If it's possible to 3D print blood vessels, robots, and guns, then why shouldn't you be able to 3D print your own personal electronics? Well, now you can -- in the lab at least.
University of Warwick researchers have developed a conductive plastic composite material that can be used with unmodified, low-cost, hobbyist 3D printers to make functional electronic devices. The devices can even be custom-designed, such as tailoring a game controller to fit the shape of a particular user's hand.
The team, headed by Simon Leigh of the university's School of Engineering, says the inexpensive material, called "carbomorph," makes it possible to print out electronic tracks and sensors as part of a 3D-printed structure.
To date, the researchers have used the material to print objects with embedded flex sensors, such as a mug that can sense how full it is, or those with touch-sensitive buttons, such as a working computer game controller. The results were published in an article in the open-access journal PLOS One.
A conductive thermoplastic can be used with low-cost, hobbyist 3D printers to produce complete, customized electronic devices, such as this computer game controller.
(Source: University of Warwick)
The printer can create touch-sensitive areas in the structure that can be connected to a simple, printed circuit board.
The computer game controller was printed using a Bits from Bytes BFB3000, Leigh told Design News in an email. "It's designed to interface with an Arduino board, then it can be plugged into a PC and used to play any game on your PC," he wrote. "The idea behind it is that you could in theory customize the layout of the controller hardware to your own specification."
Leigh and his team envision the technology being used to 3D print functioning electronic devices, making those devices more individualized. This could, he says, reduce electronic waste by customizing products to make them closer to what users want, and fitting their unique needs. Another application could be embedding sensors in products and monitoring how people use them, so designers could better understand how people tactilely interact with products.
The most immediate, short-term use Leigh envisions is giving the next generation of young engineers the hands-on experience of designing and producing electronic products in the classroom with advanced manufacturing technology like 3D printing. According to Leigh, existing open-source electronics and programming libraries can be used for monitoring the printed sensors.
One of the biggest advantages to 3D printing electronics is the fact that sockets for connecting the devices to equipment, such as interface electronics, could be printed out, rather than using conductive glues or paints. That's the research team's next step: to print more complex structures and electronic components, including the wires and cables that connect the 3D printed devices to computers.
When I was growing up computers were in their infancy. Nowadays kids grow up with all of this technology....which is a good thing.....I just hope they still want to learn the fundamentals is all.
It is a benefit so long as people still realize they need some engineering background. The flaw comes in when kids think why do I need to go to school for engineering when the computer does all the work for me.
I agree. I guess what I was trying to say was.....with the way things are going....you used to need an engineering background to design things....now anyone can do it.....I just hope kids still learn the fundamentals. It's kind of like what I mentioned about calculators, just because it can do the math for you doesn't mean you don't need to know what it's doing.
Cadman-LT, That's the cool thing about tech: its based on imagination and projection into the future. No one knows how the innovation will turn on but the creative process and implementation phase of development is definitely worth the risk!
Cadman-LT, I agree. Although the tool makes it easy to manufacture cool products, the fundamentals, like math, is necessary to ensure the automation will work correctly. The tech being developed today is an extension of the human brain and its thought processes. I'm a firm believer in continual use of mental analytics and re-assure understanding by way of software analysis tech tools.
Cadman, the "Reply" button means "reply to this poster". So adding a function won't change anything. I agree it would be nice if the poster's name you're replying to automatically shows up in your reply post. I think adding it manually just takes a little getting used to.
mrdon, I think what my fear is that it might get so easy to do that kids might think they don't need the math to do it. Why learn that when the pc does it for me......I can still do math even though we had calculators. Remains to be seen I suppose.
mrdon, on the other hand....after I thought about it....it would be beneficial to come into the field with experience with any 3D printing and modeling.
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