Inside 3 d printing 2015

Editor's Notes

• #2: But here’s a note. In the many meetings at 3D Systems about resolution and such, I was the obne with the eyes glazed over. Because the evolution of the technical aspects are exciting and vital, and often open entirely new doors for innovation, the real excitement comes from when that technology connects back to human need. And this is the role of human creativity more than tool. It’s the person who can see the that application of the tool that nobody else can envision that can change the world with it. That’s why I’m a fan of the small startup team with ideas. What’s so exciting about 3d printing is that it’s now a standard tool for that person or small team with a crazy idea. It’s about the doctor, artist or researcher who has a new concept worth pursuing, rapidly, and on a low budget. That’s when the tool connects through to people and innovation really happens.
• #3: When we shift focus from the gee-whiz value of this new technology to instead the opportunities that now avail themselves, the really exciting stuff starts to take shape. It’s not about 3D printing anymore. It’s about what it can do, how it can improve lives, how it can rethink traditional approaches and change the world. That’s when it gets exciting. I had the privilege to work at 3D systems until two months ago, when I decided it was time once again to go independent. But while there, I ran an amazing team, and we landed a long series of exciting projects. I’ll share a few of them with you. When we can treat data not as ephemeral digits, but instead as a physical form, something far greater may be gained from it. For example, my team at 3D Systems was sent a few seconds of sound, and told that it was very important to print it. This was odd. Sound. Print. Two dissimilar things. One auditory and ephemeral, the other tactile and permanent.
• #4: When we shift focus from the gee-whiz value of this new technology to instead the opportunities that now avail themselves, the really exciting stuff starts to take shape. It’s not about 3D printing anymore. It’s about what it can do, how it can improve lives, how it can rethink traditional approaches and change the world. That’s when it gets exciting. I had the privilege to work at 3D systems until two months ago, when I decided it was time once again to go independent. But while there, I ran an amazing team, and we landed a long series of exciting projects. I’ll share a few of them with you. When we can treat data not as ephemeral digits, but instead as a physical form, something far greater may be gained from it. For example, my team at 3D Systems was sent a few seconds of sound, and told that it was very important to print it. This was odd. Sound. Print. Two dissimilar things. One auditory and ephemeral, the other tactile and permanent.
• #5: When we shift focus from the gee-whiz value of this new technology to instead the opportunities that now avail themselves, the really exciting stuff starts to take shape. It’s not about 3D printing anymore. It’s about what it can do, how it can improve lives, how it can rethink traditional approaches and change the world. That’s when it gets exciting. I had the privilege to work at 3D systems until two months ago, when I decided it was time once again to go independent. But while there, I ran an amazing team, and we landed a long series of exciting projects. I’ll share a few of them with you.
• #6: When we shift focus from the gee-whiz value of this new technology to instead the opportunities that now avail themselves, the really exciting stuff starts to take shape. It’s not about 3D printing anymore. It’s about what it can do, how it can improve lives, how it can rethink traditional approaches and change the world. That’s when it gets exciting. I had the privilege to work at 3D systems until two months ago, when I decided it was time once again to go independent. But while there, I ran an amazing team, and we landed a long series of exciting projects. I’ll share a few of them with you. When we can treat data not as ephemeral digits, but instead as a physical form, something far greater may be gained from it. For example, my team at 3D Systems was sent a few seconds of sound, and told that it was very important to print it. This was odd. Sound. Print. Two dissimilar things. One auditory and ephemeral, the other tactile and permanent.
• #7: When we shift focus from the gee-whiz value of this new technology to instead the opportunities that now avail themselves, the really exciting stuff starts to take shape. It’s not about 3D printing anymore. It’s about what it can do, how it can improve lives, how it can rethink traditional approaches and change the world. That’s when it gets exciting. I had the privilege to work at 3D systems until two months ago, when I decided it was time once again to go independent. But while there, I ran an amazing team, and we landed a long series of exciting projects. I’ll share a few of them with you. When we can treat data not as ephemeral digits, but instead as a physical form, something far greater may be gained from it. For example, my team at 3D Systems was sent a few seconds of sound, and told that it was very important to print it. This was odd. Sound. Print. Two dissimilar things. One auditory and ephemeral, the other tactile and permanent.
