The machine that can turn you into a 'semi-cyborg': 3D printer puts temporary electronics directly on your skin to create biological sensors

  • The portable printer can place electronics directly onto the user's hand
  • It can also print biological cells onto wounds and could be used by soldiers
  • The technique could lead to new medical treatments for wound healing 
  • The electronics can simply be peeled or washed off when no longer needed 

A £290 ($400) 3D printer puts electronics directly onto people's skin turning them into 'semi-cyborgs'.

The 3D-printed sensor could be put onto the bodies of soldiers on the battlefield and used to detect chemical or biological weapons.

As well as being used for electronics, it can also print biological cells for medical needs and could heal wounds or print grafts for skin disorders.

The electronics can simply be peeled or washed off when no longer needed.  

A £290 ($400) 3D printer puts electronics directly onto people's skin turning them into 'semi-cyborgs'. The 3D-printed sensor could be put onto the bodies of soldiers on the battlefield and used to detect chemical or biological weapons

A £290 ($400) 3D printer puts electronics directly onto people's skin turning them into 'semi-cyborgs'. The 3D-printed sensor could be put onto the bodies of soldiers on the battlefield and used to detect chemical or biological weapons

'We are excited about the potential of this new 3D-printing technology using a portable, lightweight printer costing less than $400,' said the study's lead author Michael McAlpine from the University of Minnesota.

'We imagine that a soldier could pull this printer out of a backpack and print a chemical sensor or other electronics they need, directly on the skin'.

'It would be like a 'Swiss Army knife' of the future with everything they need all in one portable 3D printing tool', he said. 

The machine, which commentators have said could turn humans into 'semi-cyborgs', can adjust to small movements of the body during printing meaning it never makes a mistake.

Temporary markers are placed on the skin and it is scanned using computer vision to adjust to movements. 

'No matter how hard anyone would try to stay still when using the printer on the skin, a person moves slightly and every hand is different,' Dr McAlpine said.

'This printer can track the hand using the markers and adjust in real-time to the movements and contours of the hand, so printing of the electronics keeps its circuit shape', he said.

As well as being used for electronics, it can also print biological cells for medical needs and could heal wounds or print grafts for skin disorders

As well as being used for electronics, it can also print biological cells for medical needs and could heal wounds or print grafts for skin disorders

Another feature of the technique is that it uses specialised ink made of silver flakes which can cure and conduct at room temperature.

The technique could pave the way for printing cells to help those with skin diseases. 

Researchers successfully tested the technology by printing biological cells on the skin wound of a mouse.

This is different from other 3D-printing inks that need high temperature to be able to cure (sometimes up to 100°C / 212°F) and that would burn the skin.

To remove the electronics, the person can simply peel off the electronic device with tweezers or wash it off with water.

'I'm fascinated by the idea of printing electronics or cells directly on the skin,' Dr McAlpine said.

'It is such a simple idea and has unlimited potential for important applications in the future', he said.

3D PRINTING TECHNOLOGY MAKES OBJECTS BY DEPOSITING MATERIALS ONE LAYER AT A TIME

First invented in the 1980s by Chuck Hull, an engineer and physicist, 3D printing technology – also called additive manufacturing – is the process of making an object by depositing material, one layer at a time.

Similarly to how an inkjet printer adds individual dots of ink to form an image, a 3D printer adds material where it is needed, based on a digital file.

Many conventional manufacturing processes involved cutting away excess materials to make a part, and this can lead to wastage of up to 30 pounds (13.6 kilograms) for every one pound of useful material, according to the Energy Department’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.

By contrast, with some 3D printing processes about 98 per cent of the raw material is used in the finished part, and the method can be used to make small components using plastics and metal powders, with some experimenting with chocolate and other food, as well as biomaterials similar to human cells.

3D printers have been used to manufacture everything from prosthetic limbs to robots, and the process follows these basic steps:

· Creating a 3D blueprint using computer-aided design (CAD) software

· Preparing the printer, including refilling the raw materials such as plastics, metal powders and binding solutions.

· Initiating the printing process via the machine, which builds the object.

· 3D printing processes can vary, but material extrusion is the most common, and it works like a glue gun: the printing material is heated until it liquefies and is extruded through the print nozzle

· Using information from the digital file, the design is split into two-dimensional cross-sections so the printers knows where to put the material

· The nozzle deposits the polymer in thin layers, often 0.1 millimetre (0.004 inches) thick.

· The polymer rapidly solidifies, bonding to the layer below before the build platform lowers and the print head adds another layer (depending on the object, the entire process can take anywhere from minutes to days.)

· After the printing is finished, every object requires some post-processing, ranging from unsticking the object from the build platform to removing support, to removing excess powders. 

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