3-D printers help save lives from virus in Italy

Yahoo – AFP, Arman SOLDIN, March 24, 2020

The margin of error for the 3-D printing, shown here, of Venturi respirator valves
is tiny (AFP Photo/Handout)

Rome (AFP) - They may not be a miracle cure or a vaccine, but respirator valves from 3-D printers have helped coronavirus patients breathe a little easer in the Italian epicentre of COVID-19.

Italy has thrown everything at a pandemic that has killed more than 6,000 people in just a month, more than anywhere else.

Hospitals in the northern Italian heart of the outbreak have had to make life-and-death decisions about which patients to try and save, and which to send home.

There are not enough beds, doctors, equipment -- and the severe cases keep flooding in.

Italy's death rate slowed slightly between Saturday and Monday, giving a glimmer of hope that the end is in sight.

Still, the Mediterranean country registered more than 2,000 fatalities and 16,000 confirmed infections in the three-day span.

Currently, more than 3,200 intensive care patients are receiving treatment for COVID-19.

Into this unfolding disaster stepped Alessandro Romaioli, a young engineer from an Italian company called Isinnova, which specialises in 3-D printing.

The company's usual products include earthquake sensors and bicycle parts.

But that changed when a local newspaper in Brescia, where the death and infection rates are among the highest in the world, contacted Romaioli and his startup, trying to find ways to help the city's overwhelmed hospital.

"They were asking if it was possible to 3-D-print Venturi valves" -- a critical part of a respirator machine -- Romaioli told AFP in a Skype interview from Brescia.

Romaioli had no idea.

The Isinnova team went to the hospital for a closer look at the part. They then drafted a blueprint for use by the 3-D printer.

No one was sure it would work because the margin of error for such valves is tiny.

"We printed four prototypes and brought them back to the hospital," Romaioli said. "And they told us they worked."

'Fantastic!'

The Brescia hospital staff were ecstatic.

"They tested them on patients and the results were excellent. They told us: 'Fantastic! Now we need 100 more of these'."

Mauro Borelli, the hospital director, was effusive in his praise for the printers.

"Our respirator valves had run out and we no longer knew how to give oxygen to our patients," Romaioli told the Il Fatto Quotidiano daily.

"The 3-D printing saved us."

Isinnova has also adapted diving masks so that they can be connected to respirators, and numerous other companies are trying to give a similar helping hand.

Calzedonia, an Italian fashion brand that usually makes lingerie and hosiery, said its plants began daily production of 10,000 face masks on Monday.

It promises to ramp up production to help meet seemingly endless demand.

Other companies retooling their equipment to help battle the stealth killer include Macron, an Italian sports apparel company, which is using its factories in China to produce masks, gloves and doctors' gowns.

The Italian-American automaker Fiat-Chrysler, which has suspended production across Europe, has pledged to make one million masks by May.

‘World’s first’ 3D printed bike bridge opens in Brabant

DutchNews, October 17, 2017

Open for business. Photo: Paulien van de Loo /HH

What is being claimed as the world’s first 3D printed bike bridge opened in Gemert, a small town in Noord-Brabant province on Tuesday morning, the AD reported. 

Work began on printing the eight-metre long concrete bridge in June and the construction was lowered into position in September. 

The bridge, printed in 1cm layers of concrete, is a joint production between students at Eindhoven University of Technology and construction group BAM Infra. 

‘With 3D printing, you have more flexibility regarding the shape of the product,’ BAM director Marinus Schimmel said at the start of the project. ‘In addition, 3D printing a bridge is also incredibly efficient.. you need less concrete and there are no CO2 emissions’ 

The bike bridge is part of a new road project linking the N605 with the N272. 

Related Article:

Dutch open 'world's first 3D-printed bridge'

Cheap 3D printed prosthetics could be game changer for Nepal

Yahoo – AFP, July 21, 2017

Leprosy sufferer Ram uses his new 3D printed prosthetic hand

Ram's new hand was manufactured on a 3D printer in Nepal's capital for just $30, an innovation that could be a game changer for many in the impoverished Himalayan country.

