3D printing a full-scale, inhabitable house

Two Dutch architectural firms – DUS Architects and Universe Architecture – are preparing to design and print the world’s first full-scale, inhabitable house.

“It’s kind of Lego for adults,” Hans Vermeulen, one of three architects at DUS, told DW.de. Vermeulen says he wants to print, piece by piece, a classic Dutch canal house which will then be designated as an information center and resource for those interested in honing their 3D printing skills.

To achieve this architectural feat, DUS built a 3D printer dubbed the”KamerMaker,” or “Room Builder.” Measuring six meters tall, the shiny device is reportedly one of the largest 3D printers in the world – nearly large enough to print an entire room.

“We thought, OK, we are architects, we have to build a big one if we want to print a house. It’s printing and it’s working, but it’s not yet working perfectly, it’s not fast enough,” Vermeulen explained. “[Really], we want to see what this technique actually can mean for housing seven billion people on this planet – because at the moment, with the current construction techniques and how we play with resources in this world, it’s not sufficient enough.”

Janjaap Ruijssenaars, the lone architect at Universe Architecture, expressed similar sentiments about his 3D printed Landscape House.

“We’ve been approached by a bank from South Africa to print houses for the poor,” he said. “You could actually have the printer print a whole street in one go. This might become one of the larger applications of the technique.”

The full text of “Dutch architects say 3D print technology could solve the world’s housing problems” is available here on DW.de.

As previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, the Maker Movement has used Atmel-powered 3D printers like MakerBot and RepRap for some time now, but it is quite clear that 3D printing recently entered a new and important stage in a number of spaces, including the medical sphere and architectural arena.

3D printed bone transplants a success in Japan

3D printing technology is fast becoming mainstream in the medical world. Indeed, earlier this summer, researchers managed to design and print a 3D splint that saved the life of an infant born with severe tracheobronchomalacia – a serious birth defect that causes the airway to collapse. Melbourne scientists also took a big step towards the development of “grow your own” cartilage to treat cancers, osteoarthritis and traumatic injuries using 3D tech, while 3D printed orthopedic implants were successfully fitted in Peking’s University Third Hospital in Beijing.

And now doctors at the Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine in Japan have successfully transplanted 3D printed bones into four patients with cervical spine (cervical) disc herniation. Following the transplants, symptoms such as gait disturbance and hand numbness improved.

The cost of making such artificial bones is only several thousand yen (1000 yen = 10 US dollars).

“Based on images of MRI and CT scan of patient’s neck, researchers sent the design file to a 3D printer,” a 3DERs.org writer explained. “Composed by thin layers of titanium powder the 3D printed bone fit perfectly to the cervical spine. After an extra chemical and heat treatment the 3D printed bone was transplanted into the patient’s neck.”

The cost of making such artificial bones, including part of a skull, femur and spine? Only several thousand yen per bone (1,000 yen = 10 US dollars).

As previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, the Maker Movement has used Atmel-powered 3D printers like MakerBot and RepRap for quite some time now, but it is quite clear that 3D printing recently entered a new and important stage in the medical space.

Will.i.am hearts Makers

Wikipedia describes the Maker Movement as a “contemporary culture or subculture representing a technology-based extension of DIY culture.”

Typical interests pursued by Maker culture include engineering-oriented projects such as electronics, Arduino-based robotics, 3D printing with Atmel-powered printers like the MakerBot or RepRap and the use of CNC tools.

Larry Magid, a technology journalist who writes for the San Jose Mercury News, recently noted that the Maker Movement is growing exponentially by taking advantage of 3D printers, inexpensive microcontrollers, robotics, CAD and the ability to control machines with computers, tablets and smartphones.

The truth is, says Magid, we are all Makers to a certain extent, even if some of us don’t know it yet.

“All of us – even Leonardo da Vinci – were late comers as far as the Maker movement is concerned,” he explained. “Our prehistoric ancestors millions of years ago, figured out how to turn stones into tools so that they could make things. Only they didn’t have fairs, books and websites to document the process.”

And now Will.i.am, the technophile founder of The Black Eyed Peas, has offered a ringing endorsement of the Maker Movement and related culture on Facebook.

“Every young person is going to be inspired to be a maker from now on,” said Will.i.am. “It’s like how everyone used to want to be a musician, an actor, an athlete — but a maker is what people are going to want to be.”

Indeed, as Arduino’s Massimo Banzi once famously noted, “You don’t need anyone’s permission to make something great.”

3D printing the 19th Century in 2013

Martin Galese, a 31-year-old lawyer in New York, routinely searches the USPTO (US Patent Office) archives for the design DNA of antique inventions. He then “reinterprets” them as design files for 3D printers like the Atmel-powered Makerbot and RepRap.

“If you look at the figures in older patents, the 19th century patents are really beautiful. They’re really works of art,” Galese recently told the New York Times.

“You’re holding the 19th century by way of something that was produced in the 21st century. There is so much more design in our world, so many more objects.”

Galese says he has already experimented with and printed a chopstick holder from the 1960s, a portable chess set from the 1940s, a pot scraper from 1875 and a 1989 bookmark / pen holder.

Additional 3D projects based on expired patents can be found on Martin’s blog or Thingverse.

Growing cartilage cells with 3D printing tech

Last month, we discussed how medical researchers successfully designed and printed a 3D splint to save the life of an infant born with severe tracheobronchomalacia – a serious birth defect that causes the airway to collapse.

