THE REVOLUTION 01
THE HOUR OF DEMOCRATIZATION OF THE THREE DIMENSION
INNOVATION TRENDS SERIE
The future is printable, in three dimensions
02
INFOGRAPHIC
03
The time of makers
04 05
Printing 3D
“Makers need to build things in order to express themselves” 3D revolution in healthcare
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The future is printable, in three dimensions 68% of companies will increase their investment in 3D technology in 2015. 1983.The US engineer Charles Hull spends his free time working on prototypes for furniture using ultraviolet (UV) light.Hull, an intraentrepreneur, works in his small home laboratory experimenting with photopolymers. These are materials with an acrylic base
( )
that are liquid until they are treated with ultraviolet light, when they immediately turn solid. The new technology, which he has called and patented as "stereolithography", uses different photosensitive resins in
liquid state. These then solidify layer by layer when selectively exposed to a laser with a UV frequency.Following the example of many US colleagues, his home saw the birth of an invention that will revolutionize society, and which today is known as 3D printing.
He said in 2014 at the gala of the European Patent Office's European Inventor Awards 2014 in the category for non-European countries.
That year, he acknowledged on CNN the great assistance provided by the "maker community" in the launch of 3D. The community is a community founded on small-scale production through technology, which works together and is no longer a passing fashion but rather a real phenomenon. ( )
"I was working for a company in which we needed to make plastic objects to try out prototypes for our products. First, you had to make a mold, then inject the plastic...I thought it would be easier if you could manufacture the object directly, creating layer on layer with the same plastic.�
"Technology has really blossomed in the last few years, in the sense of really rapid growth and recognition. There's lots of things that contributed to that, I think: medical applications and certainly the maker movement, with lowcost machines getting hobbyists interested in inventing and building using 3D printing.� For the creator of 3D printing, its invention has become a real success by taking a further step in what was provided by computers: fostering
creativity and changing product design and manufacture. "At the individual level I think there's a great kind of kind of pent-up need: we've got into the computer age and everything is on a screen or remote, we've kind of missed the tangible result.This is a means to convert something on the computer into reality in a straightforward way," said Hull in 2014. He also founded the Californian company 3D Systems, which is a leader in the global market. How 3D has evolved
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One year after these words, 3D printing is making progress. And it appears to be doing so with giant steps. Some 68% of companies say they will increase their investment in 3D technology in 2015 (according to the survey carried out by Sculpteo published by Forbes, using a sample of 1,118 representatives of 16 types of companies in 50 countries). This growth in the number of investments is not new. It was already seen faintly in 2014, so it appears it is a case of stable growth in the sector.
Despite the great diversity of sectors reflected in the survey The state of 3D printing, there is consensus when it comes to citing the determining factors in the adoption of the 3D technology by companies, which according to 50% of those surveyed will be the price of the materials and supplies and the utilized machine capacity. Important secondary factors include the understanding of customer needs, the legal framework and employee training.
Within the profile of those surveyed, the sample differentiates between two different "schools": the European school, in which 3D technology is solely within the domain of specialists who are duly qualified and trained for it; and the American school, whose 3D printing is accessible for all corporate employees,
regardless of their qualifications or functions.
in materials, new markets and easy 3D modeling.
The study also highlights that 3D users have very significant advantages in speeding up the development of products and offering personalized products and limited series. The trends highlighted by those surveyed for the near future are: printing
As Bastien Rechke, an R&D Mechanical Engineer at Withings, concludes: "Being able to produce prototypes quickly in order to validate structure and functionality is a real added value. With the wide variety of materials and finishes available via 3D impression, we can now simulate the characteristics of the final product. During the design phase it is essential to have different prototypes on hand in order to be able to choose one proposal over the other. The handling of physical pieces is also an opportunity to anticipate production-related problems and thus improve the design."
02/INFOGRAPHIC Printing 3D 3D printing is able to generate a three-dimensional solid object by adding material, following 3D models that define what is to be printed. A model is simply the digital representation of what we wish to print using software. Share on Pinterest
History 3D printing dates from 1976, with the invention of the inkjet printer. In 1984 a number of adaptations and advances in the concept of inkjet transform the technology from printing with ink to printing with materials.
How it works 3D printers create an object with three dimensions by building successive layers until the desired object is achieved.
The filament extrudes the material through a heated nozzle, and it sets as it gradually cools.
A nozzle moves from left to right distributing a binder which forms the cross-section of each layer of the object.
Filament Isolation sleeve Heating coil
Materials: Plastics, ceramics, cements, metals, foods, biological material, etc.
The print bed or tray serves as the base and moves backwards and forwards.
At the end of each layer the platform moves down (around 0.1 mm) and begins printing the next layer.
Markets Sectors
Consumer goods High technology Sector Electronics Services Education Mechanics Healthcare Aeronautics
Retail Automobile Energy Transport
Food Textiles Chemistry
Use of 3D printing by sector in the market.
