Author: ananya kondiparthy

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Lady Gaga uses 3D printing technology in grammy’s awards to pay homage to David Bowie

Lady Gaga performance in Grammys awards

The 58th Annual Grammy awards  featured stunning  performances by Kendrick Lamar, Adele , Taylor Swift and many young contemporary artists. Among all, Lady Gaga stole the show by her incredible homage to David Bowie, deceased, Mighty, and ever leading-edge rock star who died earlier this year.  Lady Gaga paid the tribute to David Bowie by singing his all time hits as well as projecting unbelievable visuals and stage effects designed and orchestrated by INTEL tech team.

Among the trailblazing visual effects, digital skin effect with various makeup effects were projected onto Lady Gaga’s face during the performance were absolutely stunning. The major attractions include interactive videos, real time effects, a robotic dancing piano, and interactive holograms . The technology behind the artistic stage visuals involved  processes such as 3D scanning, 3D printing, robot programming and Intel’s new Curie technology which sets the stage on fire.

 

“I like to do things that integrate technology and art with powerful experiences,” said Lady Gaga. “I think that this collaboration with Intel has been very different than anything I have done before. They have really given me so much amazing technology to play with.”

 

Gaga was inspired by David Bowie’s music wanted to create a memorable performance in homage to him by visually and emotionally immersing the audience with her performance by her impressive digital and engineering feats.

 

The show started with Lady Gaga’s ‘Space Oddity’, with digital, animated makeup being projected onto her solemn face. The projections had to track the movement of her face as she sang .For that complete splendid effect,Intel’s tech team 3D scanned Gaga’s face in 12 different positions and  3D printed the scans to practice the projections. This  prepared the team for the main  performance as they were able anticipate for the accurate fit of animations onto Gaga’s face. Infrared sensing cameras were used to track the facial moments.

Asai Nobumichi, who designed the facial projections, explains, “It’s the first time I’ve done it live. Gaga pushed for this technology to be in this show.”

The  Intel’s Curie technology also played an important role allowing  Lady Gaga to effectively control the visuals and holographic effects as she moved around the stage. The Intel Curie technology was loaded into a wearable ring for the performance, As Gaga moved or danced, the technology captured the moment  and send the data to server which would generate the effects in real-time.

Lady Gaga says of the performance, “We wanted to create an expression of not only David Bowie’s magic as a visual artist and musician who combined music, technology, fashion, and art, but also to show that there is magic that can be made with technology that it’s not just big machines and computers and the internet, you can actually create imagery that is other worldly, moments, events, experiences that have never happened before.”

 

 

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3D printed ‘iBoardbot’ launched to write messages.

“Writing connects the world through words”.Such words can now be writted by iBoardbot to connect the world. JJRobots, a tech startup from Edinburgh, UK, has launched its first  3D printed, web-connected whiteboard robot- iBoardbot . The iBoardbot writes and draws according to the command given by its users .

 

Remember our school days when the teacher taught us on the black board?  Boards can help us  explain ideas, teach,learn, draw, discuss goals and so on.. these blackboards were later replaced by whiteboards, computers and projectors which offered advantages like- No messy handwriting,integration of high-resolution images,quick loading, erasing of text, and the ability to save sessions for later. What does the whiteboard have left to offer?

As a tribute to the old school days,JJRobots—has developed the 3D printed iBoardbot whiteboard robot, a web-connected device operated by users, to draw and write on the glass surface. The aurduino powered iBoardbot uses the stepper motors to precisely draw and write the text in combination merely, using an app.

The iBoardbot robot has its potential applications such as a collaborative notice board within a workplace, a twitter wall in a shop window, or a weather forecast display in a public place. The iBoardbot’s internet connectivity is the best feature which connects to the world . like, for example, you want to send an important  message to your workers in the office , you can send it right from your house with just an app. The iBoardbot writes down the message for you.

“The iBoardbot is able to reproduce what you remotely draw using its web application from any part of the world and any device: a laptop, a smartphone or a tablet,” the JJRobots team explains on the iBoardbot Kickstarter page. “From a web app that can be shared, the user will find the necessary apps for the control of the board. You will be able to draw, write a text of your choice (even from the other side of the world!) and to access the iBoardbot´s configuration menu. This drawing robot can be used at the same time by as many users as you want.”

The 3D printing part of the iBoardbot is its body .The body can be 3D printed at home with a handful of electronic components easily available in the market. The electronics, 3D printed parts, and code of the whiteboard robot are completely open, allowing users to tweak and modify the device as they see fit.however, the startup also sells these robots to use right away.

