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Robotics Simulations Programs from 3D Systems Boost Surgical Residency Training at Barcelona’s Fundacio Puigvert

Medical professionals, patients, and families around the world continue to benefit as technology such as 3D printing, robotics, and virtual reality and simulation pick up steam in real life applications. 3D Systems, based in Rock Hill, SC, is a pioneer in such technology and continues to be a leader, famed for their commercial 3D printers and related services. That’s certainly not all they offer though, and now, their virtual simulation products are making a substantial impact in robotics for surgical residents studying in the fields of nephrology, urology, and andrology.

Associated with the Faculty of Medicine of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the Fundacio Puigvert is a tremendous resource, serving as a medical institution that offers personalized care for patients, along with offering three different training programs:

  • University programs (undergraduate)
  • Specialization programs (postgraduate and residency training)
  • Specialized physician training courses

Dr. Francesco Sanguedolce

Recently, Dr. Francesco Sanguedolce (on staff at Department of Urology at the Fundacio Puigvert) wrote ‘Simulation in Urology, Is Virtual Reality the New Frontier?’ His paper served as the impetus for embracing simulation in robotics for training residents, as the Fundacio Puigvert worked with 3D Systems to make their new program a reality—realizing the need for improvement as studies showed that a staggering number of students were not able to perform complex medical procedures by the end of their residencies!

“In this process, one of the most crucial issues is the type of simulation to be included in the curriculum, considering the speed of the learning curve significantly depends on it,” said Dr. Sanguedolce.

The virtual simulation lab is available to students in the residency or postgraduate phases, and consists of the following platforms for both basic and advanced learning:

  • Endourological
  • Laparoscopic
  • Robotic

The lab is led by Professor J. Palou, along with Dr. Sanguedolce, Dr. Emiliani and Dr. Gaya, assigned to work with trainees upon the purchase of 3D Systems’ Simbionix URO Mentor, LAP Mentor and RobotiX Mentor simulators.

Dr. Sanguedolce has noted many different benefits in using the simulators, to include the use of realistic console, 3D visualization, and free-moving joysticks, as well as that it is available in a standalone unit which means that students do not need to have an operating room scheduled for training time.

The new programs also offer improved skills sets and procedural modules:

“We wanted our simulation lab to provide simulation training for a wide variety of purposes. The RobotiX Mentor’s wide variety of modules, tasks and cases provide both basic and advanced training,” explained Sanguedolce, adding that he also appreciates how procedures are available as step-by-step tasks, allowing for better retention by the residents.

55th Urology Course at Fundació Puigvert

Performance is also measured in varying proficiency levels set by the mentors, who can then allow them to go to the next program level.

“The importance of standardizing training curricula is reflected by the growing need of urological residents to receive adequate exposure during training for them to safely operate once they are qualified,” said Dr. Sanguedolce. “The RobotiX Mentor plays an important role in the successful training of our surgical residents. Its wide variety of simulation modules allow for the progressive acquisition of skills, confidence and proficiency needed to perform in the operating room. The fact that we can both quantify and qualify different aspects of their training allows us to better assess whether or not they are ready to perform robotic surgery.”

Discuss this article and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com.

[Source / Images: 3D Systems]

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Survey Shows Consumers are Ready for More Virtual and Augmented Reality in Retail

[Image: Veer VR]

Augmented and virtual reality are making their way into the retail sphere, although they’re still somewhat of a novelty – we’re not yet all walking around stores with virtual reality headsets, trying clothes on our virtual avatars. Online shopping, however, is beginning to use more VR and AR features, and today 3D scanner manufacturer Artec 3D released the results of a survey that analyzed customers’ views of VR and AR technologies for retail applications. More than 1,000 US customers, who were familiar with virtual and augmented reality and had purchased an online good in the past year, were surveyed, and several trends were revealed.

One thing the survey discovered is that familiarity with AR and VR does not necessarily translate into practical usage of the technologies. All of the respondents understood the technology, but 66% had not used it. They did have a positive outlook on the future of AR and VR in retail, however. When asked when they thought the technologies would become common tools for shopping online, 26% of respondents believed it would happen within the next year, and 43% thought it would happen in the next five years. Meanwhile, 18% of respondents think AR and VR will be common tools for shopping within stores within the next year, and 32% believe this will happen in the next five years.