Once a farmer, Ram lost his hands and toes within a few years of contracting leprosy, forcing the father-of-three to turn to begging in a desperate bid to feed his family.

That's where he was spotted by US-born Matthew Rockwell, the founder of Disaster Hack, a non-profit technology startup that is making functional prosthetic hands for those who couldn't otherwise afford them.

Disaster Hack makes its money doing tech consulting and teaching people to code, while running altruistic ventures on the side like teaching Nepalis IT skills and manufacturing low-cost, basic prosthetics.

Rockwell -- who flits between Nepal and the US, where he is part of the tech team behind the annual Burning Man festival in Nevada's Black Rock Desert -- brought a 3D printer to Kathmandu after a powerful earthquake struck the country in 2015.

Soon, he began printing new hands for those in need: a girl who lost both limbs after being electrocuted by hanging power lines, a construction worker whose hand was crushed beyond repair.

Disaster Hack founder Matthew Rockwell (R) attaches a 3D printed prosthetic 

hand to leprosy sufferer Ram's arm in Kathmandu

"We've only distributed to five so far but we have a list that keeps on growing," said Rockwell, sitting in a cramped office in Kathmandu, the 3D printer whirling behind him.

Recycled materials

Rockwell only has the capacity to make hands at the moment -- a leg requires a more heavy-duty printer -- but he has identified more than 7,000 people in Nepal who could benefit from Disaster Hack's creations.

"A traditional prosthesis costs anywhere between $1000 to $3000 to $5000," Rockwell explained.

"Now we're able to produce prostheses for right around $30 so it (3D printing) lowers the cost dramatically for a functional prosthesis."

Rockwell hopes to bring down the cost even further by recycling plastic bottle tops to make the wire that feeds the printer.

Nepal's healthcare sector is chronically underfunded and ill-equipped but 3D printing can reduce both the cost and time it takes to bring medical equipment to those who need it most.

Nepal's healthcare sector is chronically underfunded and ill-equipped but 3D 

printing can reduce both the cost and time it takes to bring medical equipment

to those who need it most

The 3D printed hands being manufactured by Disaster Hack take nearly a full day to print, and are comprised of roughly 20 different parts.

Rockwell hopes the mostly volunteer-run project will sow the seeds for something bigger.

He has now trained 20 prosthetists at hospitals in Nepal in 3D printing, and signed a deal with Kathmandu's largest university to set up the country's first biomedical 3D printing lab.

Meanwhile for Ram, a new hand could mean a chance to give up begging.

"What should I say, I have nothing to eat. If I stay here I make 100 rupees ($0.97), 50 rupees," he said from his daily spot on the corner of a busy intersection.

He lifted the new prosthetic hand, and as he slowly contracted the plastic fingers to make a fist, a smile spread across his face.

This 15-year-old won $25,000 for devising a genius way to harvest energy from the ocean

Business Insider, Tanya Lewis,  Oct. 14, 2015

Hannah Herbst wants to bring renewable energy to the developing world.

The 15-year-old from Boca Raton, Florida, won this year's Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge for designing a probe to generate power and fresh water for developing countries by harvesting it from ocean currents.

She was awarded $25,000 and the title of "America's Top Young Scientist" at a competition at the 3M Innovation Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Herbst told Business Insider she was inspired by her 9-year-old pen pal in Ethiopia who has limited access to electricity. "I cant even imagine a day without electricity," said Herbst.

How the device works

Herbst's energy probe is made of recycled materials and costs just $12.

It consists of a 3D-printed propeller, connected by a pulley inside a plastic PVC pipe to a hydroelectric generator, which converts the mechanical movement of ocean currents to usable electricity. She tested her device in the Boca Raton Intracoastal Waterway, where the current coming in from the Altantic Ocean produces a large amount of untapped energy.

Using her device, she was able to power a set of LED lights.

She calculated that if her design were scaled up, she could generate enough electricity to charge three car batteries at once in less than an hour. That's enough energy to power saltwater desalinization pumps to provide a source of fresh water for developing countries. It could also power blood centrifuges for medical use, or coastal beacons for ship navigation.

