In 2014, doctors in Layton, Utah, were struggling to save the life of an infant with a defective windpipe, which prevented his lungs from receiving enough air. The solution they eventually came up with? Make a model of his windpipe, and print out two supporting structures that were inserted into the pipe to keep his airway open until he grew enough for it to strengthen. They managed this feat with the help of a 3D printer, a machine that can scan a three-dimensional model and construct a replica of it, by adding layer upon layer of material from ground up until the replica is finished.
Here in Bengaluru in 2016, the most visible implementations of 3D printing are showcased by a company called 3dfication Printing Services, through their brand CloneMe. The service lets people purchase customised figurines of themselves that have been scanned and printed by a 3D printer. Fun as it sounds, CEO of the company Siddharth Rathod is also hard at work putting the technology to use in a multitude of fields. "I had some experience in prototyping from my engineering days, but saw 3D printers being used in the gifting industry for figurines and the medical sector when I went abroad. After coming back to India, we decided that creating awareness about the technology among people was important, so we stared a business-to-consumer initiative in CloneMe," he says.
Siddharth is not alone in promoting the technology in India. While his company helps corporate clients with design prototypes and is working on solutions to problems akin to that of the boy from Utah, Arvind Nadig and team went ahead and put India on the map as a maker of 3D printing hardware. Arvind, the co-founder and CEO of Brahma3, a company that makes a printer called Anvil, says that their story started with the dream of buying a 3D printer. "We were toying with the idea of getting one for ourselves, but the import duties and customs fees were a constraint. Then it occurred to us, why not build one?"
Brahma3 now makes and sells the Anvil printer and, like Siddharth's firm, helps companies with design and prototyping their products. Both Brahma3 and 3dficaton also accept requests to custom make products.
The rise of 3D printing has given rise to many forums online where 3D models of objects are put up for download (usually in a file format called STL). A 3D printer can then use this model to print out a physical replica of this file. While the major potential for this technology lies in medicine, the sheer number of materials these machines are now compatible with means they can print everything from spare parts for that long-discontinued household item you keep for sentimental value to, incredible as it seems, food.
"There are over 240 materials that have been used in printers, and going by the way things stand, in another four to five years, it is possible that most households will have a basic printer for their essential needs," says Siddharth.
Brhama3 has been focussing on working with open source communities and NGOs to help make custom-designed prosthetic limbs, an initiative Arvind says is now also being extended for strays and pets. "The need of the hour is to bridge the huge gap that exists in the market, and we're seeing strong traction from hobbyists like jewellery designers and makers of toys and accessories."
Siddharth is of the opinion that as the technology becomes more widely available, people will come up with new uses for it. "Surprisingly, we're getting a lot of requests from the funeral sector, as people want to have likenesses made of departed loved ones."
A couple of months ago, NASA revealed that it was exploring 3D printed food as an option for astronauts, and even displayed the pizza that was printed by the startup commissioned to work on the project. Interesting times lie ahead. Hoard up the oregano.
