this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2023
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Rapid prototyping in general, and additive manufacturing (3D printing) specifically. I used to spend a lot of time prototyping by hand with foam, paper, tape, wood, clay, etc. We would have "arts and crafts week" at work when it was time to step out of CAD and make concept models of some new design. Occasionally some VP would walk by and wonder why the company was paying a bunch of salaried engineers to stick cardboard pieces together with hot glue. Getting decent parts often meant spending thousands of dollars on molding tools to make cast urethane prototypes.
Now I can walk down the hall to one of my 3D printers and get beautiful parts overnight. And there are a ton of companies offering rapid machining and sheet metal forming services. Getting design feedback and finding mistakes is so much faster and easier when I can go from 3D on a screen to real parts in my hand in a few days.
And a few companies have come to market with real-world uses for 3D printing beyond prototyping, like 3D printing titanium joint replacements.
Additive manufacturing in the healthcare space is super interesting and has been really exciting to watch. The big players (Stryker, Medtronic, Smith and Nephew, etc) are rapidly approaching the intersection of multiple technologies that will make surgery outcomes wildly more successful simply by being able to customize the solution to the patient.
Consider how far just joint replacement has come in the last decade. Starting in the late 70s early 80s and the patients joint was cut to fit a standard implant regardless of any other factor. In the 2000s they started creating cutting blocks to form the patient's anatomy to an implant system selected to best fit the patient. By the 2010s they started using 3D printed, patient specific cutting block and jigs. Now they are printing the implants themselves. All of these advancements paired with robotics, real time computer assisted navigation, and a host of other diagnostic tools...mmm mmm mmm.
We may be living through the fall of humanity but at least our failing joints won't be the reason we die during the Water Wars of the 2050s.