This week in our Digital Making course, we had two guest speakers. Our first guest speaker was from the United Parcel Service (or UPS). Alan Amling was kind enough to Skype us from his office bright and early at 9:30 am to explain to us the role that the Digital Making phenomenon is having on the Postal Service as a whole, and specifically UPS. UPS is a delivery service for packages, but UPS also stores and ships parts for certain manufacturers. Using 3D printing, UPS doesn’t have to keep as many parts on hand in their inventory, because they can print per order to ship parts out. Alan also explained how 3D printing is a really great opportunity for UPS, but that it’s also a threat. Since 3D printing is becoming cheaper, UPS can better afford to invest in these printers. On the other side of that coin, however, consumers and companies can better afford to buy printers and printing supplies, and therefore may not need this type of service from UPS at all in the future.
We also had a different guest speaker, Dot Silverman, who came to our class and gave us a very passionate talk about something I have never even heard of before- Biohacking. Biohacking, technically defined as “the activity of exploiting genetic material experimentally without regard to accepted ethical standards, or for criminal purposes,” sounded mesmerizing coming from Ms. Silverman’s mouth. Surprisingly, she hadn’t studied Biology in any way during her undergraduate years, but still ended up getting involved in the Biohacking world while completing her PhD- in Educational Psychology, no less.
One thing that Ms. Silverman touched on was her work with Instructables; Instructables is a website that offers classes and “how-to” articles on everything from 3D printing to sewing to leatherworking. They also have a section that is specifically for children. There are 3D printing Instructables for children, too, but there are also ones like “Paper Mache Class” and “Solar Class.” The Solar Class really drew my eye, because, as a class for children, I was surprised that they would have something so technical (or so it seems to me). It’s five lessons total and you have to specifically enroll in the class to take advantage of it.
Ms. Silverman also touched on her work at Harvard Wyss Institute. These were the projects that really amazed me. She showed us a “soft robot,” which is when a robot is not as, well, robotic as the ones that are normally called to mind. They move with more fluid motions and are overall a better technology for gripping and “dexterous manipulation”. I’ve done some exploring on the Harvard Wyss Institute’s website myself, and what I have found simply astounds me. Most of it, I don’t fully understand, but one article in particular that I found most interesting was an article on how it is now possible to regenerate heart valves- a nanofiber fabrication technique that the researches at Harvard Wyss developed allows for them to rapidly create replacement heartvalves for those that need them. I have included a picture below.
Ms. Silverman touched on so much more of relation to the world of Digital Making through Biohacking, and brought in items for us to pass around, such as a paper microscope that can be used in low income areas to still teach and learn about science. It is amazing to me how many great things can come out of this world of Digital Making, like these microscopes, like the wheelchair racing gloves that Arielle (who visited our class a few weeks back) designs and sells, and so much more.
This brings me to the last portion of class, where I actually got to make my first 3D printed item on my own. I decided to print the phone charger shelf that Dan Banach designed with us a few weeks back on Fusion 360. I downloaded the design from Fusion 360 onto the SD card and inserted it into my chosen printer, made sure all of the settings were according to my specific machine, and finally got to printing. Unfortunately, my first attempt was unsuccessful, as the plastic had trouble sticking to the plate. I cancelled the print, cleaned the plate and switched out the plastic. The second print was much more successful. I have attached a video below. However, after it was done printing (about two hours later), I realized that the measurements given to us by Mr. Banach to surround the “square” of the charger were incorrect. The charger shelf is far too large for the “square” and falls right off when I try to place my phone on it during charging. I plan to fix this when I can by either adjusting the measurements and reprinting, or printing a piece to glue into my current shelf to make it fit more snugly.