50% of respondents said that they would find an interactive 3D model of a product more helpful than a picture when shopping online. 38% said this would be most helpful when shopping online for furniture and decor; when asked about the reasons for not purchasing furniture and decor online, 48% of consumers said they wanted to see it in person, while 28% said they couldn’t determine the quality from a photo and 28% weren’t sure if the item would match or fit their space. The following retail categories were also mentioned by respondents as areas in which AR and VR would be helpful:

  • Clothing and shoes: 18%
  • Household appliances: 14%
  • Consumer electronics: 14%
  • Toys and baby products: 9%
  • Bags and accessories: 5%

Of the respondents that had already used virtual and/or augmented reality technologies, the highest application was for entertainment (10%), followed by shopping at 5%. Respondents within the age range of 35 to 44 represented the strongest segment (27%) of those who have used AR and VR for shopping applications. Those surveyed were also polled about their awareness of current AR and VR features within common retail apps, and the awareness level was not high:

  • Amazon: 37%
  • Wayfair: 16%
  • Ikea: 15%
  • Lowes: 14%
  • Gap: 10%
  • Sephora: 7%

Artec 3D sees a business opportunity in this survey data as consumers prepare to take advantage of more AR, VR and 3D technologies in retail in the future.

[Image: HackerNoon]

“Although utilization of 3D technologies in the retail space is in its infancy, consumers are expecting these capabilities to be integrated within a short timeframe,” said Artyom Yukhin, President and CEO of Artec 3D. “Choosing the right 3D scanning technology is going to be critical for retailers, as they look to build out their library of 3D models to populate AR and VR environments. The solutions they choose will need to capture objects that range in size, from those that can fit in your hand to large pieces of furniture, with high accuracy and resolution and in full color. Our handheld 3D scanners fit these needs and are intuitive, minimizing the training needed to create a professional 3D model.”

Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below.

 

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Ford Opens New Advanced Manufacturing Center and Showcases 3D Printed Production Parts

Automotive manufacturer Ford has been incorporating 3D printing into its manufacturing procedures for years. Recently the company won three Automotive Innovation Awards for a 3D printed injection mold lifter action, a window alignment feature and an assembly lift assist. While those particular parts were not production parts, Ford is now attracting attention for another 3D printed part, this one to be used in the actual production of a vehicle – namely, the 2019 Ford Shelby Mustang GT 500.

Two 3D printed brackets will hold a brake line on the new Mustang – a brake line bracket breakthrough, you might call the development, as it demonstrates that 3D printed parts are viable as components in actual vehicles. The brackets and their manufacturing method will be showcased at the North American International Auto Show, which is taking place in Detroit in January.

Ford also recently opened a new $45 million Advanced Manufacturing Center in Redford, Michigan.

“More than 100 years ago, Ford created the moving assembly line, forever changing how vehicles would be mass-produced,” said Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s President of Global Operations. “Today, we are reinventing tomorrow’s assembly line – tapping technologies once only dreamed of on the big screen – to increase our manufacturing efficiency and quality.”

About 100 experts work at the facility, which Ford describes as a “development hub” for advanced technologies such as 3D printing, augmented and virtual reality, robotics, digital manufacturing and more. The Advanced Manufacturing Center has 23 3D printers and is working with 10 3D manufacturing companies, allowing Ford to develop applications with different materials including sand, nylon and carbon. One application currently under development has the potential to save the company more than $2 million.

In addition to the Shelby Mustang GT500, the F-150 Raptor, built for China, also has a 3D printed interior part. Worldwide, Ford has 90 3D printers being used to produce parts and tools. 3D printers aren’t new to Ford – the company bought the third 3D printer ever made in 1988 – but its use of the technology has been steadily growing.

At the Advanced Manufacturing Center, Ford is also using augmented and virtual reality to help it simulate and design assembly lines to build millions of vehicles. Ford workers use specialized gaming equipment to configure a virtual production line, which allows them to identify potentially hazardous maneuvers and fine-tune workflows before an actual assembly line is constructed. Ford is also developing specialized augmented and virtual reality experiences to allow manufacturing teams to work together around the world.

Then there are the robots – or cobots, aka collaborative robots. More than 100 of them are currently working in Ford plants around the world. These robots are small and can safely work collaboratively with people, without protective cages. Using them in the Advanced Manufacturing Center helps Ford to identify and address potential production issues before the cobots are installed in plants.

