3-Dimensional Printing and Rapid Device Prototyping

Regardless of economic classification, humanity as a whole finds itself in a perpetual state of change and development that is nurtured by our intrinsic need as a species to consistently innovate in order to develop novel solutions to society’s most pressing issues. In this perpetual state of change, elements such as our innate drive for intellectual inquiry and curiosity serve as impetuses for innovation. This intellectual inquiry and curiosity that is innately embedded in our human nature, provides a foundation for technological advancement in today’s modern society. One particular technology that has recently grown exponentially is that of rapid prototyping (RP) otherwise known as 3-dimensional (3D) printing. 3D printing technology has seen a myriad of advancement since its initial inception in the early 1980s, and has been radically transformed with the advent of the Internet and innovations in the computer and software technology. With these rapid advancements in this technology coupled with continued research and development, these printing technologies have become more financially feasible and have vastly expanded in their respective interventional applications and capacities. Whereas 3D printers used to cost tens of thousands of dollars only a decade ago, these printing devices can now be purchased for hundreds of dollars (Hostettler in Technologies for development. Berlin: Springer, 2015). In addition, the scaling and applications of this technology has rapidly expanded, in which these units can be utilized to print mono-synthetic small-scale models to that of full-sized automobile parts (Hostettler in Technologies for development. Berlin: Springer, 2015).