• #8: When we shift focus from the gee-whiz value of this new technology to instead the opportunities that now avail themselves, the really exciting stuff starts to take shape. It’s not about 3D printing anymore. It’s about what it can do, how it can improve lives, how it can rethink traditional approaches and change the world. That’s when it gets exciting. I had the privilege to work at 3D systems until two months ago, when I decided it was time once again to go independent. But while there, I ran an amazing team, and we landed a long series of exciting projects. I’ll share a few of them with you. When we can treat data not as ephemeral digits, but instead as a physical form, something far greater may be gained from it. For example, my team at 3D Systems was sent a few seconds of sound, and told that it was very important to print it. This was odd. Sound. Print. Two dissimilar things. One auditory and ephemeral, the other tactile and permanent.
• #9: It’s not about 3D printing anymore. It’s about what it can do, how it can improve lives, how it can rethink traditional approaches and change the world. That’s when it gets exciting. I had the privilege to work at 3D systems until two months ago, when I decided it was time once again to go independent. But while there, I ran an amazing team, and we landed a long series of exciting projects. I’ll share a few of them with you.
• #10: When we can treat data not as ephemeral digits, but instead as a physical form, something far greater may be gained from it. For example, my team at 3D Systems was sent a few seconds of sound, and told that it was very important to print it. This was odd. Sound. Print. Two dissimilar things. One auditory and ephemeral, the other tactile and permanent. This is what happens when you parse sound. It’s Nirvana. Frequency over time.
• #11: But our sound came from a dolphin, from a top researcher. They had a new way to capture the sound.
• #12: This came out of it. Frequency over time, as you can see.
• #13: But the third dimension made it interesting. Frequency, apmpltude over time. And this being 2.6 or so seconds, that really did sound like gibberish. And it looked like such, but we then parsed more sounds in different ways. And this is what came of it.
• #16: My story started 7 years ago, when I wanted to explore how 3D printing might improve human quality of life in a variety of medical applications.
• #17: And luckily, a few weeks after we landed our series A funding, this girl came our way. Here’s her story.
• #19: We printed two braces for her, so that one could go in the dishwasher every night, and she’s have a clean, semi-sterile, fresh cast in the morning.
• #20: Not to be outdone, another investor soon after had two daughters fall down the stairs, both breaking tibias.
• #21: This is a hold over from the roman era
• #22: Ok, so that doesn’t exist yet. Baby steps. But I ad the fortunate misfortune of tearing my TFCC ligament a year ago. The first question I had, was What the Hell is a TFC ligament? So we parsed the DICOM data and printed it. See that void by the Pisaform bone? There should be a ligament there. I then knew just what was wrong.
• #23: So we did what anyone else would do. We used our home-brew Bespoke scanner to capture the external morphology of the arm, before the surgery.
• #26: My (Scott Summit) am, scanned and prepared for a cast, pre-operatively.
• #27: The cast design, focusing on minimal coverage with maximum stabilization.
• #29: There was never any doubt that such a thing could be created – the geometry is not all that complex. But the surprise was in how it reconsidered medical solutions that have been around as long as the problems themselves. And it had never been reduced to such a simple, 3-point fixation solution. And the result was a far, far better treatment, with a perfect solution.
• #30: I showered every day. This is unusual post-surgery, but it kept me and the arm clean and comfortable.
• #31: LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE - What we really want is this. We want a device in our bathrooms that looks after us carefully, able to create parts on demand to address our needs. My team designed this to illustrate two concepts : Printing on a non-planar surface Printing with a non-Cartesian gantry.
• #33: Or, thinking yet farther out, what happens when your doctor is ubiquitous, built into your house, constantly monitoring you for change and need. What if the technology around you silently conspired to keep you healthy, solve your needs, and extend your lifespan?
• #34: This is sugar. It’s the size of a grapefruit, full flavor, full color. But it’s not a given that it will always be only sugar that we can print. What happens when…
• #35: This graphic may take some explaining. We combine other household appliances’ abilities to parse our data – biome, DNA, etc – and conspire with our 3D printer to keep us healthy – and proact potential diseases – in ways that we would never foresee, left to our own, unassisted devices.
• #37: Has anyone seen The Martian? And did anyone else wonder just what the Mars habitat was doing without a 3D printer, or was that just me? Do you know what I’m going to bring to Mars should the opportunity arise? Yes, Matt Damon was super bright. But he would have earned more points had they the foresight to pack the right stuff for a faraway journey. Duct tape only goes so far when you have to improvise. How about a tool designed specifically for improve?
