Bionics
Researchers have tested 3D printing directly onto our bodies. In the work, a pressure sensor was printed directly on a dummy hand is a step toward new biomedical devices, "on the fly" wearable technology, and more.
Wearable technology may soon be at your fingertips, and we mean literally. Researchers have developed a new pressure sensor that can be 3D printed directly onto your hand. The device is sensitive enough to detect a pulse and is made from soft, stretchy silicone that conforms to the curves of your fingertip.
"Using only raw materials, you can make basically any type of device -- that's a complete paradigm shift that hasn't been implemented before."
According to Michael McAlpine, a materials scientist at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, it is a step toward a more seamless integration of human and machine, His team has only printed out the devices on dummy hands for now. "But," he said, "it sets the stage for future work in 3D printing electronic devices directly on the body."This 3D printing method was part of research published recently in the journal Advanced Materials. It could produce gadgets without the cleanrooms and fancy equipment needed to make most devices today, McAlpine said.
Conventional 3D printing uses liquid plastic which are much too hot when melted for printing and too stiff after cooling to work with the body. In recent years, though, researchers have also explored using other kinds of "ink" to 3D print everything from batteries to biological tissues.
What's unique about the new tactile sensor, is the combination of soft, stretchable silicone-based ink that firms up at room temperature, and the ability to print on the complex, curved surface of an artificial hand.
While the sensor itself is relatively simple, serving mainly as a demonstration of the 3D printing technique, the researchers showed it's good enough to feel a real human pulse.
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More sophisticated versions could be printed onto the ends of surgical tools to give a surgeon a virtual sense of touch during an operation, McAlpine suggested. Such a system would be helpful in laparoscopic surgery, for example, a minimally invasive procedure in which the surgeon operates through small incisions in the body, aided only by a video camera inserted into the patient.In the more distant future, a tactile sensor might give you an enhanced sense of touch. Hooked to a neural feedback system, it might also return some feeling to, say, a burn victim. Or, a sensor on a robot could give it the ability to feel.
Even before 3D printing on your body becomes a thing, the research does have great potential for the development of more pliant devices. Also, the ability to print functional things on curved surfaces will allow for the integration of 3D printing with other technologies that are prolific in our world.
The researchers are now working on a method to 3D print on a moving surface, like a real human hand that naturally trembles a little. Ultimately, they want to use this technique to 3-D print integrated devices, containing multiple types of sensors and a power source, for example. An individual device such as this tactile sensor, McAlpine said, is just the beginning.
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