Recent Graduate Wins Award for 3D Printed Robotic Fish

Jefferson Talbot, a recent graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, had an idea after watching his college roommate carefully pack up his fishbowl and fish every time he had to leave the dorms for a few days. A robotic fish, he thought, would be much easier to take care of. He thought back to a fish skeleton he had doodled in his class notes a couple of years ago, and decided to take the design a step further, as he had recently obtained a 3D printer. He 3D modeled and printed a skeletal fish structure and then went to work filling it out with muscle, fins and skin.

Talbot entered the project in the Project of the Year 2018 contest put on by Dassault Systèmes. The projects in the competition had to be completed with Dassault software, and the contest received 173 entries from 29 different countries. One Jury Prize was awarded, based on several criteria such as innovation, originality, technicality and optimal use of the software. 10 other winners were selected by Facebook users, and three brand project prizes were also awarded.

The Jury Prize this year went to Talbot for his ingenious robotic fish idea.

“There is a growing interest around the world in bringing robots and AI (artificial intelligence) into the home,” Talbot said. “Given the love of toy robot dogs in the past decades, I thought there might be interest in a fish. I figured that if I wanted a robot fish, there probably are other tech-obsessed people who would be interested in non-humanoid robots for their homes too.”

Talbot, who graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering, spent much of his last year working on the fish, using his own 3D printer as well as the school’s Makerspace Lab. He is still working on the newest iteration of the CAD model, trying to add more lifelike features and finalize the locomotion systems so that he can file for a patent. Once he has designed a fully autonomous fish capable of swimming for days or weeks without human contact, he will scale the design down into a smaller fish that can fit into an aquarium.

“In addition to the structural aspects of the fish, I have also begun basic work on the electrical and control systems,” he said. “An assortment of touch sensors, accelerometers, gyroscopes, cameras, LiDAR modules, pumps, servos, motors, Arduino boards, and Raspberry Pi boards was considered and a mix of them will be implemented in future iterations of the fish.”

The potential for Talbot’s design could go far beyond simply offering a cool new pet. He envisions the design being used by wildlife researchers who need to study underwater ecosystems without disturbing marine life. The system could also be adapted into a robotic snake that could help reach people trapped under rubble after disasters, or to inspect structures too large or dangerous for humans.

Talbot would like to work in the fields of biorobotics, biomedical engineering, or bionic prosthetics. You can learn more about his robotic fish project here.

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[Source: Embry Riddle Aeronautical University]

 

Researchers Design 3D Printable Planetary Exploration Toolkit

NASA and other space agencies have long been leveraging the ideas from additive manufacturing to solve resource issues. It’s not just more feasible to take raw materials and print them in outer space, it’s going to be fundamentally crucial once off-world exploration becomes viable. This is why Australian researchers from Perth’s Curtin University have come up […]

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AML Technologies wire arc additive manufacturing facility awarded maritime certification

Large-scale metal 3D printing bureau AML Technologies, headquartered in Tranmere, Australia, has become the first company to receive additive manufacturing facility qualification from Lloyd’s Register (LR). The accreditation has been granted to AML’s facility that specializes in wire-arc additive manufacturing, a process gaining particular popularity in the maritime sector. Andy Sales, Managing Director at AML, comments: “Third-party inspection […]

Interview: Youbionic founder Federico Ciccarese’s road to a 3D printed humanoid

Low-cost 3D printed prosthetics have acted as an accessible solution for amputees to improve their quality of life by regaining mobility and dexterity in limbs that were once lost. Federico Ciccarese, Founder of Italian technology startup Youbionic, and his team are developing 3D printed prosthetics that go beyond limb replacement and medical applications. The artificial limbs […]

Military Researchers Present Work on Recycled 3D Printing Material

[Image: Nicole Zander, Army Research Laboratory]

The US military has made no secret of its enthusiasm for 3D printing, and lately has taken a creative, eco-friendly approach to the technology, looking into the recycling of water bottles for 3D printing material. Using water bottles, cardboard and other materials found on base for 3D printing could help reduce dependence on outside supply chains, improve operational readiness and offer greater safety. Normally, soldiers at remote bases or on the battlefield have to wait weeks for replacement parts, but by 3D printing them instead from materials that are readily at hand, they could eliminate that waiting time and become more self-sufficient.