 

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Customized peg board to organize your every room using 3D printing.

Pegboards are boards with pegs and holes , mainly used for games and organizing activities.Having a pegboard at home not only makes your room organised but also utilizes the work space. Then,how can we customize the pegboards according to the dimensions of the things we posses? If you happen to have access to a 3D printer nearby, then your job becomes easy! 3D print bins, holders, mounts and shelves ,they all can be printed  and  arranged on pegboard to your heart’s content to get  your customized  pegboard done.

Matt Manhattan, a New York City native, created his own peg board with his innovative ideas. He designed his pegboard with a 3D printer.

“As my understanding of design and printing grew, so did the customization of my home,” he explained. “By mounting modular pegboards throughout my home, I was able to create custom mounts for all of the little things I need in life to keep them exactly where they need to be.” said Matt Manhattan when asked about his ideas.

The Manhattan Pegboard Collection consists of 5 parts ,they are- a 2-peg customized  holder ; a 4-peg customization holder; 1 customized rounded holder; 1 pedestal shelf; and 1 USB cable holder that can hold up to 6 different cables. In fact, almost every room in his own house has a  pegboard!. In his home office, the pegboard is filled to capacity with all kinds of office supplies, electronic gadgets, and cords galore. In his bathroom, his toiletries, toothbrushes, razors, etc. are all nicely “peg boarded” up to the wall next to the bathroom mirror. And, of course, there are the hanging pots, pans, utensils, and condiments above the stove in his kitchen, too.Shelves, bins, and holders for the pegboard can be printed in different colors for a funkier effect, or   in all-white or even clear filament for a more modern and stream-lined effect.

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“Depending on a variety of factors your print results may vary! Some of my prints slide into the pegboard peg holes without issue, and sometimes it requires a bit of extra force. If you find that the pegs are not printing well, make sure your support structures are adequately supporting most or all of the entire peg (depending on your settings). I print my pegboard pieces using an Ultimaker 2 with an Olson Block running a 1 mm nozzle. The prints in the included photos were printed using Verbatim PLA in White. With this setup I can print durable pegboard parts at a 0.5 mm layer height and 2 mm walls with reasonable speed.” said Manhattan in his blog.

This is the story of Manhattan who designed and created his own pegboard using a 3D printer.Inspired to make your own pegboard? then why delay! start your project today.

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3D printed Graphine Aerogels on the way!

Aerogel is a synthetic porous ultralight , low density material derived from a gel, in which the liquid component of the gel has been replaced with air. The lightest among the areogels are Graphine Aerogels .  Graphine aerogels are so light that a large block of it wouldn’t balance on a blade of grass.The minimal density of aerogels gives the scope for wide range of applications such as  bio mimetic  nano composites, tissue engineering, actuators, shape memory materials and so on.

Now, State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo and Kansas State University scientists  report in the journal ‘Small’ that they have found a way to 3D print graphene aerogel, which has only been used in lab prototypes. This technology will make the material much easier to use and has many applications.

Graphene is typically  a single layer of carbon atoms known for its strength, pliability and conductivity.  Graphene aerogel is highly compressible  and highly conductive material having several other properties, however, makes it difficult to manufacture using 3D printing technology.To 3D print the aerogels, polymers are mixed to it so that it can be pushed out using inkjet printers. Once the structure is done, the polymer is removed by a chemical process.But, removal of chemical may not be possible in case of graphine aerogel as these aerogels are very delicate.

SUNY Buffalo and Kansas State University scientists had an new idea to overcome this problem. They mixed graphene oxide with water and deposited layers on a surface at -25°C. This  froze each layer in a jiffy, and allowed complete construction of the aerogel, with ice as its support.

Once this process was completed, the ice was removed using liquid nitrogen in a “freeze drying” technique. This expelled the water without damaging the micro structure. The material was then heated to remove oxygen atoms, which left only graphene in the aerogel.
3D printing  creates objects in the exact shape and form as needed, which helps with rapid prototyping and adoption of new technologies. SUNY Buffalo and Kansas State University researchers are now looking to expand their 3D printing technology to build other types of aerogels.

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Esophageal Cancer cure found! – by using 3D printed stent.

Cancer is a deadly disease characterized by out-of-control-cell-growth in a human body. We might have known our relatives, family, friends who were victims of this indignant disease and are no more with us. Healing cancer would be an ultimate target for every medical researcher as millions of people are victims of this cruel disease every year. They try to come up with many formulations every day which  might pave the way  for the pain-free treatments to all cancer patients. They dream of treating cancer just like treating an ear infection with a pill – The miracle pill!