“While we are increasing our use of collaborative robots, we strongly believe there is a need for both people and robots,” said Hinrichs. “People are better at doing certain jobs, while robots are able to perform certain tasks, including those that are ergonomically taxing for people.”

Automotive manufacturing is looking very different than it did 50 years ago, or even a few years ago. Manufacturing jobs aren’t necessarily disappearing, though – they’re just changing, and Ford is an example of how humans can work alongside technology to create better products.

Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below.

[Images: Ford]

 

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3D Printer with Augmented Reality #3DPrinting #AR

From Team Tactigon: Massimiliano, Michele Valentini on Hackster.io:

Hello! This is our latest project: an augmented reality application that connects to an OctoPrint instance and allows you to control your 3D printer – hands free!!!

Think about every time you had to level your heatbed, maybe with auto-level plugin, and switch from thumbscrews to the mouse, forth and back until the bed is OK.

Not to mention the need of the PC, or the browser on your mobile device, not always friendly on these devices.

Read more and see more on YouTube

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More Realistic Models and Prototypes Built with Interactive Technologies such as 3D Printing and Virtual Reality

For visualization of prototypes and infrastructures, models are one of the key factors. A high quality model makes it possible to truly capture a virtual design, along with reducing the scale of the original to make it able to fit on a table, or even in the palm of your hand. Scale models can help designers gain a deeper understanding of all the elements that make up a structure or object, as well as how it works and if there are any flaws in its design.

But, as modern technologies like touchscreens, 3D printing, and video mapping continue to grow, models can now include newer, bolder elements that digitally transform them, making them easier to understand and visualize.

According to a translated quote in an article by TRSD, “It is no longer necessary to manually make all the elements that make up a model since with 3D printing and thanks to the digital models that are more common every day in any work (3D software, BIM models, etc.) we can reproduce in a simple way any element without resorting to complex manufacturing modes.”

For a long time now, traditional models have been meticulously created by hand, which means the model makers are truly closer to artists than simply manufacturers. But model making has continued to evolve over the years, thanks to these newer technologies, into what’s known as interactive models that users are able to…well, interact with more.

Interactive models, which simulate movement through the use of video projection or animations under transparent surfaces, have many advantages.

“They can be programmed with the desired animations or to reproduce real time processes,” I A Manufacturing wrote. “Use your AR/VR device to add movement to your model and a real-time simulation of the environment or the actions that you prefer. Display all the data that you desire in your models to increase your value.”

Models that incorporate these modern technologies are truly the future, and allow designers to expand the possibilities of model making. By adding augmented reality, which Foundry says is an overlay of content on the real world that’s not actually anchored to it, and virtual reality to models, companies like TRSD can give their clients a better understanding of what exactly their real projects will look like once completed. 3D printing gives incredible detail, and adding AR and VR make it possible to change or move objects around with simply the click of a button.

TRSD wrote, “Imagine for a moment that we can place our model on a touch screen that recognizes the elements that we are placing on it and that, depending on the type of object, the screen adapts the displayed image by changing everything around it, for example green areas, roads, services, etc.”

Many product designers, construction and real estate companies, and architecture and engineering studios are already using interactive models to give their customers more bang for their buck. Another real world example of interactive models is IKEA, which provides an accessible app that allows customers to see how their new furniture will fit in their homes and offices.

Incorporating additional interactive technologies, such as touchscreens and video mapping, brings us even closer to a new class of interactive models that can be personally adapted to each individual user, which will allow for better communication between manufacturers and clients.

By incorporating technologies like AR, 3D printing, and VR, companies can create models and prototypes that are more interactive and realistic than ever before, while also lowering costs by using digital files and less material, which also helps in reducing waste.

What do you think of this story? Discuss interactive models and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com, or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below.

[Images: TRSD]

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3D Printing News Briefs: August 10, 2018

We’ve got some business news to start things off with in today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, followed by a little research and a really cool 3D printed costume. The Department of Defense has awarded a contract to Contour Crafting, and Sutrue is celebrating its tenth anniversary. Facebook has made the decision to ban blueprints for 3D printed guns, and a Siggraph paper takes an in-depth look into near-eye displays. Finally, several companies helped the non-profit organization Magic Wheelchair make a really cool 3D printed wheelchair costume for a big Star Wars fan.