The military researchers presented their work this week at the 256th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

“Ideally, soldiers wouldn’t have to wait for the next supply truck to receive vital equipment,” said Nicole Zander, PhD. “Instead, they could basically go into the cafeteria, gather discarded water bottles, milk jugs, cardboard boxes and other recyclable items, then use those materials as feedstocks for 3D printers to make tools, parts and other gadgets.”

According to the US Government Accountability Office, the Department of Defense has an inventory of 5 million items distributed through eight supply chains in order to keep military personnel supplied with food, fuel, ammunition and spare parts. Few of these items are stockpiled at front-line locations, however, meaning that shortages can occur at critical times. Many of these front-line locations do have 3D printers, but they often have to wait an extended period of time for feedstock to be replenished.

Nicole Zander, ARL, demonstrates equipment for Capt. Anthony Molnar, U.S. Marine Corps. [Image: Jhi Scott/US Army]

Zander, along with Marine Corps Captain Anthony Molnar and colleagues at the US Army Research Laboratory, has been investigating recycling PET plastic, which is commonly found in water and soda bottles. They determined that filament produced from recycled PET was just as strong as commercially available 3D printer filament. The team used the recycled PET filament to 3D print a vehicle radio bracket, which normally has a long lead time. The process required about 10 water bottles and took about two hours to 3D print.

Originally, the researchers found that other types of plastic, like polypropylene (PP), which is found in yogurt and cottage cheese containers, and polystyrene (PS), used in plastic utensils, were not practical for 3D printing, but some tinkering made them more useful. They strengthened the PP by mixing it with cardboard, wood fibers and other cellulose waste materials, and they also blended PS with PP to make a strong and flexible filament.

The team used a process called solid-state shear pulverization to create composite PP/cellulose materials. Shredded plastic and paper, cardboard or wood flour was pulverized in a twin-screw extruder to generate a fine powder, which was then melted and processed into filament. The researchers tested the new composites and discovered that they had improved mechanical properties that could be used to 3D print strong objects.

Zander and her team are building a mobile recycling center that will allow trained soldiers to make 3D printing filaments out of plastic waste. They are also looking into ways to 3D print from plastic pellets instead of filament, which could allow for the printing of larger objects.

“We still have a lot to learn about how to best process these materials and what kinds of additives will improve their properties,” Zander said. “We’re just scratching the surface of what we can ultimately do with these discarded plastics.”

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TCMIP-SL A New High Resolution and High Speed 3D Printing Process

Each year in the US, about 40 million provisional teeth restorations take place, and the temporary bridges and crowns used in these procedures are necessary to protect a patient’s teeth until the permanent hardware is ready to be attached. These dental interventions aren’t cheap, but using 3D printing to manufacture the bridges and crowns can help to lower the cost.

Most permanent dental bridges and crowns are made with materials like ceramics, metals, or other strong composites, and take around two weeks to create, though this can also be reduced by using 3D printing. However, no matter which manufacturing method you use, dental patients need temporary restorations, typically made of plastic, while waiting for their permanent devices to be ready to protect their teeth and keep them from shifting around. These are either made with shells that fit the original teeth, or built from scratch with molds, and will need to be trimmed a few times in the patient’s mouth before they’re cemented. Even with the trimming, these temporary restorations can break due to daily use, and a new one must be fabricated, which just seems to me like a colossal waste of time, money, and effort.

Not to worry – digital design technologies, like 3D printing, are currently being employed to make this practice easier and less time-consuming. A group of researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) recently published a paper, titled “3D Printing Temporary Crown and Bridge by Temperature Controlled Mask Image Projection Stereolithography,” in the Procedia Manufacturing journal that discusses using an SLA 3D printing method to manufacture these temporary teeth restorations.

The schematic diagram of 3D printing a temporary crown with the TCMIP-SL process.

The abstract reads, “Traditionally, the fabrication of temporary teeth restorations must go through multiple processes such as moulding, curing and post finishing, which requires extensive expertise of dentists. In addition, the handmade temporary restorations are usually unable to precisely fit the patient’s teeth due to limited formability of material. To address the problem, a three-dimensional (3D) printing technology named temperature controlled mask image projection based stereolithography (TCMIP-SL) is presented for dental materials in this paper, with aim to build customized temporary crown and bridge quickly for its use in dental offices. We first studied the photo-polymerization performance of commercial materials that are commonly used in dental industry. Then we discussed the temperature effect on curing performance and rheology of dental composite material. Based on the studies, we further developed our TCMIP-SL process by integrating a material coating system with controllable heating, so that the coated thin film of dental composite material can be selectively cured using high resolution patterned light beam. Several test cases are performed to demonstrate the TCMIP-SL process can 3D print high viscous temporary crown material with fast speed and high resolution.”

