Could 3D printing usher in a golden age of inexpensive living aids? Paul F Cockburn looks at how recent developments in ‘additive layer manufacturing’ could benefit disabled people of all ages.
“Two years ago it was on the boundaries of up-and-coming technologies, now it’s seems everywhere,” says Paul Doyle, Head of Access, Research and Development at Hereward College in Coventry. He’s speaking about ‘additive layer manufacturing’, better known as 3D printing. Not only has it become an invaluable tool for Doyle, when creating bespoke assistive technology solutions for the College’s disabled students, it has also enabled some of those students to actively devise and create their own living aids.
Back in 2014, Hereward student Ollie Baskaran, who has Muscular Dystrophy, developed a simple bespoke straw-holder – shaped like a bung with a hole in the middle – which enables him to enjoy a beer or soft drink from a variety of different-sized bottles. “Without 3D printing, I would never have been able to get the idea professionally designed and manufactured as it would have cost too much,” he said. “This technology opens up so many possibilities to make life easier for disabled people”
Earlier this year, specialist company Aortha demonstrated its pioneering 3D insole technology, which will soon enable orthotists and podiatrists to print a pair of custom-made, bespoke insoles in around an hour – six times faster than anything else currently in the market. “The technology transforms the speed with which custom-made, multi-density insoles can be produced,” according to the company’s CEO, Hugh Sheridan. “This advance fits with our mission to develop and bring to market life-changing products that not only change the way people move, but also the way they feel.”
What is 3D Printing?
“It’s important to understand that a variety of different technologies fall under the blanket term of 3D Printing,” says Rees Calder, from the world’s largest 3D printer shop, iMakr.com. The company’s London store, opened two years ago, focuses on the growing range of desktop orientated machines costing between £500 and £5,000. “It’s where we think the future of the technology is really heading, getting printers into people’s homes and getting people producing stuff for themselves.
“Fused deposition modelling (FDM) is probably the most common system,” he explains. “It’s essentially like a really fancy glue gun. You feed plastic polymer in the back, that gets melted by the extruder and then laid down very precisely one layer at a time, gradually building up your object. It’s probably the most affordable; the material costs are relatively low, and it allows you to create a wide variety of designs. Drawbacks, though, include it only really being plastic you can print, and only a single colour; any other colours you want to add have to be done after the fact.
“Also within desktop printing there’s Direct Light Projection (DLP); it’s a little more complicated, a little more expensive, but essentially it projects a UV light that cures a resin one layer at a time. With that you get much finer detail, much higher resolution, but your build volume is lower, and you’re limited in terms of size.”
In order to successfully print any object, however, there’s the small matter of telling the printer exactly what to do; you need, in short, a fully-realised 3D computer model. The first phase of the Hereward College course deliberately ensured that participating disabled students learned some basic Computer Aided Design (CAD), according to Diane Burton, Project Officer for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Outreach at the University of Warwick.
“We started with simple things like creating Christmas decorations, just to get them used to the CAD tools,” she says. “Then we moved on to applying those skills to come up with some living aid product ideas, designing and printing them, and then amending them. 3D printing is ideal for prototyping.”
Brave New World
But what if you don’t feel up to learning CAD? “A lot of people ask me if they can just show their printer a photo of their desired object – and we’re very far away from that point!” admits Calder. “As it stands, you either need to know how to design in 3D, or you go to online file depositories – like the one we run, MyMiniFactory.com – where thousands of files are available for free.
“You can now actually start printing without being a designer, just like you can listen to music without having to be able to make it,” he adds. “That’s where we’re heading. Some people will want to design their stuff from scratch, some will just want to use other people’s models, others will want to modify them. But it’s becoming more accessible to non-designers and non-makers, which is quite exciting.”
Given that so much assistive technology is still manufactured under a “one size fits all” policy, 3D printing certainly offer a real opportunity for creating – or at least prototyping – bespoke aids and adaptions with relative speed and economy. That’s certainly the view of Enabled By Design, a social business which helps disabled people find or make the best solutions for their individual needs.
Co-founder Denise Stephens, who has multiple sclerosis, has a passion for interior design and believes 3D printing’s “print-on-demand” nature can definitely bring style and fashion back into disabled people’s lives – and move away from what Paul Doyle, joking, terms the “wipe clean and beige” design ethos of so much assistive technology.
For, as Paul Doyle puts it: “Something could be the most functionally appropriate device on the planet, but if it doesn’t fit in with someone’s personal image – if, as one of my students says, it ‘looks crap’ – then they won’t use it. The thing with 3D printing is that you can personalise stuff, so you can change how things appear.”
Disruptive?
Although 3D printing dates back to the 1980s, its modern incarnation is still in its infancy, according to Rees Calder. “General usability is going up to the point where these things are a tool that anyone can be shown to use pretty quickly now, which is quite exciting, and it’s arguably the trajectory that the technology is going to go.”
“3D printing is still used for prototyping, and has been for a long time,” says Diane Burton, “but I think where the market will move is applications for it to give people bespoke products. With something like assisted technology, which the hobbyist side is, you can just have a go yourself. If you’ve made something and you want to use it, that’s up to you, but as soon as you start selling it, regulations change.”
Paul Doyle agrees that 3D printing could well prove rather “disruptive” to current assistive technology. “At the moment, obviously, we have very strong restrictions about what we can do, making sure that everything is safe and functional and doesn’t exacerbate injuries or harm anybody in the longterm. But when you have people bringing design-manufacturing capacity within their homes, and they’ve a mind to make assistive technology solutions for themselves, I think that’s going to be quite disruptive.
“We don’t know where innovations are going to come from,” he adds. “I can imagine some great applications coming out in the next few years, but they won’t necessarily appear from traditional NHS-driven research and development and university-based facilities; it’ll be in somebody’s garage somewhere. It’s an exciting time!”
First published in Access Magazine #25 (June/July 2015).
