3D Print the New Human Arm

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News from 3D PRINT.COM

“Enhance human intellect and physiology.” Youbionic, established in 2015, has recently released its new Human Arm. The innovative Italian tech startup is determined to highlight previously refined innovation around the globe, while additionally yearningly endeavouring to upgrade human acumen and physiology.

 

Being dynamic inside the 3D printing and mechanical autonomy domain, Youbionic tests of everything from rising expanded reality to remarkable bionic figures, and even drones; no one can tell what they will think of.

 

This latest device was propelled by the life structures of the human body, designed to be equipped for liquid, characteristic development. Offered to clients intrigued by robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), the Youbionic Human Arm is intended for understudies and experts having some expertise in such serious fields. The group stated, “Youbionic Human Arm is the device that will get high-value robotic skills in the job market!”

 

The high-level, affordable robotics can be 3D printed from the workshop or office, or an online 3D printing service. After buying the .stl record for use, fashioners on all levels can utilize predefined shapes and measures or modify the gadgets themselves—alongside utilizing the included, basic guidelines for gathering, and the means for interfacing servo engines.

 

Youbionic group expressed, “Until now the market offers professional robotic arms at inaccessible prices, or you find toy robotic arms at cheap prices. We designed and developed a bionic device with unlimited motion potential, and we did it with accessible components that contained the cost. We believe everyone should have access to the incredible technology available in our modern age!”

 

3D printing and robotics keep on supplementing each other as advances that are consistently developing, from autonomous drones to robotics in manufacturing to ultra-programmable electronics. Prosthetics for kids keep on developing at a fast speed as well, because of continuous progressions—and the unbelievable affordability of 3D printing!

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3D printed Sweating Robot Muscle

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News from 3Dnatives

 

A gathering of specialists at Cornell University has made a 3D printed sweating robot muscle. By empowering the robot hand to perspire, the muscle can manage its temperature similarly that well-evolved creatures do. The specialists clarified that warm administration is basic to permit robots to work over a significant stretch without overheating. As indicated by the lead analyst on this venture, Rob Shepherd, this type of warm administration is a reasonable arrangement on account of additive manufacturing.

 

Automatic Perspiration in 3D Printed Hydrogel Actuators, the group’s examination, was distributed in Science Robotics and subtleties the strategy that empowers the robot muscle to perspire. On the off chance that the high-torque thickness engines and exothermic motors that power a robot overheat, the robot will stop to work. This is much a greater amount of an issue with delicate robots that are made of manufactured materials. Therefore, they initiated taking motivation from warm-blooded creatures then permit the robot hand to perspire.

 

“The ability to perspire is one of the most remarkable features of humans. Sweating takes advantage of evaporated water loss to rapidly dissipate heat and can cool below the ambient environmental temperature. So as is often the case, biology provided an excellent guide for us as engineers.” One of the exploration researchers clarified.

 

3D printed sweating robot muscle

The group of researchers utilized multi-material stereolithography, utilizing light to fix the state of the robot layer by layer. For this, the group needed to build up the fundamental nanopolymer materials. They manufactured finger like actuators made out of two hydrogel materials that can hold water and react to temperature. All the more accurately, the base layer responds to temperatures over 30°C by contracting. At the point when this occurs, the water is crushed up into another layer that is punctured with little pores. These pores are additionally touchy to a similar temperature go, consequently they enlarge and let the water escape. They close when the temperature falls beneath 30°C.

 

The group found that this procedure was multiple times more proficient than in people. “The best part of this synthetic strategy is that the thermal regulatory performance is based on the material itself. We did not need to have sensors or other components to control the sweating rate. When the local temperature rose above the transition, the pores would simply open and close on their own.” Clarified by the co-lead creator on the paper, T.J. Wallin.