Contour Crafting Receives Department of Defense Contract

One of the first methods of large-scale 3D printing, Contour Crafting, uses large but lightweight robotic 3D printers, which can quickly put down layers of building material to rapidly create entire buildings onsite in just days. The California-based corporation itself is on a mission to commercialize disruptive construction technologies, and we recently learned that the US Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded Contour Crafting a $3 million research and development contract to build a concrete 3D printer for the purposes of building construction for disaster relief.

According to the company’s website , “Effective 25 JUL 2018, the Department of Defense has awarded Contour Crafting Corporation with a Rapid Innovation Fund contract in the domain of large and construction scale 3D printing. The outcome of this funded R&D program is expected to be a technology which, among other applications, will effectively respond to disaster relief situations with expedient, safe and sustainable structures and buildings.”

This information confirms that the DoD is not putting all of its eggs into one basket, so to speak, and is seeking outside help for its construction 3D printing goals.

Sutrue Celebrates Ten Years

Medical device startup Sutrue first started working on a 3D printed suture stitching device to help prevent needle stick injuries back in 2014, and became the first company to successfully 3D print a suture device. But Sutrue’s story actually began back in August of 2008, when its founder Alex Berry was stuck at home with a broken ankle and watched a documentary that provided some insight into robotic suturing. In an effort to keep busy during his recovery, Berry, who had some basic CAD knowledge, got to work.

After moving to the UK, Berry officially started Sutrue in 2012, meeting some influential people along the way who helped him get closer to achieving his goal of creating a 3D printed suture device. The startup completed a £30,000 crowdfunding campaign in 2014, submitted another patent, developed a few mutually beneficial relationships with other companies, and secured further funding for continued device development. Now, Sutrue is celebrating the 10th anniversary of Berry’s initial idea.

The startup wrote in a post, “It’s been ten years of ups and downs, filled with much uncertainty particularly in the first five years in which Berry didn’t even know for sure that the device would work. He has maintained the progression of the device through having a healthy dose of insanity, extreme resourcefulness, and an inquiring and problem-solving mind. He’s gone against many societal norms to have created two working prototypes of his automated suturing device – the robotic and the handheld, but as the route to market becomes closer and closer, he’s glad to have fought against the odds to see the project through to completion.”

Facebook Bans 3D Printed Gun Blueprints

Gun with 3D printed parts. [Image: CNET]

There’s been an increased amount of conversation on the topic of 3D printed guns recently, after news broke of a settlement between the US State Department and Texas open source 3D printed gun designer Defense Distributed, run by Cody Wilson. The settlement states that Wilson and his non-profit organization can publish files, plans, and 3D drawings of guns in any form, and are also exempted from export restrictions; additionally, the government will be paying nearly $40,000 of Wilson’s legal fees. This means that people who weren’t legally able to purchase firearms before, such as felons and domestic abusers, can 3D print their own guns without serial numbers. As you can imagine, many are not happy with this decision. This week, Facebook, the world’s largest social network, said that it will ban any websites that host and share blueprints of 3D printed guns, though the designs have already been available online for years.

According to BuzzFeed News, a Facebook spokesperson said, “Sharing instructions on how to print firearms using 3D printers is not allowed under our Community Standards. In line with our policies, we are removing this content from Facebook.”

MSN reports that Facebook did not “immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the Ghost Gunner” 3D printed gun.

Siggraph Paper on Optical Design for Augmented Reality Near Eye Displays

This year’s annual conference on computer graphics, SIGGRAPH 2018, starts this Sunday, August 12th, in Vancouver. One of the papers published for the conference, titled “Steerable application-adaptive near eye displays,” discusses see-through near eye displays (NED), which are currently being used in the Hololens, among other things. According to the Stanford Computational Imaging Lab, most NEDs work by using a stereoscopic image pair to optically drive the visual system’s vergence state to “arbitrary distances,” but drives the focus (accommodation) state towards a fixed distance.

The technology is a bit of a long shot, due to people getting motion sickness or their eyes getting tired, but if we can get it to work, I bet every movie theatre in the world will employ it.

The abstract of the paper reads, “The design challenges of see-through near-eye displays can be mitigated by specializing an augmented reality device for a particular application. We present a novel optical design for augmented reality near-eye displays exploiting 3D stereolithography printing techniques to achieve similar characteristics to progressive prescription binoculars. We propose to manufacture inter-changeable optical components using 3D printing, leading to arbitrary shaped static projection screen surfaces that are adaptive to the targeted applications. We identify a computational optical design methodology to generate various optical components accordingly, leading to small compute and power demands. To this end, we introduce our augmented reality prototype with a moderate form-factor, large field of view. We have also presented that our prototype is promising high resolutions for a foveation technique using a moving lens in front of a projection system. We believe our display technique provides a gate-way to application-adaptive, easily replicable, customizable, and cost-effective near-eye display designs.”