• #38: That’s exactly what Made In Space has been focusing on.
• #42: BACK ON EARTH, We also focused on the traditional carpal tunnel (WHO or RSI) brace. People buy these when needed, but rarely wear them enough, since this is miserably uncomfortable.
• #43: We made it discrete, beautiful, user-designed, and lifestyle transparent.
• #44: If it’s easier to wear all day, then people do.
• #47: But the medical world often just doesn’t get it. This is the common treatment for scoliosis. We don’t think of anything wrong with it, since it seems to do the trick. But are we really thinking of the real problem? What’s the problem here – a girl needs to wear the brace willingly in order to be healed. And she doesn’t. And so we accept failure as a part of the treatment. Imagine that – we settle for a percentage of misery and failure as a part of what’s considered standard process. But we can’t blame the doctors completely. Because with the traditional tooling and the way to hand-fabricate materials, this is pretty much as good as it gets. But introduce a new tool, and we can see things in that new light. We can see how, if we can solve this issue any way that we choose, we might solve it in an entirely different manner. We can go back to the heart of the problem and start over, looking now through a new lens. We can see how this is not a medical problem looking entirely for a medical solution. That this is an emotional challenge, that can only be solved with design and fashion working closely with medicine. Suddenly, this becomes a story about fashion, not just about medicine. But the challenge lies in the process for creating a brace that escapes the utilitarian quality resulting from an entirely medical perspective. In other words, change the tools, and you can change the limitations of our thinking.
• #48: A 3D scanner capable of capturing the body is now available for $400. This was a very expensive, time consuming process only a few years back when I was begining.
• #49: We recreated this process by scanning and printing As a result, we found we could offer discretion – this is important, since not every 10 year old wants to broadcast their medical condition to everyone nearby. But it’s also ventilated.
• #51: Note that this has a ‘woven’ hinge down either side of the front. This technique offers a few dividends : Take advantage of isotropic issues Flexibility in loading and nesting Replacement, breaking, cost reduction But it’s also ventilated. And it’s beautiful. This one was created using Uformia Software – a Functional Representational modeler based on the Grasshopper kernel.
• #52: We can make it beautiful, unique
• #54: Note that this has a ‘woven’ hinge down either side of the front. This technique offers a few dividends : Take advantage of isotropic issues Flexibility in loading and nesting Replacement, breaking, cost reduction But it’s also ventilated. And it’s beautiful. This one was created using Uformia Software – a Functional Representational modeler based on the Grasshopper kernel.
• #55: What’s next. We’re hoping for dynamic bracing. What happens if we can not only reach ventilation, but also allow flexion, so that the child is no longer bound rigidly by their brace, but can be a child in it? More importantly, this then becomes resistance training for their core and abdominal muscles, so, in a sense, the brace becomes a workout device as they live.
• #56: But we’ve acclimated to this. We think it’s fine. We don’t see the problem, or the damage it causes, since we’re not looking for it. And without tools that challenge or invite us to think past this, then this becomes all that we’ll ever see of it. I’ve always seen limb loss as a fascinating area. I never set out to 3D print something – I set out to explore this as an art form. Because an interesting transformation had recently taken place. We saw Aimee Mullins show us how a double amputee could be the most beautiful woman in the world. And how amputee Oscar Pistorius could run at Olympic speeds. But the leg itself – could it become something akin to fashion? Can it live up to the beauty of its context with the human body? But the ingredients for transforming this into a thing of beauty took some investigation. It needed : Self Expression Personalization, making it unique Beautiful, unlimited by the design or fabrication tools. And that brought 3D scanning and printing into the story.
• #57: I founded Bespoke on the premise that all prosthetic devices should be like this. They should enhance, not distract. They should beautify, not embarrass. Medical and prosthetic devices are a part of our cultural landscape. Sometimes we see them as such, sometimes not. Design is what makes the difference.
• #58: I founded Bespoke on the simple premise that the body is a thing of sculpture. That it’s more than basic mechanical functionality, but instead a product of form, sensuality, and dynamic symmetry.
• #59: That the body is a subject for exploration and expression, as this Boccioni sculpture shows. That the dynamism, emotion and fluidity is a thing to be celebrated.