The competitors

Herbst was one of nine finalists.

Over the past three months, each of them was paired with a 3M scientist as part of a summer mentoring program to take their inventions from design to prototype.

Herbst worked with 3M corporate scientist Jeffrey Emslander, whose research has helped the company reduce its emissions and produce its products using less energy. Here they are accepting the award:

The competition's second place prize went to Raghav Ganesh, an eighth grader from San Jose, California, for an invention that monitors physiological and environmental factors that can trigger meltdowns in people with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Third place went to Amulya Garimella, a seventh grader from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who created a system that monitors EEG brainwaves and alerts the user when he or she is distracted.

Iris Gupta, a seventh grader from North Potomac, Maryland, won fourth place for her project to stop allergies at their source by inhalation or injection of nanoparticles that block particles that trigger allergies.

As for Herbst, she plans to donate some of her winnings to her Ethiopian pen pal, and a new building at her school. The rest will go into her college fund, she said.

She also plans to keep working with her 3M mentor to improve her ocean energy device, and eventually deploy it in developing countries.

Related Articles:

Tidal energy project kicks off in the Netherlands

Green light for world’s largest planned tidal energy project in Scotland
Pentland Firth tidal turbine project given consent

Giant tidal turbine 'performing well' in tests off Orkney


"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much….”

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“... Japan

Let us talk for a moment about Japan, and then I'll close the day of messages. There are thousands of souls on my side of the veil and they're just fine, more than fine. We have spoken so often of what happens at the Wind of Birth. I told you, before they even came in, they saw the potential. I looked in their eyes. "You may not last long. You know that, don't you? You're coming into this planet and you may not be here very long. And the passing that you will have with your family will not be pleasant, if any ever are. Why would you come in anyway?" I want to tell you what they said. When a soul has the mind of God, it understands fully what generates peace and what generates energy shift. You can clearly see what generates what the planet needs the most when you are about to arrive. So they said, "We're going to be part of one of the biggest compassion events the planet has ever seen." One earthquake, one tsunami. All of those who left that day will change the earth forever. And it already has. It was the same for the last tsunami as well.

Every single one of them on my side of the veil is getting ready to come back. Many old souls were involved, and just for a moment, if they could give you any information, if they could talk to you right now, if they could speak your language and look into your eyes, they would thank you for your compassion for them and those who are left. And they would say, "Be with those family members who are still alive. Enter their hearts every day and give them peace and keep them from crying, because we're OK."

Nuclear Power Revealed

So let me tell you what else they did. They just showed you what's wrong with nuclear power. "Safe to the maximum," they said. "Our devices are strong and cannot fail." But they did. They are no match for Gaia.

It seems that for more than 20 years, every single time we sit in the chair and speak of electric power, we tell you that hundreds of thousands of tons of push/pull energy on a regular schedule is available to you. It is moon-driven, forever. It can make all of the electricity for all of the cities on your planet, no matter how much you use. There's no environmental impact at all. Use the power of the tides, the oceans, the waves in clever ways. Use them in a bigger way than any designer has ever put together yet, to power your cities. The largest cities on your planet are on the coasts, and that's where the power source is. Hydro is the answer. It's not dangerous. You've ignored it because it seems harder to engineer and it's not in a controlled environment. Yet, you've chosen to build one of the most complex and dangerous steam engines on Earth - nuclear power.

We also have indicated that all you have to do is dig down deep enough and the planet will give you heat. It's right below the surface, not too far away all the time. You'll have a Gaia steam engine that way, too. There's no danger at all and you don't have to dig that far. All you have to do is heat fluid, and there are some fluids that boil far faster than water. So we say it again and again. Maybe this will show you what's wrong with what you've been doing, and this will turn the attitudes of your science to create something so beautiful and so powerful for your grandchildren. Why do you think you were given the moon? Now you know.

This benevolent Universe gave you an astral body that allows the waters in your ocean to push and pull and push on the most regular schedule of anything you know of. Yet there you sit enjoying just looking at it instead of using it. It could be enormous, free energy forever, ready to be converted when you design the methods of capturing it. It's time.