Co-authors of the paper are NVIDIA Corporation‘s Kishore Rathinavel, Praneeth Chakravarthula, Kaan Akşit, Josef Spjut, Ben Boudaoud, Turner Whitted, David Luebke, and Henry Fuchs from UNC Chapel Hill.

3D Printed Star Wars Wheelchair Costume

Here’s something fun and heartwarming to kick off your weekend – non-profit organization Magic Wheelchair, which makes free, bespoke wheelchair costumes for kids, created a 3D printed Poe Dameron X-Wing Fighter wheelchair costume for a 13-year-old, wheelchair-bound Star Wars fan named Vedant Singhania to wear at last month’s Comic-Con International. Project partners included Pixologic, which used its ZBrush digital sculpting software to provide the design and modeling work, and Dangling Carrot Creative, which used the high print speeds of the Massivit 1800 3D printer to make 50 separate costume pieces in a little over two weeks. Massivit also donated 3D printing materials, and Monster City Studios assembled the large wheelchair costume.

“We connected with Magic Wheelchair because we knew our technology and modelling expertise could assist them with the fantastic work they are doing for children in wheelchairs,” said Pixologic’s 3D Product Development Manager Paul Gaboury. “After we designed the costume, Dangling Carrot Creative was the final piece to the puzzle. The company allowed us to 3D print life-size to help remove the need for molds or casting which saves substantial time and money.”

Discuss these stories, and other 3D printing topics, at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below. 

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3DBear Introduces Kids to 3D Printing and Augmented Reality

Everyone agrees that it’s important for children to learn new technologies such as 3D printing, robotics, and virtual reality. The challenge lies in finding the best way to teach those skills to young students. Plenty of organizations have taken on that challenge and have come up with creative ways to teach kids about technology while allowing them to have fun as they learn. One of those companies is 3DBear, a Finnish startup founded three years ago by Jussi Kajala and Kristo Lehtonen.

3DBear is an app that allows children to 3D design their own toys in augmented reality. Available for both iOS and Android, the app is simple enough for kids to use, allowing them to superimpose their own designs on their surroundings using their phone’s camera. Kajala and Lehtonen wanted to capitalize on the popularity of such games as Pokémon Go and use the appeal of augmented reality to educate, not just entertain.

“There are lot of applications out there where children chase monsters or collect coins, but we wanted to create something that can be used to improve learning and support creativity,” Kajala told ELearning Inside. “At the same time, we had seen a lot of hardware being sold to schools without [administrators] thinking how to best apply it to improve learning. We had to fix that.”

While the idea of creating their own 3D printable toys in augmented reality is appealing to children, they can do much more with the app, and Kajala and Lehtonen encourage teachers to be creative, applying it to different subjects and lesson plans. The simplicity of the app means that it can be easily used to create scenes from history, for example, or bring literature to life.

“Using 3D design in augmented reality as a tool for creating makes curriculum come alive,” Kajala continued. “According to Bloom’s taxonomy, creating is the highest form of learning. Think about it: when you reconstruct a scene of, say, the Boston Tea Party in augmented reality, it’s an entirely different form of learning experience than reading a book about it or having a teacher explain it to you. When you create it yourself, you’ve got think: what do I need? I need a ship, boxes of tea, and a crew. What does the crew wear? What actually happens in the scene? Is the tea thrown into the water? Why would they do that? When you’ve gone through the creative process yourself you are much more apt to remember and understand the topic that you are studying.”

Apps like these may be the future of education, as teachers begin to utilize technology to teach kids in an entirely new way. Many people talk about the necessity of teaching children skills like 3D printing and virtual or augmented reality because those skills will be necessary for the jobs of the future, but they don’t always talk about how that technology can be harnessed to teach other subjects, as well. There’s really no area of study that can’t benefit from the creative application of technology; apps like 3DBear allow kids to both learn how augmented reality and 3D design work as well as to learn other subjects in a hands-on way.