In reality, is it  likely to happen? It’s probably not that easy – cancer is a complicated beast, as complicated as galaxies of the universe, having different problems in each type of cancer. That one pill might never be the possibility of a cure for the disease like cancer. However, with the magnification of our recent technologies and developments, thankfully we can cure cancer. 3D printing is one such technology we can use to cure cancer.

Among all the cancers identified, few have dire prognosis and esophageal cancer is one of those. According to the statistics available, It’s the eighth most common type of cancer in the world but it’s often detected late and it’s very difficult to operate on; in fact, 50 to 60 percent of patients with the disease are ineligible for surgery. Those patients are often treated with the surgical implantation of a stent, which is made from a metal mesh and can cause numerous complications such as bleeding, perforation or tumor ingrowth. This treatment is not an exact cure as it tends to open the esophagus and has many complications.

 So, here we have the biodegradable 3D printed polymer stent,which eliminates further complications and also serves as drug delivery system.The best part of this 3D printed stent is that it will automatically dissolve itself in the esophagus and doesn’t need any further surgery. The stent  which is tissue engineered, releases paclitaxel, a commonly used anti-cancer drug that will locally attack the tumor. This stent created by 3D printing is rigid in shape and also has flexibility in expanding and contracting with esophagus.

The new enhancements in the treatment of cancer can take over a new leaf with the integration of 3D  printing and save the cancer victims.

 

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The 3D Printing pen 3Doodler 2.0 launched.

“Creativity is putting our imagination to work, it’s produced extraordinary results in human culture”. To relish this creativity hidden within us, there comes the 3D printing pen – This lightweight 3D stereoscopic printing pen will help you bring your art to life. The pen enables your children’s drawing on the wall become 3D objects on the shelf. But how does this work?

Ink in this pen is replaced by plastic which is melted at a high temperature to create a 3D object. The 2D art on the paper, while we draw, can now be converted into the 3D art on the same paper. The pen can be used to draw in the air or on a surface, as well as tracing objects on paper.This pen allows  to doodle which is an interesting feature for  all the artists. Just use it like any other pen by drawing normally in the beginning with the nib pressed to the paper, but then you lift it in the air and the pen keeps drawing. The electric heating nozzle integrated into the pen allows the artists to enrich their creativity by melting the plastic into a 3D object.Check the video below to visualize how it feels to have a 3D printing pen with you.

 

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The ARC bicycle created using 3D printing.

“Life is like riding a bicycle: you don’t fall  unless you stop pedaling” – Claude pepper. The recent developments in the manufacturing of cycles also didn’t stop pedaling and hence, we have a 3D printed metal bicycle frames, usually made using a sintering process, in which a laser is utilized to selectively melt steel powder, building it up in successive layers. Now however, a team of students from Netherlands have created the world’s first stainless steel bike made via welding-based 3D-printing technique.

The students used Mataerial 3D printer in the manufacturing of this bicycle. Unlike traditional 3D printers that build up layers on a flat surface, the Mataerial printer uses robotic arm to extrude metal on horizontal as well as vertical surfaces. Those columns of resin can be curved and linked together as they’re being extruded, quickly hardening into modern art-like creations.

More recently, a version of the Mataerial printer  was released  which created “prints” in welded metal. A metal column is created using globules of molten metal and this process is repeated till the metal hardens. By controlling the spaces in the welds,  the orientation of the metal column can be determined. No supporting materials are needed and pretty big structures can be formed using this printer.

The ‘prints’ in welded metal technology was first used to create a pedestrian bridge.This technology is later applied in the manufacturing of the bicycle. It’s frame has several main sections which are  welded and linked together by hand before the solidification of the metal.This bicycle is called the Arc bicycle. The finished product is claimed to weigh about as much as a traditional steel-framed bike and is fully capable of being ridden on rough cobblestone streets.

“It was important for us to design a functional object that people use everyday,” says team member Stef de Groot. “Being students in the Netherlands, a bicycle naturally came to mind. A bicycle frame is a good test for the technology because of the complex forces involved.” The video below shows us , how to manufacture the ARC bicycle and set it into action!.

 

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3D printed public housing in Singapore.

Singapore is one of the  major 3D printing hubs in the world. Many large organisations and centers are dedicated to this technology in Singapore. There is the Global Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence and the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Cluster, which is led by experts from Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Both these entities came together to work on a live project called “3D printed public housing.”