 

These fingers like actuators were added to a robot hand that could get and lift objects. One thing to remember is that these fingers could prevent the robot’s portability. While the water can make the robot’s hand dangerous, adjustments to the hydrogel surface could redress. Something else to consider is that the robot should be provided in the water on the off chance that it loses it, similarly as we do. Rob Shepherd also pointed out: “I think that the future of making these more biologically analogous materials and robots is going to rely on the material composition.”

 

The layer by layer procedure of additive manufacturing was fundamental to making these finger actuators.

 

“This brings up a point multidisciplinary research in this area, where really no one group has all the answers.”

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3D Printed Prototypes Can Keep Your Car Cool in the Sun

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An Alternative to Switchable Glass

Car-owners have long been vexed with the issue of finding sheltered parking spaces to prevent being trapped in stifling heat after returning to their vehicles. The available solution in the market currently is switchable glass, which applies voltage to change from opaque to clear. However, at $100 per square foot, it is not the most economical solution for most car-owners.

From Clear to Reflective

Researchers from the University of Delaware have found a more viable solution, with windows that can switch from clear to reflective with the addition of a liquid. This technology could potentially applied to cars and energy-efficient buildings. The smart glass is made of a 3D printed plastic panel consisting of a pattern of retro-reflective structures which directs light back to the originating direction. The structures become transparent when filled with methyl salicylate to match the plastic’s optical properties.


“We expect our smart glass to cost one tenth of what current smart glass costs because our version can be manufactured with the same methods used to make many plastic parts and does not require complicated electro-optic technology for switching,” Keith W. Goossen with the University of Delaware said.

Ease of Prototyping with 3D Printing

A Stratasys Objet30 Pro 3D printer was used to fabricate the plastic panels, complete with the complex repeating retro-reflective structures instead of traditional molding techniques.

“Without 3D printing, we would have had to use a molding technology, which requires building a different mold for every different structure. With 3D printing, we could easily make whatever structure we wanted and then run experiments to see how it performed,” said Goossen. “For commercial production, we can use standard injection molding to inexpensively make the retro-reflective panels.”

Potential Solution for Homes and Offices

The smart glass is also not simply cheaper than switchable glass, but also more efficient at creating energy-efficient homes and offices. As Goosen explains, “You can’t use today’s commercially available switchable glass for this application because in the darkened state the glass still absorbs sunlight and becomes hot. Because our glass is retroreflective in the non-transparent state, almost all the light is reflected, keeping the glass, and thus the car, from getting hot.” For countries such as Singapore where it is sunny all year long, this technology can reduce cooling costs significantly.

Contact us today to find out more about how you can incorporate 3D printing for your prototyping and product development needs.

GKN Driveline Florence Replaces Traditional Production Processes Across Factory-Floor with 3D Printing to Improve Business Performance

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About GKN Driveline:

GKN Driveline is a leading tier one supplier of automotive driveline systems and solutions to the world’s leading vehicle manufacturers. GKN Driveline services over 90% of the world’s car manufacturers with its automotive driveline systems and solutions. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Group, and  luxury vehicles from the likes of Maserati and Ferrari are their notable clients.

Application of 3d Printing:

With lead times affecting productivity at their factory located in Florence, this division has identified several new factory-floor applications where 3D printing can replace traditional manufacturing processes. With the introduction of a Stratasys Fortus 450mc Production 3D Printer, his team can now produce complex assembly tools for the production line in a fraction of the time compared to traditional methods. This allows the plant to quickly undergo feasibility analysis of the tools and deploy them on the factory floor significantly faster, accelerating the entire production schedule, said by Carlo Cavallini, GKN Lead Process Engineer and Team Leader at the Florence plant.

Geared for Customization

To further improve efficiencies on the factory floor, the plant is also extending the use of 3D printing to produce customized replacement parts, on-demand. The Florence plant recently 3D printed a missing cable bracket for a robot, saving at least one week versus the time it would have taken to receive the part from the supplier. This makes GKN Driveline Florence significantly more flexible to manufacturing and maintenance requirements across the production floor.

