3D printing

[Dona Ferentes]

Research 3D printer can make body parts for less than $40.

Researchers at Wollongong University are exporting low-cost, portable 3D printers that can make body parts for less than $40 to medical centres in India.

The 3D Genii printer costs between $2000 and $3000, compared with up to $250,000 for a commercial 3D printer. It was developed by engineers at the university’s Intelligent Polymer Research Institute and at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES).

Research fellow and materials scientist Sepidar Sayyar said that cost factors apart, the essential requirements were portability and ease of use. A patient’s head is scanned using nothing more than an iPhone. The image is then manipulated with an app and instructions sent to the printer, which fits in a suitcase. The whole process can be completed in less than three hours and the finished body part is then handed to a prosthetist who prepares it for a surgeon.

‘‘The part is made from silicon. At the moment, we are making ears but we can make a nose or fingers or even a foot,’’ Dr Sayyar said. ‘‘The printer is designed to handle silicon, which is finicky. Most printers are struggling to print in silicon but we have done it and can build complete structures with it.’’

The research was carried out in collaboration with the Andhra Pradesh Medtech Zone in eastern India and so far two printers have been exported to the subcontinent.


--- certainly an improvement on v1.0 Dalek or Cyborg