So in closing, do you understand what you're seeing? You're seeing intelligent design, quantum energy and high consciousness. You are seeing changes in Human nature. You're seeing countries putting things together instead of separating. You are seeing those who don't want war and instead want peace, good schools for their children, safety in their streets and a say in their government. We told you it was going to happen this way. I want my partner to teach these things that I have said in his 3D lectures for awhile. Many won't be able to know these things otherwise.  …”

Delft students take prestigious synthetic biology prize

DutchNews,September 29, 2015

A team of students from TU Delft has won several prizes at the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition in Boston. 

Their Biolinker project took the overall prize making them the best team in the world, and also won best hardware project, best wiki (website) and best applied design. 

The Biolinker is a 3D printer made from K’NEX construction toy parts which the team of nine students uses to create biofilms – thin layers of bacteria or micro-organisms. 

Over 200 teams from around the world took part in the iGEM competition, held between September 24 and 28. It is the largest student competition in the field of synthetic biology.

Related Articles:

Intel invests €45m in Delft University quantum computer centre

Third Dutch biotech firm this year is bought by a major player

Jiangsu surgeon uses 3D printing to map child's heart surgery

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-08-20

A 3D printer on display at the 3rd China-South Asia Expo in Kunming,
Yunnan province, June 13. (File photo/CNS)

Doctors in east China's Jiangsu province recently used a 3D-printed heart to plan a surgery for a nine-month old baby with congenital heart disease.

The baby boy, from Anhui province, was found with five holes in his heart chambers after birth. The child underwent surgery at Nanjing Children's Hospital on July 3 and had three holes closed. The other two were left open due to difficulty locating them accurately using a b-scan.

Planning the second procedure, surgeon Sun Jian and his team created a 3D printed model of the child's heart in order to better locate the holes. The second operation was carried out on July 21 and went smoothly, Sun said.

Currently the child is in stable condition and recovering.

This is likely the first time 3D technology was used in curing a child's congenital heart disease in China, Sun said.

"The technology is a blessing for children with complicated heart deformities. The printed heart model can help doctors better understand the anatomical structure of the heart before operation," he said.

"With the development of 3D technology and material, the technology will be more widely used in medicine in the future," he said.

"However, there are still obstacles. Professionals of 3D technology are strangers to medicine while doctors usually know nothing about 3D technology. The two areas need to have more exchanges."

Related Articles:

3D printing helps separate conjoined twins in Shanghai

3D printers get Ugandan amputees back on their feet

Robot to 3D-print steel canal bridge in Amsterdam

Yahoo – AFP, 16 June 2015

An artist’s visualisation of the 3D bridge which a Dutch company is planning
to print across an Amsterdam canal (AFP Photo/Joris Laarman)

The Hague (AFP) - A Dutch startup has unveiled plans to build the world's first 3D-printed bridge across an Amsterdam canal, a technique that could become standard on future construction sites.

Using robotic printers "that can 'draw' steel structures in 3D, we will print a (pedestrian) bridge over water in the centre of Amsterdam," engineering startup company MX3D said in a statement, hoping to kick off the project by September.

The plan involves robotic arm printers 'walking' across the canal as it slides along the bridge's edges, essentially printing its own support structure out of thin air as it moves along.

Specially-designed robotic arms heat the metal to a searing 1,500 degrees Celsius (around 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit) to painstakingly weld the structure drop-by-drop, using a computer programme to plot the sophisticated design.

"The underlying principle is very simple. We have connected an advanced welding machine to an industrial robot arm," said the bridge's designer Joris Laarman.

"We now use our own intelligent software to operate these machines so they can print very complex metal shapes which can differ each time," Laarman said of the project also involving the Heijmans construction company and Autodesk software.

So far, the robotic arm has been used to print smaller metal structures, but the bridge will be the first ever large-scale deployment of the technology, MX3D spokeswoman Eva James told AFP.

It is hoped that the bridge will be a first step towards seeing the technique used on construction sites, especially those involving dangerous tasks such as on high buildings, she said.

The technique also removes the need for scaffolding as the robot arms use the very structure they print as support.

