Future Technology

The technology is finding its way into labs and hospitals around the world, so it only makes sense that medical organizations would start heavily vetting its potential. At this year's American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions conference, researchers discussed how the tech could help in the delivery of medicine.  Researchers from Wake Forest University, Columbia University and University of North Carolina presented a prototype 3D printer software that could create customized pills for patients requiring medication. The team designed an algorithm that adjusts dosages based on factors like a patient's weight, race, kidney and liver functions. These factors can all change the effectiveness of a drug and even lead to detrimental side effects, but can't always be accounted for when using pre-formulated medicines. Based on a patient's individual medical and biological information, the software calculates the appropriate dose and then generates the 3D printer data. In testing, the researchers created customized profiles that resulted in five different doses of 80 total printed pills using a testing material. The pills ranged from 124 milligrams to 373 mg and were all accurate dosages with very little variability.  The study proved that 3D printing could be used to personalize pills and that a future of more effective drug treatment with fewer side effects is possible, but printed pills will still be a few years off. The researchers now need to develop a standard adjustment for different drugs and come up with the most cost-effective and safe printing techniques before any patients down them with a glass of water.

The folks at German's Hasso Plattner Institute Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) labs have created working models of a device known as Impacto that allows you and your opponent to feel the impact of punches in your faces and other things, just the way it is in real life, when gaming in virtual reality. Impacto is embedded in a band and uses HCI's special software with a virtual reality headset  to produce the feeling. The Impactor device can be worn on the different parts of the body such as on your leg or arm so you could carryout maneuvers like kicking. According to the team, Impacto is a device designed to render the haptic sensation of hitting or being hit in virtual reality. The key idea that allows the small and light impacto device to simulate a strong hit is that it decomposes the stimulus: it renders the tactile aspect of being hit by tapping the skin using a solenoid; it adds impact to the hit by thrusting the user's arm backwards using electrical muscle stimulation.

Lettuce must be important.

A great idea for a SCi-Fi if ever I heard one.

Are you ready to wear a 3D printed wearable?