Textbooks aren’t necessarily going to become obsolete, but the days in which learning came solely from the pages of a book are fading into the past. Students can now apply the knowledge they learn from books by recreating it in virtual 3D, which, as Kajala said, creates a much more lasting impression than book learning alone.

In addition to the app itself, 3DBear offers lesson plans for elementary, middle and high school students in a wide variety of subjects. You can learn more here.

Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below. 

[Images: 3DBear]

 

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3D Printing News Briefs: July 10, 2018

We’re starting things off with a little business in today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, then moving on to news from the medical and construction industries, and finishing up with a few fun stories to make you smile. First up, Jeff Immelt, the former CEO of General Electric, has joined the board at Desktop Metal, and an industrial 3D printer distributor is offering a new cleaning unit by Omegasonics to its customers. Moving on, Insight Medical and Onkos Surgical are exploring the use of augmented reality in musculoskeletal oncology together, while Australian researchers introduced a new model for large-scale 3D facial recognition and a family has officially moved into the Nantes 3D printed house. Finally, a vegan confection startup is selling its popsicles, made with 3D printed molds, at select Starbucks locations in Los Angeles, and an EnvisionTEC 3D printer is being used to create characters for a stop motion series about superheroes.

Desktop Metal Board Welcomes Jeff Immelt

Jeffrey Immelt

Leading metal 3D printing company Desktop Metal, located near Boston, was founded three years ago with the goal of making metal 3D printing an essential tool for engineers and manufacturers. The company announced today that it has elected a new member to its Board of Directors – Jeffrey Immelt, the Chairman and CEO of GE until he retired from the company last year after 16 years. Immelt, who began his tenure only days before 9/11 and skillfully led GE through the crisis, has decades of experience, and is regarded as one of the most accomplished, innovative business technology leaders in the world. This makes him a valuable asset as Desktop Metal continues to grow.

“I am excited and honored to join the Desktop Metal board and work with this exceptional team of visionary entrepreneurs. Since it was founded nearly three years ago, Desktop Metal has become a trailblazer across the additive manufacturing landscape and I have a tremendous respect for the company’s ability to innovate,” said Immelt. “I look forward to sharing my experiences and contributing to the future direction and growth of this emerging metal 3D printing pioneer.”

Dr. Ken Washington, CTO and Vice President of Research and Advanced Engineering at the Ford Motor Company, was also recently appointed to the Desktop Metal board.

Industrial 3D Printer Distributor Offering Customers New Omegasonics Cleaning Unit

815BTX

Plural Additive Manufacturing, which is the exclusive North American distributor for industrial 3D printers by 3ntr, is offering the new 815BTX cleaning unit from ultrasonic cleaning systems leader Omegasonics to customers who purchase its 3D printers. The versatile and cost-effective unit is the 3D printing market’s first dual tank/dual action bench top ultrasonic cleaning machine, and can help easily remove water soluble support material.

The left tank of the 815BTX uses a biodegradable cleaning detergent developed by Plural, called BioSolv, while the right tank uses hot water; the model’s dual action then ensures the safe and efficient cleaning of 3D printed parts. The 815BTX also has programmable alternating cycles for hands-off cleaning.

“3ntr manufacturers’ of 3D printers utilize a variety of support materials, some require chemicals for support removal, while others need only hot water. The 815BTX eliminates the need to have two separate cleaning machines or deal with the cost of frequent cleaning detergent changes to get the job done,” explained Frank Pedeflous, the President of Omegasonics. “It’s an all-in-one solution.”

Onkos Surgical and Insight Medical Exploring Augmented Reality in Musculoskeletal Oncology

California medical device company Insight Medical Systems has partnered with Onkos Surgical, Inc. on a pilot project to explore different applications and opportunities for using Insight Medical’s ARVIS (Augmented Reality Visualization and Information System) headset in musculoskeletal oncology, and possibly tumor surgery. Still under development, ARVIS uses its tracking and visualization capabilities to deliver efficient and precise surgical plan execution. The headset can project virtual models of a specific patient’s anatomy and implants into a surgeon’s field of view during a procedure, in order to show hidden anatomical structures and important measurements.

“Onkos Surgical is investing heavily in capabilities and technology to bring innovation to musculoskeletal oncology surgeons,” said Onkos CEO and Co-Founder Patrick Treacy. “Augmented reality technology has the potential of simplifying the complex and providing surgeons with input and feedback that may improve the precision of surgical planning and interoperative workflow. This technology fits well with our portfolio of Precision Oncology solutions.”