“The ability to quickly 3D print tools and parts that are customized to a specific production need gives us a new level of flexibility and significantly reduces our supply chain. Considering that we produce several thousand individual parts a week, this ability to manufacture on-demand is crucial to ensuring our production line is always operational and maintains business continuity,” explains Cavallini.

Andy Middleton, President, Stratasys EMEA, concludes: “GKN Driveline Florence is a prime example of how a growing number of future-ready companies are leveraging the capabilities of additive manufacturing to improve different areas of their business. We are committed to helping these customers identify their traditional production processes that can be enhanced, or in some cases, replaced with our 3D printing solutions. It’s this type of applied innovation across the manufacturing process that has seen GKN Driveline Florence accelerate product development, reduce costs and reinvent its supply chain.”

Visit our website http://www.prototype-in-asia.com/ today for the endless possibilities you want to implement.

Source: “Carlo Cavallini”, Process Team lead from GKN Driveline,2017.

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Benefits of 3D Printing for Product Development

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3D printing, otherwise known as additive manufacturing, has long been touted as the next Industrial Revolution. While this may still be some years away, find out more about how the technology today can impact your business.

Traditional Manufacturing Techniques

Before additive manufacturing, parts were commonly produced through subtractive manufacturing where simple designs were cut from materials and assembled together subsequently into a single unit. Over the years as design tools such as Computer-Aided Design (CAD) for engineers improved vastly, the limitations of existing manufacturing methods were exposed.

There have been many cases in which design improvements could be added to improve efficiency, safety or functionality but failed to be implemented as it was impossible to manufacture. As a result, product engineers had to restrict their product designs strictly to the limitations of manufacturing techniques.

The Game Changer: 3D Printing

By creating objects layer by layer, 3D printing allows parts once assumed impossible to be produced. This allows engineers to leverage on the full potential of CAD and other design tools to create designs limited by their imagination. Additive manufactured part also reduces part count in the overall production process, increasing efficiency significantly by replacing complex assemblies with single parts which can be made much lighter and with minimal wastage.

Today, we are free to imagine how we want our products to be designed without being held down by the constraints of manufacturing technology.

Visit our website http://www.prototype-in-asia.com/ today and reimagine the possibilities.

 

 

 

 

 

Source: Guillermo Mart´ınez de Frutos, Product Development Process for Additive Manufacturing, 2015

IDTechEx Research Estimates 3D Printing Metals Market to be Worth $12B in 2028

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3D Printing Metals 2018-2028 

[Photo courtesy Carnegie Mellon University College of Engineering.]

More companies are beginning to follow the lead of early adopters of additive manufacturing technology such as GE Aviation. The focus of 3D printing technology for metals has been gravitating towards industrial usage for the past few years. The increasingly widespread use of the technology to produce low-volume or individually customised metal parts has continually fuelled its growth for the past few years. In fact, while plastic additive technology still represents the largest share of the market, it is not rising at the same pace as metal. 

Highlights from IDTechEx report:

  • Metal 3D printer sales grw by 48% last year while material sales grew at a rate of 32%.
  • In the long term, materials are expected to grow at a much faster pace than for printers.
  • This rate of growth is projected to continue for the next 4 years.
  • Direct metal laser sintering is still the main printer technology by total installed base with an 84% market share in 2016.
  • The total installed base for metal printers will continue to see a robust CAGR of 23% between 2018 to 2028.

The imperative insight from this report is that existing industries that employ metal 3D printing will continue to broaden their usage and applications of the technology. On the other hand, the rest of the industry is moving quickly to incorporate the technology into their value-chain so as to remain competitive. Some examples are German company Siemens using metal 3D printers for their gas turbine blades as well as NASA’s heavy investment for production of next-generation rocket engines.

As Spare Parts 3D, we also notice by exchanging with multiple industrial companies that request for metal 3D printed replacement parts to repair industrial machineries are raising very fast as stated by PWC.

The full 161 page report, the first market research report dedicated to metal 3D printing, can be purchased here.