The designers are now in talks with the Amsterdam city council to find a site for the project which they hope will be completed by mid-2017.

"I strongly believe in the future of digital manufacturing and local production," said Laarman. "It's a new form of craftsmanship."

"This bridge can show how 3D printing has finally entered the world of large-scale functional objects and sustainable materials," he said.

Amsterdam city council spokeswoman Charlene Verweij told AFP the Dutch capital was supporting the project.

"We are still in negotiations as to where exactly the bridge will be built," she said.

3D printing helps separate conjoined twins in Shanghai

Want China Times, Xinhua and Staff Reporter 2015-06-10

The twins after the procedure to separate them, June 9. (Photo/Xinhua)

With the help of 3D printing technology, doctors in Shanghai on Tuesday successfully separated three-month-old twin sisters who were conjoined at the hip.

The twins, born in Ganzhou in Jiangxi province, were connected by soft tissues at the hip and lower spine. They had mostly separate digestive systems but shared one lower bowel.

After a five-hour operation at the Children's Hospital of Fudan University in Shanghai, the twins were separated and both underwent reconstruction work on the anus, perineum and muscle surrounding the rectum.

Chief surgeon Zheng Shan said the medical team used 3D printing to build two models to represent the structure of the babies' connected parts, which helped them better understand the anatomical structure and carry out simulated surgery when making plans for the procedure.

Since 2000, the hospital has successfully separated seven pairs of conjoined twins.

3D printers get Ugandan amputees back on their feet

Yahoo – AFP, Amy Fallon, 2 June 2015

Ugandan schoolboy Jesse Ayebazibwe, 9, sits next to his 3D-printed artificial

 limb at the Comprehensive Rehabilitation Services Uganda in Wakiso on April 24,

2015 (AFP Photo/Isaac Kasamani)

Kisubi (Uganda) (AFP) - Doctors amputated Ugandan schoolboy Jesse Ayebazibwe's right leg when he was hit by a truck while walking home from school three years ago.

Afterwards he was given crutches, but that was all, and so he hobbled about. "I liked playing like a normal kid before the accident," the nine-year-old said.

Now an infrared scanner, a laptop and a pair of 3D printers are changing everything for Jesse and others like him, offering him the chance of a near-normal life.

An infrared scanner, a laptop and a pair 

of 3D printers are changing everything 

for people with amputations, offering them

 the chance of a near-normal life in Uganda

(AFP Photo/Isaac Kasamani)

"The process is quite short, that's the beauty of the 3D printers," said Moses Kaweesa, an orthopaedic technologist at Comprehensive Rehabilitation Services (CoRSU) in Uganda which, together with Canada's University of Toronto and the charity Christian Blind Mission, is making the prostheses.

"Jesse was here yesterday, today he's being fitted," said Kaweesa, 34.

In the past, the all-important plaster cast sockets that connect prosthetic limbs to a person's hip took about a week to make, and were often so uncomfortable people ended up not wearing them.

Plastic printed ones can be made in a day and are a closer, more comfortable fit.

The scanner, laptop and printer cost around $12,000 (10,600 euros), with the materials costing just $3 (2.65 euros).

Ayebazibwe got his first, old-style prosthesis last year but is now part of a trial that could lead to the 3D technology changing lives across the country.

Life-changing technology

The technology is only available to a few, however, and treatment for disability in Uganda in general remains woeful.

"There's no support from the government for disabled people," said Kaweesa. "We have a disability department and a minister for disabled people, but they don't do anything."

There are just 12 trained prosthetic technicians for over 250,000 children who have lost limbs, often due to fires or congenital diseases.

The 3D technology is portable and allows technicians to work on multiple patients at a time, increasing the reach of their life-changing intervention.

Plastic 3-D printed prosthetic limbs can

 be made in a day and are a closer,

 more comfortable fit then the previous

 plaster cast models (AFP Photo/Isaac

Kasamani)

"You can travel with your laptop and scanner," said Kaweesa, adding that the technology could be of great use in northern Uganda, a part of the country where many people lost limbs during decades of war between the government and Lord's Resistance Army rebels, who specialised in chopping off limbs.