The hardware design of the temporary crown and bridge 3D printer.

Mask image projection-based stereolithography (MIP-SL) processes use a set of horizontal planes to slice a 3D object, and each slice is converted into a 2D mask image. Then, a 2D patterned light beam, which is controlled by a digital micromirror device (DMD), is projected on the surface of a photocurable material, which is then cured layer by layer to build the 3D object – in this case, a temporary dental crown or bridge. This process is great for 3D printing macroscale model with hundreds of layers, and composite materials like multifunctional ceramic have been successfully fabricated with MIP-SL.

Unfortunately, the technology requires a special blade to achieve a thin, uniform coating of highly viscous materials, which can majorly affect the efficiency of the process.

Schematic diagram of continuous thin layer film recoating.

“Polymer based composite provisional dental materials, which provide exceptional strength, flexibility, and abrasion resistance, are widely used to fabricate temporary restorations in dental industry; however, the flowability of most dental composite materials is poor due to its high viscosity and may bring difficulty to 3D printing processes,” the researchers wrote.

Temperature can affect the viscosity of polymer-based composite materials, as the viscosity will decrease when the temperature rises.

“In the paper, we extend our previous work on the ceramic-based MIP-SL process to the temperature controlled MIP-SL,” the researchers explained in the paper.

“To optimize the process parameters, we studied the rheology of photo-curable polymer based composite material at different temperatures. Based on the result, we further investigated the curing performance of photo-curable polymer based composite materials under a large range of temperature in order to identify the appropriate temperature setting. Furthermore, a new rotary movement design was implemented in the TCMIP-SL process to continuously spread viscous composite material into uniform thin layer.”

The TCMIP-SL 3D printed temporary lateral molar shell.

The team’s TCMIP-SL technology is able to 3D print temporary dental bridges and crowns at a high resolution and speed.

“The TCMIP-SL process shows significant strength over the existing 3D provisional restoration fabrication methods that are used for dentists,” the researchers concluded. “We believe the developed TCMIP-SL process has prodigious potential and extensive foreground in variety of fields ranging from high viscous multi-functional ceramic fabrication to composite material fabrication.”

Co-authors of the paper are Xiangjia Li, Benshuai Xie, Jie Jin, Yang Chai, and Yong Chen.

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Accelerating Biomimicry: New ASU Program With PADT

One of the interesting applications of the precision provided by 3D printing is that it allows scientists to take inspiration from nature. The art of making bio-inspired technology has evolved into the science of biomimicry. From underwater breathing apparatuses to honey comb structures, it provides all sorts of efficient structural arrangements. In exploring these bio-inspired […]

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3Dcopysystems’ 3D full body scanner makes waves in the fashion industry

3Dcopysystems, an Austria based company that specializes in developing and designing 3D scanning systems, has made its American market debut with its large full body scanner, BIG ALICE, at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). The scanner, BIG ALICE, is a full body scanner capable of digitizing people and large, objects within a few […]

WSU National Institute for Aviation Research joins Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence

ASTM International, a worldwide technical standards organization, has announced Wichita State University’s (WSU) National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) as a new strategic partner for its Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence. Earlier this year, ASTM International and founding partners NASA, EWI, and Auburn University, established the Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence within EWI’s North American facility and […]

David Weeks Studio’s LORRE Explores Space, Light and Material #ArtTuesday #3DPrinting

NewImage

From David Weeks Studio:

LORRE is an installation of 3D printed kinetic lights made of nylon plastic and printed using selective laser sintering. Drawn from the idea of altering a space with simple lines, the series utilizes copper cables to create definition. Using the inherent conductivity of the cable, the light source is free to move without the constraints of wiring.

The cable supports any number of lightweight diffusers, which can be repositioned, resized and rescaled. LORRE is designed to adapt and conform to any spatial environment, allowing for a sculptural lighting piece that can be part of a larger architectural gesture.

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Screenshot 4 2 14 11 48 AMEvery Tuesday is Art Tuesday here at Adafruit! Today we celebrate artists and makers from around the world who are designing innovative and creative works using technology, science, electronics and more. You can start your own career as an artist today with Adafruit’s conductive paints, art-related electronics kits, LEDs, wearables, 3D printers and more! Make your most imaginative designs come to life with our helpful tutorials from the Adafruit Learning System. And don’t forget to check in every Art Tuesday for more artistic inspiration here on the Adafruit Blog!