[SCIENCE!] 3D Printed Exoskeleton Helps Toddler Overcome Muscular Disorder

[Shyria Dracnoir]

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Main website for the WREX program (http://www.nemours.org/research/labcenter/orthopedics/perl/wrex.html)

Meet Emma. She's two years old and suffers from arthrogryposis multiplex congenita, a rare disorder that makes moving her arms extremely difficult. But with the aid of Dr. Tariq Rahman, Whitney Sample, and her custom-fit, 3D-printed Wilmington Robotic Exoskeleton, Emma now has the strength to lift her arms and play like any toddler.

Figured this was as good a chance as any to balance out the negativity in this subforum. I'm happy to see this girl get the chance to experience a world that her disability would have blocked off to her, and I'm hoping as the technology spreads more kids get that same opportunity.

[Gregness]

My school's actually installing a 3-d printer for general student use. (http://www.unr.edu/nevada-today/news/2012/3d-copier)

Of course, as a computer science student I'm not sure when I'll have an excuse to use it...

[Melfice]

My school's actually installing a 3-d printer for general student use. (http://www.unr.edu/nevada-today/news/2012/3d-copier)

Of course, as a computer science student I'm not sure when I'll have an excuse to use it...

... break your mouse.
"SORRY BOSS, NEED TO USE THE 3D PRINTER TO PRINT A NEW MOUSE"

And then "accidentally" print... I don't know. Whatever the hell you like, I guess.

[rpgdemon]

Print another printer.

(There is an open source 3D printer that can do this.)

[Aerozord]

Oh the early stages of nano-fabrication technology. Yes I know this isn't but personally I feel the method 3D printers use (building objects a layer at a time) is likely what nano-fabrication will use just on a smaller more precise scale. I mean if we can get this concept to produce say, food, we just kicked the scarcity market in the balls.


Figured this was as good a chance as any to balance out the negativity in this subforum.
Do not underestimate the internet. Sure someone will find a reason to bring some hot button issue in here.

[Locke cole]

Print another printer.

(There is an open source 3D printer that can do this.)

How does it do this? how does it fit another copy of itself into its own "tray"?

[Sifright]

How does it do this? how does it fit another copy of itself into its own "tray"?

by printing them in parts that can be assembled ?

[Aerozord]

by printing them in parts that can be assembled ?

or printing progressively smaller printers. Which kind of makes me want to make a 3D Printer matryoshka

[rpgdemon]

by printing them in parts that can be assembled ?

This is how it is done. It prints out it's component parts, and you plunk them together.

If you are interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RepRap_Project

[Aldurin]

This is how it is done. It prints out it's component parts, and you plunk them together.

If you are interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RepRap_Project

So the machines will kill us somehow . .

[Doc ock rokc]

man 3D printers are so freaking awesome. I despitely want to buy and build one. I especially since recently a brilliant sob has almost perfected the ability to print microchips.

[Locke cole]

I'm especially interested in printing organs for transplants. Grow a cell culture from the organ in question off of the person who needs it, print an organ with that, and voila, a transplantable organ that will not be rejected by the body.

Just... man, there's so many applications for these machines.

[Sithdarth]

Printing organs like that isn't really a smart thing to do. Firstly generally speaking the orientations of cells in an organ don't lend themselves to printing. They generally aren't stacked like little bricks. Secondly organs really aren't rigid they are basically squishy sacks of fluid which would collapse as you printed without proper support. Then you have all the logistics of making a printer head that can print cells at the proper resolution without killing them as well as finding a way to make them bind together properly.

The better option is just to culture the cells (like you would do to make the ink for the 3D printer) on directly on a scaffold that looks like the organ you need. This as already been done for rats and requires basically no engineering. Its not even really slower than printing an organ either when you factor in the time it would take to culture the cells for the ink. The scaffold could potentially be 3D printed but you can just as easily take say a pig organ wash away everything that isn't cartilage and grow human cells on that. This leaves you with a rejection free human organ with the exact DNA of the person you cultured the cells from. The only real challenge is culturing the cells, which has already been done, no need for any complex engineering solutions.

Hmm I guess we've actually progressed to Human trials. (http://abcnews.go.com/Health/lab-grown-custom-organs-future-medicine/story?id=16631764#.UB6E2vZlSus) That's farther than I thought.

[Locke cole]

Oh, well there we go then. I was just parroting an article I heard of before.

[Aerozord]

I hope this doesn't make me the guy that injects negativity in this but I wanted some actual opinions

Do you think 3D printers will accelerate or slow the advancement of nano-fabrication? While this could be seen as forerunner of nano-fabrication much the same way the steam engine came before internal combustion engine. Though on the other hand humans are slower to advance on technology if an adequate one already exists. 3D printers can build alot so people might not worry too much that they cant make a steak dinner or HDD (actually not sure they cant do this)

[Sifright]

I hope this doesn't make me the guy that injects negativity in this but I wanted some actual opinions

Do you think 3D printers will accelerate or slow the advancement of nano-fabrication? While this could be seen as forerunner of nano-fabrication much the same way the steam engine came before internal combustion engine. Though on the other hand humans are slower to advance on technology if an adequate one already exists. 3D printers can build alot so people might not worry too much that they cant make a steak dinner or HDD (actually not sure they cant do this)

Nano technology as in nanites like in science fiction? Or nano technology as in anything being created on the nano scale?

Because the nanites idea is totally never going to be a thing. it's simply isn't possible to have something that small and have it able to process more than one particular substance.

Where as building things in the nanoscale is something that will increasingly be done regardless.

[Aerozord]

Nano technology as in nanites like in science fiction? Or nano technology as in anything being created on the nano scale?

Because the nanites idea is totally never going to be a thing. it's simply isn't possible to have something that small and have it able to process more than one particular substance.

Where as building things in the nanoscale is something that will increasingly be done regardless.

neither, I mean building macro-objects from the nanoscale (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanofactory), literally rearranging molecular bonds to build anything as long as you have the correct atoms to make it allowing you to, for example, turn carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen into any organic material you want. You of course can also define it as molecular precise construction where you still need the proper molecular chains but would get the job done for just about any inorganic object you'd like.

[Doc ock rokc]

neither, I mean building macro-objects from the nanoscale (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanofactory), literally rearranging molecular bonds to build anything as long as you have the correct atoms to make it allowing you to, for example, turn carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen into any organic material you want. You of course can also define it as molecular precise construction where you still need the proper molecular chains but would get the job done for just about any inorganic object you'd like.

Most likely 3dprinting wouldn't slow the process down.