3D Printing: Can Art with Technology shape a better future?

The advent of technology has added a plethora of novel products to our daily lives. Capturing the imagination of human mind, technologies like Virtual reality to Driverless Cars, everything is a step ahead to enrich our lives and make things easier, simpler. But one technology that can stimulate the creativity of men from Stone-Age to Tech-Age today is Additive Manufacturing (casually known as 3D printing).

The fundamentals of conventional manufacturing, pioneered by Henry Ford, are primarily pivoted around the concept of mass production and standardization. But AM gives an everyday person the ability to make what they want in minutes (or hours). It also satiates our everlasting itch for customization, the ability to distinguish ourselves, our products from others. It’s a boon for businesses, helping them reduce costs, save material and add variety to their product portfolios. But the diverse application of this technology bears its own short comings albeit a discussion better off for another time. What’s really important is that 3D printing can be viewed as a tool for us to express, a tool to empower novelty and creativity.

 For instance, during most of my product development pursuits, I have been driven to design products that are innately ingenuous and convey a message/theme to the user; but I always ran into limitations – from complexity of design-manufacturability to optimizing costs and time. On one hand where my artistic cravings drove the imagination to creative celestial heights, limitation of resources marred the true synergy of art and technology. On many occasions I felt short in bringing my true vision to life. Therefore, AM was an intriguing arena for my inquisitive mind. In pursuit of which, during my research under professor Chi Zhou, a pioneer in the field of Additive Manufacturing, I was recommended to participate in the International 3D printing competition (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore). I was excited and motivated to lay my knowledge to practical tests and vent out my artistry. My right-brain was stimulated and I was looking for inspiration everywhere. Ranging from nature, architecture to famous personalities, there were so many stories to be told. But then one string that connected all of us was the issue of ‘Global Peace’.  

‘Technology is best when it brings people together’ - Matt Mullenweg.

In sync with the competition guidelines i.e. the goal to 3D print a functional shoe, I was determined to maximize product value for the customer. A regular shoe which seems to be an easy product has loads going behind it. From human foot contour complexities to pressure distribution map, comfort and style to materials, the list goes on. After rigorous efforts, I settled for the hybrid design of sandal and shoe, a 2 in 1 experience for the user. In parallel, I was running computations for FEA, optimizing material consumption and keeping the costs in control, yet make the product experience worthwhile. I was collecting the pieces of a jig-saw puzzle, heading to the critical phase of put it all together.

Subsequently, taking challenge over challenge, new hurdles kept me on my toes. With limitation in materials, colors and paucity of time, every moment I had to figure out new ways around these obstacles. Design builds failure to lack of user comfort, trust me it was a roller coaster ride. In addition, balancing my Masters’ examinations and the competition-deadline’s time-bomb ticking, it was a true test of my nerves. When we headed to the trickiest part i.e. 3D printing the final product, using Stratasys’ Objet 260, in support from Prof. Shikui Chen & his PhD student Long Jiang from Stony Brook University; our first few builds failed, the design was too weak, the material blends were not uniform. And with the final product to be shipped to Singapore, which was being printed in Stony Book (near NYC, where I had no direct control) and my term exams going on in Buffalo, It was a nail biting submission on the very last day (thanks to UPS).

With the excruciating hard work, sleepless nights and extensive time
management, the product made it to the venue in time. Phew! As a new member to the AM field and the crazy set of challenges we managed to overcome, I was just happy to have done my best and appreciated our participation. Later, learning from the organizers about the participation metrics, I was overwhelmed that we were amidst the world best with over 100 participants from 9 countries encompassing companies and top universities from across the globe.

A few weeks later, working late night, a surprise knocked my mail servers. At 2.01 am (EST) the organizers mailed us the results. And voila! We were World Rank #1. I re-read the mail a few times; double-triple checked the details. The feeling was incredible, I felt as if our message of world peace had prevailed; we were the Champions of International 3D Printing competition. I was ecstatic.

[ Receiving the award from Mr. S. Iswaran (right), Minister of Trade & Industry, Singapore ]

Now, a few weeks later, the feeling has sunk-in; we are back to our dream to empower the world for something meaningful, make an impact and also drive the technology ahead. As a true hybrid designer for both conventional manufacturing as well as additive manufacturing, I believe we need to be creative because 3D printing is not only a leap for the industries; it is an incredible tool for everyone. A tool for artists to create novel modes of expressions, medicals personnel to treat patients better, parents to teach their kids more effectively and most importantly for all of us to bring about a positive change.