• #60: In my mind’s eye, for many years, I had wanted to create a leg that would not only replace the mechanical necessity of the part that was missing, but perhaps enhance, express and interpret the body in a way that had never been considered before. To turn the body in to a canvas, and the leg into a medium for design.
• #71: WHAT’S NEXT?
• #72: A 3D scanner capable of capturing the body is now available for $400. This was a very expensive, time consuming process only a few years back when I was begining.
• #76: 300 × 300 - clker.com
• #79: That one day a product like a prosthetic leg will not only return mechanical functionality to the person, but go beyond that to energize their spirit. When this will be the sports car that some people get to wear. That the same kind of design energy that goes into our motorcycles and cel phones will drive those vital needs of our bodies.
• #86: WHAT’S NEXT?
• #87: These are great, but expensive. At $100K, they don’t find their way to the poorest – and often most impacted – kids in need.
• #88: But along comes this. I had the honor of designing this, while at 3DS a few years back. It’s typical of a consumer 3D printer. But the story doesn’t stop there. This device is now a powerful agent of change, offering opportunity for an improved quality of life for potential tens of thousands of people who would never have seen help on yesterday’s trajectory. This little device. Here’s why.
• #89: These kids are learning how to print. But not just that. They’re learning philanthropy, global-citizenry, kinematics, kinesiology, mechanical engineering, manufacturing, etc.
• #90: Because they’re making one of these hands. For free. For someone they’ll likely never meet. This hand will be created for someone in need, by someone who wants to help. No money will trade hands. No regulations will enter into the story. No medical personel were involved. And it can scale, as simply as a video game. And it can reach places in the world where qualified doctors will never, ever visit. All because of that little machine.
• #95: Currently, one focus is to create a smart phone application, so that anyone with a phone, anywhere in the world, will have all that they need to create a high-quality, articulated, complex mechanical hand. Imagine that – supplement the bottleneck in the world’s supply of health practitioners with a script, and, beyond that, the ability to create something higher quality than most ever would, all for free.
• #96: Currently, one focus is to create a smart phone application, so that anyone with a phone, anywhere in the world, will have all that they need to create a high-quality, articulated, complex mechanical hand. Imagine that – supplement the bottleneck in the world’s supply of health practitioners with a script, and, beyond that, the ability to create something higher quality than most ever would, all for free.
• #103: One day, the wheelchair will be obsolete.
• #104: So when we my CEO – Avi Reichental – and I happened to meet Amanda and Ekso Bionics, there was a natural fit to be explored. We immediately saw eye to eye on what could take shape, given the technology and commitment.
• #105: When we spoke with Amanda, this is what she asked for. It’s far fetched, but might be something in our future. What if the wheelchair could be replaced with this?
• #106: Or maybe it would look like this?
• #107: So what if that robot were printed to look something like this? OK, we’re not there yet. In fact, we’re a long ways off. In fact, it may never happen. But that’s the vision. I show you this, because it’s always vital to start with a vision, and then work back from there. And even though this is farther out there, it gives us a sense for where we are on the timeline, and what tools and skills might be needed to get us from here to there. And in a sense, we’re moving along quite well. Here’s where we are now.
• #110: So that the cells would act collectively to enable walking
• #111: So what if that robot were printed to look something like this? OK, we’re not there yet. In fact, we’re a long ways off. In fact, it may never happen. But that’s the vision. I show you this, because it’s always vital to start with a vision, and then work back from there. And even though this is farther out there, it gives us a sense for where we are on the timeline, and what tools and skills might be needed to get us from here to there. And in a sense, we’re moving along quite well. Here’s where we are now.
• #112: So what if that robot were printed to look something like this? OK, we’re not there yet. In fact, we’re a long ways off. In fact, it may never happen. But that’s the vision. I show you this, because it’s always vital to start with a vision, and then work back from there. And even though this is farther out there, it gives us a sense for where we are on the timeline, and what tools and skills might be needed to get us from here to there. And in a sense, we’re moving along quite well. Here’s where we are now.
• #113: Here’s what we did. We scanned amanda
• #114: Standing, sitting, in the robot and out, in order to really capture her body. Note that the robot depends on Loftstrand crutches.
• #115: We 3D scanned her arm and wrist, in order to create a perfect crutch, since that has everything to do with her stability.
• #116: But our goal was to create the parts that connect body to robot as beautifully as possible
• #123: And lives on the back of the robot.