After receiving his first 3D socket Ayebazibwe was overjoyed. "I felt good, like my normal leg," he said. "I can do anything now -- run and play football."

The boy's 53-year old grandmother, Florence Akoth, looks after him, even carrying him the two kilometres (miles) to school after his leg was crushed and his life shattered. She too is thrilled.

"Now he's liked at school, plays, does work, collects firewood and water," said Akoth, who struggles to make ends meet as a poorly-paid domestic worker caring for five children.

Sitting on a bench outside the CoRSU fitting room were three young children and their parents.

"This is her first time walking on two legs," said Kaweesa, pointing at a timid young girl who lost both her legs in a fire.

"Because they've seen other kids walking, playing, they realise they've been missing that," he said "Once you fit them they start walking and even running."

Successful test of rocket engine parts made by 3D printer in China

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-04-25

A model of the world's first 3D printed rocket on display at an office in
central London, Oct. 10, 2014. (Photo/CFP)

Amid the increasing use of 3D printing techniques in the global industrial sector, Europe and the United States have begun using 3D printed engine parts in to test rocket and aircraft engines. China has followed suit in this regard.

According to China Aerospace Science & Industry Corporation, a research institute under the corporation recently recorded a successful engine test in which the engine included parts made using 3D printers, marking a breakthrough in China's ability to produce 3D printed rocket engine parts.

In order to address the complicated composition and high cost of engine igniters, the institute has experimented with adopting 3D printing techniques in the process of producing igniter enclosures, teaming up with local printing companies to create the first batches of the 3D printed enclosures.

The success came after a series of preparations, including extensive research into 3D printing, hundreds of samples and ignition tests, according to Chinese website Guancha Syndicate.

The institute will continue to expand the application of 3D printing techniques and use them in the production of various types of enclosures for igniters and other engine parts, in an effort to reduce costs in engine production.

Compared with traditional techniques, 3D printing techniques have the advantages of lower costs and better flexibility in molding and the techniques have caught the attention of the global aviation industry.

The use of 3D printing in the production of engine parts can meet the industry's need for speedy production, which means a significant step forward in China's engine design and production capabilities.

China plays a leading role in 3D printing techniques and has invented several different kinds of 3D printers. Such techniques have also been applied to the production of aviation materials.

For example, the use of high quality metal alloys can meet the needs of both the aviation and defense industries. So far, large-sized 3D printing equipment has been used in the defense industry, including in the production of China's indigenous J-15 and FC-31 fighters.

3D printed organs offer ultra-realistic practice models

Yahoo – AFP, Shingo Ito, 10 March 2015

Professor Toshiaki Morikawa (L) gives a lesson while using a 3D-printed 

lung at the Jikei University hospital in Tokyo (AFP Photo/Yoshikazu Tsuno)

An incision from the surgeon's scalpel sends liquid oozing over the surface of a the lung, but on this occasion it doesn't matter if something goes wrong -- the doctor can simply create another model with a 3D printer.

The ultra-realistic lung -- wet, soft, and complete with tumours and blood vessels -- is one of a range of organs being produced by a Japanese firm that will allow surgeons to hone their skills without hurting anyone.

"With the wet model, doctors can experience the softness of organs and see them bleed," said Tomohiro Kinoshita of creator Fasotec, a company based in Chiba, southeast of Tokyo.

"We aim to help doctors improve their skills with the models," he added.

Professor Toshiaki Morikawa holds a 

3D-printed lung at the Jikei University hospital

in Tokyo (AFP Photo/Yoshikazu Tsuno)

From guns to cars, prosthetics and works of art, 3D printing is predicted to transform our lives in the coming decades, researchers say, as dramatically as the Internet did before it.

The so-called Biotexture Wet Model, which will come onto the market for surgery training and medical equipment-testing in Japan in as early as April, is created by scanning a real organ in minute detail and creating molds on a 3D printer.

That shell is then injected with gel-type synthetic resin to give it a wet, lifelike feeling in the surgeon's hands.