Innovations in building constructions would definitely be slow to take hold as  people believe that the  traditional methods of construction would  be safer than the new unproven methods. This is quite understandable. But that doesn’t mean that new innovations like 3D printing  have  no room for practical existence even after thorough testing. 3D printing has potential growth in architecture,   Many organizations are developing ways of 3D printing major structural elements, and creative ideas for 3D printed walls and interior designs.

 

The 3D  printed high-rise building idea is something different, the idea is relatively untested and unreliable for many citizens to live 1000 feet above the ground  in a new technology; its quite scary. This is a new challenge for Singapore center, to make it safer and trustworthy to all its citizens to stay in such houses.

The idea, according to the Centre’s Executive Director Professor Chua Chee Kai, is to print the buildings one story at a time, then transport them to the construction site and stack them like Legos. This “Lego-style” fabrication method is officially known as “Prefabricated Pre-Finished Volumetric Construction,” . This method was already used to construct three new residence halls at NTU.

The first and foremost thing is developing the 3D printers which are large enough to print 3D building materials.Only the major structural components are 3D printed . The rest are manufactured by the traditional methods.

“In the area of housing there are quite big challenges,” said Professor Chua. “There is no assistance of 3D printers and no availability of printable concrete. We have to develop all this from scratch.”

The Singapore Centre for 3D Printing was set up with $150 million by the government and local industry for the purpose of researching ways that 3D printing can be used within the city. Singapore currently depends heavily on foreign workers for construction, which, combined with an aging population, creates some urgency for the government to develop more productive, less labor-intensive construction methods. The Center is also researching the potential to 3D print weapons parts for the military, as well as multiple healthcare applications.

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3D printing can now cure brain disorders.

Human brain, command center for the nervous system, still holds the mystery for its folds in the history of medical sciences.While many researchers believe that the folds of the brain exist to increase the surface area and fit into the skull space, there is no evidence to prove this.The researchers conduct many live experiments on the brain to know the reason behind those folds.One such experiment was done using 3D printing technique that mimicked the growth and development of the brain.

The researchers’ experiments with 3D printed brain stimulation proved that folds are caused by mechanical compression forces in response to the brain’s rate of growth.As the age of a human body increases, the number of folds in the brain also increases; this process is called as gyrification.The researchers proved that the folded structure is simply a physical growth process and not a matter of biology.

The 3D printed foetal brain.

The stimulation of brain development modal  was based on MRI data that used several layers of soft gel materials. The layers of gel were designed to expand and swell at different rates when placed in a specialized liquid solution, The process was designed to simulate the growth and development of the brain’s gyri and sulci, the areas of folded tissue on the surface of the brain. The 3D printed model of the brain accurately develops folds like the real human brain.

“Starting with the same initial geometry, we also build numerical simulations of the brain modelled as a soft tissue with a growing cortex and show that this also produces the characteristic patterns of convolutions over a realistic developmental course. All together our results show that although many molecular determinants control the tangential expansion of the cortex, the size, shape, placement and orientation of the folds arise through iterations and variations of an elementary mechanical instability modulated by early foetal brain geometry,” wrote the study authors Tuomas Tallinn, Jun Young Chung, François Rousseau, Nadine Girard, Julien Lefèvre and L. Mahadevan.

This research helps for early detection and treatment of neurological disorders, malfunctioning of brain, cortex thickness disorders, etc. This model is limited only to predicting the behavior of simple, basic brain structures at the very onset of the folding process.

“Their simulations explain why folding always begins in weakly curved regions and why gyri and sulci align perpendicular to the direction of maximum compressive stress. Experiments with swelling brain models provide the essential missing link between modelling, experiment and simulation. However, a few limitations remain: the model is beautiful and simple, but it is limited to the initial folding of idealised structures; the experiment is useful for exploring instabilities beyond the onset of folding, but it is limited to moderate changes in volume,” explained the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Bioengineering at Stanford University in California’s Ellen Kuhl in an accompanying paper that she authored, also published by Nature Physics.

You can see a video overview of the experiment here:

https://youtu.be/gbSGIG9SCf8

The experiment can lead to new medical advancements in treating neurological disorders . Specifically, being able to link the rate of brain growth to neurological development could help scientists trace individual brain functions back to the folding of the brain surface. Because the process is mechanical, not biological, it could accurately determine how and when something goes wrong. This could lead to the ability to identify surface markers that may lead to the early diagnosis of autism, schizophrenia or Alzheimer’s disease. Early detection could also lead to the development of more effective treatment options and the cultivation of new preventative measures.