University of Western Australia Introduces New Model for Large-Scale 3D Facial Recognition

2D facial recognition is used often for applications in the IT, security, and surveillance industries, and relies on a computer model to know whether a person is legitimate or not. But this method has several issues, such as data being easily accessible online, which aren’t the case with more advanced 3D models. 3D models can address changes in facial expression, poses, scale, and texture, but the data can be hard to gather. Now, researchers from the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering at the University of Western Australia (UWA) have developed a first of its kind system that can complete large-scale 3D facial recognition. The researchers, who published a paper on their work in Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, analyzed 3.1 million 3D scans of over 100,000 people, and trained the innovative new 3D Facial Recognition model (FR3DNet) to learn the identities of a large dataset of ‘known’ persons, then match a test face to one.

Dr. Syed Zulqarnain Gilani, who created the 3D model, said, “With off-the-shelf 3D cameras becoming cheap and affordable, the future for pure 3D face recognition does not seem far away.

“Our research shows that recognition performance on 3D scans is better and more robust. Your 3D scan could be in any pose, wearing glasses or a face mask, and laughing or just smiling and the deep model can recognise you in an instant.

“We hope that this research will help improve security on devices that use facial recognition to grant access to networks and systems.”

Nantes 3D Printed House Welcomes First Tenants

In 2017, a collaborative team of researchers in France began an ambitious project where an industrial 3D printer and a patented concrete construction process called BatiPrint3D were used to build a five-room house in just days. This spring, after 54 hours of 3D printing and four months of contractors adding the roof, windows, and doors, the team finished the 95-square-meter, environmentally-friendly YHNOVA house in the district of Nantes Bottière. The house features wheelchair access and digital controls, and its curved walls are said to reduce the effects of humidity. But it still only cost around £176,000 to build – 20% cheaper than an identical house manufactured with traditional methods. Now, the NMH Housing Award Committee has allocated the house to a French family, and Nordine and Nouria Ramdani, along with their three children, are being hailed as the world’s first family to live in a 3D printed house.

Nordine said, “It’s a big honour to be a part of this project.

“We lived in a block of council flats from the 60s, so it’s a big change for us.

“It’s really something amazing to be able to live in a place where there is a garden, and to have a detached house.”

The THNOVA team now believes they can 3D print the same house in just 33 hours.

Dream Pops Selling 3D Printed Popsicles at LA Starbucks

Vegan confection startup Dream Pops, headquartered in Los Angeles, creates organic, gluten- and soy-free, and vegan popsicles that are tasty, healthy, and made using 3D printed molds. These premier dairy-free popsicles consist of fruit and superfoods pureed together and cooled inside the molds at an accelerated rate with liquid nitrogen. Now, the startup has announced that its sweet treats are now available at five select Starbucks locations in the city – Third Street Promenade, La Brea and 4th, San Vincente and Barrington, Melrose and Stanley, and Wilshire and Santa Monica. The vegan ice cream pops, each of which contain fewer than 100 calories and seven grams of sugar, comes in five distinct flavors: Berry Dreams, Coconut Latte, Mango Rosemary, Vanilla Matcha, and a Dream Flight, which includes all four flavors.

“Our aim is to become the Willy Wonka of plant-based confections starting with our first product the Dream Pop and extending into adjacent better-for-you desserts,” said Dream Pops Co-Founder and CEO David Greenfield.

Dream Pops’ popsicles will be available at these Starbucks locations until October 5th.

3D Printed Stop Motion Characters

3D printing has been used many times to help create characters and backdrops for ads and commercials, music videos, and even movies that use popular stop motion animation. If you’re a fan of the stop motion show Robot Chicken, then you might also recognize the name of the full-service production company that creates it. California-based Stoopid Buddy Stoodios specializes in developing and producing stop-motion, CG, and 2D animated content, and also creates an animated stop motion comedy series called SuperMansion. The studio fabricates most of the show’s characters with a Perfactory 3D printer from EnvisionTEC.

“By utilizing 3D printing, we’re able to tell a story about superheroes and love and conflict and action and adventure,” said Kei Chong, Digital Design Supervisor at Stoopid Buddy Stoodios.

To learn more, check out the video below.

3D Printing for Animation | Stoopid Buddy Stoodios from EnvisionTEC on Vimeo.

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