Each one is designed to exactly mimic the texture and weight of a real organ so it can react to the surgical knife in exactly the same way.

'Close to living organ'

Maki Sugimoto, a medical doctor who has tried samples, said the wet models are almost "too realistic".

Seen without their context, he said, it would be easy to mistake them for the real thing.

"The touch is similar to that of the real liver," said Sugimoto, who is also a special instructor at Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine in Kobe, western Japan.

"I suppose that not only young, inexperienced doctors but also experienced doctors can perform a better operation if they can have a rehearsal first," he said.

Toshiaki Morikawa, a medical doctor at Jikei University Hospital in Tokyo, also said: "The current models are too simple and details of anatomy are not accurately reflected."

"But this is obviously superior as it's produced precisely and is very close to the living organ in quality," he said.

For Morikawa, the world of 3D printing, which works by building up layers of material, offers endless possibilities for medicine, including maybe one day functional organs for use in transplants.

"Considering future progress in life sciences, I think it is an urgent and significant theme that this outstanding technology should be modified for application to biology," he said.

Fasotec began pre-sales of wet model bladders and urethral tubes in October, with a price tag of 15,000 yen ($127).

The firm plans to expand sales overseas and has already received enquiries from other Asian countries, the company's Kinoshita said.

Taiwan's 3D printer 'da Vinci' wins Nikkei excellent product award

Want China Times, CNA 2015-01-09

The da Vinci 1.0 3D printer. (Photo courtesy of XYZprinting)

A Taiwanese brand won a Nikkei Asian Review Award for Excellence for the first time at the 2014 Nikkei Superior Products and Services Awards on Tuesday when XYZprinting Inc. took the honor for its 3D printer.

The da Vinci 1.0 3D printer, which went on sale at stores in Japan in March 2014, won the award because of its affordable price, ease of handling and attractive exterior design, XYZprinting said in a statement on Tuesday.

XYZprinting CEO Simon Shen said his company was encouraged by winning the Nikkei award and will continue to develop products that make it easier for consumers to enjoy using 3D printers.

Nikkei has been recognizing superior new products and services every year since 1982, when it launched the "Nikkei Outstanding Product of the Year Awards." The awards name was changed to the current name in 1987.

Nominations are not based on public application or participation. Instead, Nikkei selects candidate products and services on its own every September to November and then has a panel of judges select some 40 winning products and services at the end of the year.

Prior to earning a Nikkei award, the da Vinci 1.0 was selected for an Editor's Choice Award at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2013. It also received Computex Taipei's Best Choice Award in June last year.

XYZprinting, a unit of Taiwanese electronics conglomerate Kinpo Group, told the press in November last year that it plans to ship 120,000 3D printers globally in 2015, triple an estimated 40,000 units in 2014, due to a wider offering of products.

3D printing is the automated process of making a three-dimensional solid object of virtually any shape based on a digital model. The technology is already changing the design, prototyping and manufacturing processes in a wide range of industries, according to market research firm Gartner.

China produces first 3D printer for use in outer space

Want ChinaTimes, Xinhua 2014-12-10

Wang Lianfeng operates China's first space-based 3D printer at
Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, Dec. 7. (Photo/Xinhua)

Scientists have produced a 3D printing machine, the first of its kind in China, which astronauts will be able to use while on space missions, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASTC) on Monday.

The machine is capable of printing optical lens brackets used in spaceborne equipment, complicated components used in nuclear power testing equipment, impellers used in aircraft research and special-shaped gears used in automobile engines, said Wang Lianfeng, a senior engineer with CASTC Shanghai's research arm.

The machine, which uses both long-wave fiber and short-wave carbon dioxide lasers, can produce items smaller than 250 millimeters.

The machine, which looks like a gray cabinet, can fashion items out of stainless steel, titanium alloy and nickel-based superalloy.

"The products made will have to be tested thoroughly, due to the strict quality requirements of aerospace products," said Wang, adding that the prospect for 3D printing is promising.

Additive manufacturing, which 3D printing is also known as, is the processes in which three-dimensional objects are made through the layering of material. It is advancing rapidly and is increasingly used for industrial purposes.