And today we’re taking a closer look at how Melbourne scientists recently took a big step towards the development of “growing your own” cartilage to treat cancers, osteoarthritis and traumatic injuries.

According to the Australian Herald Sun, the pea-sized spheres of cartilage were grown over 28 days using stem cells taken from tissue under the kneecap.

Leveraging 3D printing technologies, the researchers managed to create a 3D scaffold on which to grow cartilage cells, or chondrocytes. Lead researcher Associate Professor Damian Myers said the above-mentioned procedure marked the first time true cartilage had been grown, as opposed to “fibrocartilage,” something which does not work in the long-term.

“It’s very exciting work, and we’ve done the hard yards to show that what we have cultured is what we want for use in surgery for cartilage repair,” he told the Herald Sun. “[Remember], a normal cartilage repair might only last a couple of years.”

Myers also noted that his long-term goal is advanced surgery for limb salvage and repair, including using a patient’s own stem cells to grow muscles, fat, bone and tendons.

And why not?

As previously discussed on Bits & Pieces, the Maker Movement has used Atmel-powered 3D printers like MakerBot and RepRap for quite some time now, although it is abundantly clear that 3D printing has entered a new and important stage in recent months, especially in the medical sphere.

3D printers are ready for prime time

The rapidly growing DIY Maker Movement has used Atmel-powered 3D printers such as MakerBot and RepRap for quite some time now, but it is clear that 3D printing has entered an important new stage in recent months.

Although it may take some time for 3D printers to find a home in every residence, one Michigan Technological University researcher believes that personal manufacturing, much like personal computing before it, is about to enter the mainstream in a big way.

“For the average American consumer, 3D printing is ready for showtime,” explained Associate Professor Joshua Pearce. “3D printers [may] have been the purview of a relative few aficionados, but that is changing fast. The reason is financial: the typical family can already save a great deal of money by making things with a 3D printer instead of buying them off the shelf.”

As Pearce notes, open-source 3D printers for home use typically have price tags ranging from about $350 to $2,000.

“[Plus], you don’t need to be an engineer or a professional technician to set up a 3D printer,” said Pearce. “Some can be set up in under half an hour, and even the RepRap can be built in a weekend by a reasonably handy do-it-yourselfer.”

Pearce also emphasized that 3D printing likely heralds a new world in which consumers have many more choices – where nearly everything can be customized.

“With the exponential growth of free designs and expansion of 3D printing, we are creating enormous potential wealth for everyone,” Pearce added. “It would be a different kind of capitalism, where you don’t need a lot of money to create wealth for yourself or even start a business.”

Interested in learning more about 3D printers from an academic perspective? Be sure to check out “Life-Cycle Economic Analysis of Distributed Manufacturing with Open-Source 3-D Printers,” by Joshua Pearce here.

3D-printed splint saves an infant’s life

The Maker Movement has used 3D printers like MakerBot and RepRap for quite some time now, but it is abundantly clear that 3D printing is quickly entering a new and important stage.

Indeed, just half a millennium after Johannes Gutenberg printed the bible, researchers designed and printed a 3D splint that saved the life of an infant born with severe tracheobronchomalacia – a serious birth defect that causes the airway to collapse.

And while similar surgeries have been performed with tissue donations and windpipes created from stem cells, this is the very first time 3D printing has been used to treat tracheobronchomalacia – at least in a live human. Previously, researchers tested 3D-printed, bioresorbable airway splints in porcine, or pig, animal models with severe, life-threatening tracheobronchomalacia.

“All of our work is physician inspired. Babies suffering from tracheobronchomalacia were brought to ear, nose and throat surgeons, but they didn’t have any treatment options,” said Matthew Wheeler, a University of Illinois Professor of Animal Sciences and member of the Regenerative Biology and Tissue Engineering research theme at the Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB). “They turned to us to engineer a cure.”

According to Wheeler, Kaiba (KEYE’-buh) Gionfriddo was six weeks old when he suddenly stopped breathing and turned blue at a restaurant with his parents. As a result of severe tracheobronchomalacia, his heart would often stop beating, and despite the aid of a mechanical ventilator, he had to be resuscitated daily by doctors.

April and Bryan Gionfriddo believed their son’s chance of survival was slim until Marc Nelson, a doctor at Akron Children’s Hospital in Ohio, told them researchers at the University of Michigan were testing airway splints similar to those used in Wheeler’s study. After obtaining emergency clearance from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Scott Hollister, a professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Michigan, and U-M associate professor of pediatric otolaryngology Glenn Green, used computer-guided lasers to print, stack, and fuse thin layers of plastic to make up Kaiba’s splint.

Ultimately, the splint was sewn around Kaiba’s airway to expand his collapsed bronchus and provide support for tissue growth. A slit in the side of the splint allows it to expand as Kaiba’s airway grows. In about three years, after Kaiba’s trachea has reconstructed itself, his body will reabsorb the splint as the PCL naturally degrades. His success story provides hope for other children born with this disorder, an estimated 1 in 2,100 births.

“It’s not very rare. It’s really not. I think it’s very rewarding to all of us to know that we are contributing to helping treat or even cure this disease,” Wheeler added.

“We have a reputation for being excellent in this area. We would like to capitalize on the expertise and the facilities that we have here to continue to conduct life-saving research. I’m hoping that this story will encourage more people come to us and say ‘Hey, we’d like to develop this model.’”