research and methodologies.”

“We took some time to think about the education experiences that got us to where we are today. Most of us conjured up memories of an impressionable teacher, exciting project, or even an awesome field trip that sparked an excitement for learning and science. We thought to ourselves, ‘Why not have bioprinting be the seed of students’ excitement and learning for the field of bioengineering?’.”

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The Allevi Education Curriculum seems thorough, with a content outline that goes from the creative process of generating, developing, and communicating new ideas, to the design (using CAD and G-Code), material preparation (usually done by the teachers), printing and post-print crosslinking, analysis of printed material testing, and real-world applications. The proposed general structure for all kits involves characterizing the material’s structure, properties, and printability; as well as designing a prototype. In order to be able to help each student in every stage of the bioprinting learning process, Allevi has three difficulty levels, from beginner (with a lot of guidance on engineering, drawing and student replication) to moderate, and finally the advanced level, which allows students to choose their own direction/application and create a novel solution.

Students learn skills with easy to use tools in bioengineering, developing valuable skills across multiple disciplines. Using coding, computer-aided design, and 3D fabrication they are able to produce innovative solutions for situations modeled after real-life tissue engineering challenges. The Allevi machines supplied can print a wide range of materials, giving the instructors and students the opportunity to conduct experiments on the platform.

Allevi collaborated with a local high school in Pennsylvania to create the Allevi curriculum and now have several users across the United States. They have also offered seminars for K-12 students to provide hands-on 3D bioprinting experience. As a relatively new product offering, they are looking to expand to other schools and universities throughout the US and hopefully globally.

Seminars for K-12 students

A few months back, Solorzano told 3DPrint.com that everyone who is working at the company is looking to empower research labs so that they can execute their ideas at a price that is cost-effective. Now, they are taking that same approach with young kids and adolescents, getting them motivated to use the printers and do the work in 3D, to understand the forces behind the materials in bioprinting, and prepare to become skillful, creative and avant-guard individuals ready to pursue careers in some of the most challenging and robust environments.

“We had so many high school teachers approach us, interested in teaching bioprinting skills to their students, so we developed a simple curriculum with a walkthrough bioinks and different strategies for bioprinting, like making small blood vessels in a gel,” he said.

Students try bioprinting with the Allevi Academy Curriculum

Solorzano also recalled that “people working in computer sciences used to require a doctoral degree, so in order to do coding or computer engineering, they required a complex degree of knowledge because there was no standardization. But as we get closer to standardizing engineering principles in biology we are going to see more college grads go straight into the workforce. Meaning that it will be a higher paying job with more impact at an earlier standpoint, but to be able to get there, we need the tools to provide that mask of standardization and allow the input of creativity.”

[Images: Allevi]

WASP’s 3D printed Gaia house

Italian 3D printer company WASP, also known as the World’s Advanced Saving Project, stays pretty true to its name – the company always works hard to make sure its technology is helping people find sustainability and meet their basic needs in a world that is constantly changing. Whether it’s eating the right food, having access to medical solutions, or just keeping a roof over someone’s head, WASP is on a mission to help people help themselves through the use of 3D printing.

“The challenge…is to give everyone the chance to make their objects by downloading the project from the network or making their own,” WASP writes in its company manifesto. “In this way a new concept of production is born, which reduces shipping costs and drastically reduces material wastage, thus slowing the increase of waste to be disposed of.

“The Earth’s resources are not enough to support the existing population explosion and to change the growth models is no longer an option but rather an urgent need.”

According to a 2018 GDR study that WASP mentioned, before the year 2025, the global prosthesis and orthosis market is projected to reach $12.28 billion. Four years ago, the multidisciplinary WASP Medical team, or WASP MED, was established to help people meet health needs, like 3D printed casts, cranial and bone implants, and prosthetic legs. The main focus was to be on prosthetics, but the bioengineers, doctors, material manufacturers, and orthopedic experts on the team knew that it wasn’t enough to simply create medical 3D printers and materials – they also had to make sure that the professionals who would be using them knew what to do.

That’s why WASP MED has announced the launch of a free add-on for open source software Blender, version 2.8, specifically for the modeling of orthoses with 3D scans. WASP has been researching and working on this add-on for over a year, and is happy to finally report its release.

The idea behind the WASP Med Blender Add-on was to “fill the gap” between available open source hardware, which is powerful and less expensive but not developed specifically for medical applications, and professional software, which is rigid and costly, to create an open source modeling tool that can be used by medical professionals to develop 3D orthopedic prints.

Alessandro Zomparelli, a computational designer and professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna, has experience modeling objects based on the human body, and helped WASP develop the add-on. WASP said that his previous work was “key to create a powerful tool that allows professionals to easily draw complex shapes on 3D scans.”

Blender, which can be downloaded for free all around the world, has grown to be one of the best 3D modeling products for animation purposes, but obviously has branched out into other applications as well. The new add-on contains step-by-step commands on how to model a shape, like an orthotic, on a 3D scan; then, the final shape can be 3D printed. It offers freedom of intervention with all the native Blender tools, but also features some new tools, such as:

• cropping undesired parts
• drawing the shape of orthoses
• exporting the mesh for 3D printing
• fixing the scan
• making modifications and corrections
• managing thicknesses and borders

Hopefully, the free add-on will make it easier to provide access to 3D printed medical devices that are too expensive for some people, or where access to treatment is not readily available. WASP believes that its new Blender add-on is a step in the right direction to creating a worldwide collaborative community where professionals can easily use open tools to create healthcare solutions.

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[Images: WASP]