This was difficult to listen to…

Before I begin to post some thoughts and basic information in regards to 3D printed food, a topic that I will be covering for the remainder of the spring semester, take a look at this video:

What you have just seen is a machine built by a mechanical engineer by the name of Anjan Contractor whom had won a $125,000 grant from NASA in 2013 to build a experimental 3D printer designed to print food for astronauts.  Now, like most 3D printing related technology and products derived by them in the present, the overall product may not seem too impressive as it seems to be extremely limited in functionality and rather simplistic.  However, 3D technology will undoubtedly advance and grow to become more efficient, effective, and practical as has been seen time-and-time again in a wide variety of instances; computers formerly took up whole rooms and were very limited in functionality, but we all know how far this particular example has evolved over time.

The concept of 3D printed food intrigued me the first time it was hinted at in the book Fabricated by Hod Lipson as the whole notion of printing food on demand in the near future opens up a whole new world of convenience, experimentation, and overall intrigue.  Although my knowledge for the time being is rather limited on the subject I did come across some information regarding the general idea of what is to become of this pizza printing machine.  The plan is to use replaceable powder cartridges as “building blocks” of food which would be combined to produce a variety of foods that can be created by the printer and these cartridges would have a lifespan of 30 years and thus enable long-distance space travel (Souppouris).

http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/21/4350948/nasa-funding-3d-food-printer-pizza

Anjan Contractor does however have broader vision for 3D printed food; “We can pretty much provide food-on-table with very few resources… Let’s say someone is an athlete in the family and they need more protein, we can design recipes for them and print out more protein-nutritious food for that individual and at the same time say someone is pregnant and requiring more iron, we can bring more iron-enriched food.”

http://www.3ders.org/articles/20131009-nasa-funded-3d-food-printer-displayed-at-sxsw-eco.html

My desire and overall goal by researching this topic in 3D printing is to find out how feasible and far from fruition the idea of printed food is to the masses.  What are the limitations on the types of foods that can be printed?  Can the printed foods rival their real counterparts?  How can one replicate the many tastes associated with food?  All these and many more questions to be looked into.  Stay tuned!

Back to the initial video, I need to mention that the finished product looks a lot more appetizing….

In order to effectively arrive at a more concrete plan for the custom earbud it is necessary to learn about not only about the technological and design aspect of the product, but to inquire about what exactly is important to a typical earbud user (Is design customization all that important?  How long would they be willing to wait until the product is mailed to them?).  Therefore, the first step of the plan would encompass sending an inquiry to Lantos Technologies and asking more about their 3D scanning process and its overall use and expandability into the realm of using the data generated to actually upload to a 3D program.  Next, going the more traditional route, contacting an audiologist to understand the current molding process more in-depth would create a clearer picture of the current faults in the customized market.  Pursuing this further, contacting Ultimate Ears for a more direct price quote and inquiring about the actual timeframe from beginning to end and the material used for construction purposes would too paint a clearer picture of the whole process in its current state.  Finally, utilizing internet message boards such as head-fi which cater to audio enthusiasts whom most commonly resort to custom solutions, I would be able to learn more about their experiences with the whole process and the feedback , both positive and negative, or suggestions they can offer.

The rationale and inspiration for my custom-fit-earbuds produced via 3D printing derives out of a problem I and many of my friends as well as fellow audio enthusiasts (via head-fi; a forum dedicated to audio equipment) share, and that is the inability to often actually enjoy our music without the constant need to readjust, reinsert, or deal with discomfort that is often the case with consumer earbuds.  Here, aside from pursuing the expensive and time consuming custom approach which encompasses spending approximately $100 to visit an audiologist in order to get an impression made of the ear canal, and then having to send that impression to an audio company such as Ultimate Ears that specializes in the processes, which in turn means more time and money, there is no other real viable alternative for the time being (Guttenberg).  As a matter of fact, in order to address this issue, there have been a few business ideas that have been proposed and sometimes successfully funded via public funding sites like KICKSTARTER, but they all mostly center around a user solution dependent on the user themselves molding a pliable material.  Here, a variety of factors make the idea unattractive and these include that the material is often not able to isolate sound effectively and as a result the seal is poor and sound quality is sacrificed, the molding process can be complicated and prone to error, and the quality and longevity of the molded piece can be questionable.  The main idea of the 3D printed earbuds is to allow the user to have inexpensive, quick, customized, and no frills solution so that they may enjoy their music without having to accept the standard small, medium, large silicone tips that are often found with earphones.

The solution for the current problem is derived from what 3D printing is ultimately able to accomplish, and that is a fast, quick, and customized approach to creating a product that can be user specific and made out of materials that are durable and which will not compromise comfort or sealing ability.  Here, using 3D ear scanning techniques such as those created by a company like Lantos Technologies which use a handheld probe to fill the individual’s ear canal with a fluid-filled membrane and then shine a light throughout the liquid to create a “map” of the ear, the process can be made much more efficient and effective as a 3D file would automatically be generated (Hsu).  In turn, coupled with new scanning technologies, a user will no longer have to deal with the poor fit and discomfort that is generally found with today’s consumer earbuds nor will they need to endure additional costly expenses or wait time.  The end goal is to have a consumer have the scanning process of their ear made and then have the file stored on a database so that they may not only get a custom-fit earbud, but they would be able to personalize the product by picking their color and/or a variety of designs that would be offered by the company as well as the ability to reorder at any point.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13645_3-57454025-47/are-headphones-that-are-custom-molded-to-your-ears-worth-it/

http://www.technewsdaily.com/16304-3d-ear-scanning-headphones.html