Europe
Location
3D printing use by continent. Asia and OceanĂa
America
Revenues
Company size in annual turnover in millions of dollars.
> 20.000 < 20.000 < 5.000 < 1.000 < 500 < 100 < 50 Almost none
Africa
+75%
In figures Low-cost printer production
+75% +49%
Printers costing less than 100,000 dollars (figures in millions of dollars)
Spending on 3D printers
Millions of dollars
288 million
412 million
669 million
03
The time of makers The movement, closely connected to the 3D printing revolution, seeks to change the mentality of society. ( )
When Cecilia Tham graduated in Biology at Emory University in Atlanta and later in Architecture at Harvard she didn't understand a word of Spanish and was not familiar with the maker movement. When the slogan “Do it yourself” and the “We are all makers” creed began to gain popularity in the United States, Tham was settling in Barcelona. If was 2006.
Dale Dougherty, the father of the maker movement and founder of Maker Magazine and organizer of the Make Faire events, was committed to making things with no intermediaries, using technology to encourage people's creativity and promoting the creations that people make with their own hands.
innovations developed in home garages to become visible. Nearly ten years later, Tham, an American citizen of Chinese origin, speaks perfect Spanish and is the founder and director of Makers of Barcelona (MOB), the lab that brings makers together to carry out and share their projects.
Dougherty compares the makers with music lovers: very few are regarded as professionals but many play instruments at home or in public places. The makers are at the base of the pyramid, while
famous innovators and inventors are at the top. And according to Dougerthy the ones at the base do things similar to those accomplished by the ones who have made it to the top. He wanted the
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thanks to technology, the same person can design, build and consume their products. They innovate without wasting time, saving, one can create things. The designer, manufacturer and consumer can even become the same personâ&#x20AC;?, she explained on the phone from France where she is spending her holidays. Tham also shares Dougerthy's view: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Before, the entire structure was pyramidal. You need an expert
for everything, and today we don't need them. Being an expert in something very specific is being an expert in nothing”, she says. MOB is visited by designers, entrepreneurs, IT people… who according to Tham believe in multidisciplinary work. ( ) And also in the group. “They all share their knowledge. It may happen that one is a great computer scientist, but doesn't know how to sell. And together they carry the invention forward. They make progress jointly”.
The movement is closely connected to the 3D printing revolution, which enables lowcost manufacturing, although according to Tham the maker culture and movement should try to change the mentality of society. “The education we
receive teaches us very essential knowledge. Students are passive and take no risks. The maker movement -based on STEM education- enables them to participate. It makes them selfconfident, it teaches them to be leaders. They have to think about solutions to help society and try to take their ideas off the ground. They create, and if the project fails they start again”. ( ) The Bloom Blanket project by the Brazilian Bianca Cheng was born at MOB. With no knowledge of 3D printing and not knowing who the makers were, she designed blankets in the shape of a pyramid. She was looking for 14,000 dollars to drive the project, and in 10 days she sold 800 blankets and made more than 200,000 dollars.
Tham also approached the maker movement by chance when her husband gave her a sewing machine as a present. “When I saw it I was very upset -she says laughing-, although I later discovered that I enjoyed making things with my own hands. I had no idea who the makers were, I started creating clothes and my self-confidence increased. I decided to launch a space for people to make things”. Tham
defines the makers as “proactive people who don't stop creating, from websites to a new business. They are not afraid to take risks and don't set themselves limits, whey want the projects to get off the ground”. There are currently 335 labs for makers worldwide, known as “fablabs”, according to the specialized website Fabwiki. MOB's challenge is to “separate the maker movement from the
hobby world and the craft world. It is much more than a simple hobby or craftwork. What we want to do at MOB is to combine the entrepreneur and maker worlds”, said the American, who also stresses that the makers have to fight to change today's educational model. With two university degrees, she has no doubts: “Had I known that this existed before, I wouldn't have gone to university”, she concluded laughing.
04
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Makers need to build things in order to express themselvesâ&#x20AC;? He speaks passionately and defines himself as a maker rather than an engineer. When he was a kid he took apart robots and now, Juan GonzĂĄlez, a Telecommunications engineer and PhD in Robotics, heads the maker department of BQ. The Spanish technology company specializes in the manufacture and sale of multimedia devices, 3D printers and robot kits. ( )
What do makers contribute to a company? Basically speed in prototype creation. With a maker everything speeds up significantly, the ideas are explored quickly, we have immediate feedback right from the beginning. Makers are skillful at building things. We need to build things in order to express ourselves. And we get down to work immediately. Are they different from engineers? Most makers are engineers, although not all engineers are makers. An engineer usually seeks the end result. Makers have studied engineering, buy they feel disappointed and frustrated by the educational model. They teach us thousands of equations and maths, and you have to wait until the final year to see
something practical. And we want it to be the other way around. You have to learn by building. ( ) What was the experience of setting up the maker department at BQ like? Incredible. Working with people from my own species is very pleasant. I came from the world of University and I though it was a difficult challenge, but it worked out fine. How do you define your workers? We are a team of 15 makers. The difference is that you don't have to tell them what to do, they propose the ideas, they define the project and tell you about it. Unlike engineers, makers are used to sharing tools and are very well trained in software, hardware and electronics.
