Jun 5, 2015 | By Simon
Despite all of the recent applications that we’ve seen for additive manufacturing ranging from the use of 3D bioprinting to create nanoscale scaffolding for cells to the creation of 3D printed houses using natural earth materials in a particular geographical area, one of the best uses for the technology has consistently been in where it was used originally: the use of rapid prototyping for hardware development.
Because creating tooling for more traditional manufacturing processes is an expensive process and isn’t forgiving when it comes to changing a design through multiple iterations, 3D printing has been a go-to technology for getting parts made fast when methods such as handmade foam models may take too long and require too much work.
While 3D printing has been used in the product design process as an iterative tool, it is also becoming a method of final manufacturing for many new hardware development projects - particularly ones that are designed to be in some way or another customized by the end user. Among other recent projects include the My Driving Pal smart tracker, which recently launched on Kickstarter.
Created by Shahram Rezaei of San Ramon, California, My Driving Pal (MDP) is a combination hardware device and smartphone app that monitors a variety of different things in a person’s life including a child, a bicycle or even a car. Rezaei, who has over 15 years experience in LBS, mobile apps and vehicular safety, created the app to offer people peace of mind while monitoring their assets.
“Imagine the peace of mind you will have if, for example, you are visiting Disneyland with your children and one of them wanders off,” says Rezaei on his Kickstarter page.
“Instead of panicking, you will be able to track them and locate them immediately; our tracking device is designed to monitor your 2 to 10-year-old child, typically the age group that does not have a smartphone.”
In addition to offering location-based services, the MDP can even forward a user alerts about the temperature of their car interior in the case that they have pets or kids in the car on a hot day, among other features.
Rezaei, along with his team of developers who worked on My Driving Pal, considered using injection molding to bring their hardware device to life, however it was determined that the use of the traditional manufacturing method would have not only been extremely expensive, but it would have also limited them from having a customizable design.
After learning about the benefits of additive manufacturing, Rezaei got in touch with Sculpteo’s 3D printing service to learn more about utilizing their services. After talking to the design engineers at the company, Rezaei and his team decided that 3D printing was the best method of fabrication for the My Driving Pal because it would not only allow them to further iterate on the design without investing in expensive tooling, but also allow for their customers to customize the color and size of their devices.
Currently, the My Driving Pal team has designed and manufactured the first version of their "MDP Device 1" and are currently developing the firmware. Additionally, they are also in the process of manufacturing the "MDP Device 1s", which will be similar but smaller in size. The MDP Server is fully developed and up and running on Amazon Cloud EC2 while the iOS version of the MDP App is fully developed and an Android app is on the way.
While the My Driving Pal certainly has a certain customer in mind - particularly a parent - regardless who ends up using it, it’s a perfect example of just how useful 3D printing can be in the hardware development process.
To find out more about the My Driving Pal, head over to the project’s Kickstarter page.
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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