Can we say that 3D printing is the new industrial revolution? Rather than revolution, I would say evolution. Things are not going to change overnight, but we can compare this stage with the computer age. When they came out we didn't see all the possibilities they offered, and they ended up changing everything. With 3D printers we can build things easily, in a matter of hours you can have something made. Something unthinkable just a few years ago.
Will it change society? I'm no futurologist and I don't know about all the possible uses of 3D printing, but what I see is that you can do anything. For example, we can teleport components. Before, you had
to send a gear to Japan, and now you send the part's design over the Internet and in a matter of hours they have the component. Cooperation is very close. Does 3D printing have any drawbacks? I only see advantages. ( ) It's vital for building parts. It is true that it's a new technology and it still needs to mature, but the possibilities are endless. For the time being, most parts are made of plastic and chemists need to explore new materials. Also, the 3D printing process is slow compared with Industry. As an expert in 3D printing, what applications have impressed you the most? The components that are built
for children who have been maimed. 3D artificial limbs are cheap and adapt perfectly to the patient. If they break, there's no problem because they can be replaced, they're customized. I think it's a fantastic advance that makes a great contribution to people.
05 3D revolution in healthcare To a large extent, 3D printing has become more than just a trend thanks to healthcare. 3D makes it possible to create hearts, arms, hands, ears... all tailor-made. And it reduces costs. ( )
A prosthetic hand costs 4000 dollars in the United States, but this can now be reduced to 350 dollars with 3D technology. In March, Alex Pring made news headlines across the world when Robert Downey Jr presented him with a bionic arm. With the stubbornness of the seven-year-old's mother (he was born with a partially mutilated right arm) and the help of several 3D enthusiasts, Alex received an arm. The team led by Albert Manero, a student at the University of Florida and a member of Limbitless Solutions, launched a project involving engineers, artists, nurses and doctors. Together they created a fixed elbow, a forearm, and a hand designed with autodesk inventor, a 3D modeling software. After being 3D printed, the pieces were assembled together. The right arm comes to life thanks to a muscular sensor that detects electrical impulses from Alex's right bicep. Alex now has a new arm thanks to his mother's perseverance (Alison wrote to the organizations to ask for help) and the collaboration
of the team that created an arm for 350 dollars after eight months of work. Alex's case is an example of the revolution in healthcare brought about by 3D printing. ( )
Other cases (
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In Spain, various projects are aimed at creating organs, tissues and prostheses using 3D printing. “This allows us to customize treatment, do a simulation beforehand. For example, with the heart, 3D printing allows us
to shape the prosthesis, predict the size and type and customize it for patients”, says Federico Gutiérrez Larraya, head of Pediatric Cardiology at Hospital La Paz (Madrid), in an interview to Diario Médico. 3D is also being researched at Hospital 12 de Octubre (Madrid), as explained by cardiologist Enrique García
Torres. Just as Dr. Larraya, he stresses the importance of the new technology in preparing surgeries: "As a surgeon, if you have an exact 3D replica of the heart you are going to do the procedure on, you can prepare the surgery, visualize and plan
each step accurately, identify possible complications and, in short, perform a very complex procedure in a much more agile fashion". Late last year, in a first-time procedure in Spain, surgeons at Hospital Sant Joan de Déu de Esplugues (Barcelona) used a 3D copy to reconstruct the ear of a 17-year-old who had been born with a missing ear. In Michigan, 3D-printed splints saved the life of three babies born with tracheobronchomalacia. These are some of the examples of how this new technology can be applied. We are now looking toward, Larraya explains in Diario Médico, making “printing
biological, using biological material. The process for generating 3D printing is very demanding both financially and intellectually. We need to generate good enough images of each patient, process them and convert them into a language that the 3D printer can understand. This can take two to three weeks, and the cost is also dependent on the material used and the volume involved. Needing a whole heart is not the same as needing a segment of the heart. We are looking at 500 to 2000 euros per piece, and two or three weeks for the process.”
And also in the pharmaceutical industry The progress of 3D seems to be unstoppable. The last addition to this revolution has been the pharmaceutical industry. In August, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved marketing of a 3D-printed pill for treating epilepsy (Spritam). This production method makes it possible to concentrate a higher amount of the drug into a single dose. Aprecia Pharmaceuticals explained that: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thanks to three-dimensional printing, a detailed porous structure can be created that allows the pill to dissolve quicker, while concentrating a higher amount of the drug. The printing system, called ZipDose, is able to concentrate up to 1000 milligrams into a single dose.â&#x20AC;? Aprecia's drug, Spritam, drug is the first 3Dprinted medication and will reach the market in early 2016. Step by step, a revolution is taking place in one of the areas that have helped 3D the most â&#x20AC;&#x201C; healthcare.
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