Elizabeth Suggs | Staff Writer | elizabethannes.92@gmail.com
The UVU Rapid Development Center recently unveiled 3D printers in the Computer Science Building for use by students and partnered businesses.
The new partnership between Stratasys and UVU will give students an opportunity to work with partnered businesses and get internships.
According to Jesse Roitenberg, education manager of Stratasys, the MC 450 3D printer at UVU is now the first one in the educational system.
Depending on the size, objects can take anywhere from a few minutes to days to print. This is why, according to Sid Smith, one of the UVU professors working in the 3D printing lab, the price for UVU students to use the 3D printers will be hard to determine.
“We don’t have to make money off the students,” Smith said.
How much money students spend on 3D printing, Smith said, will depend how complicated it is, the type of plastic and the size of the project.
Businesses who partner with UVU will gain access to 3D printing machines. This will give students an opportunity for exposure to companies when interning in the 3D printing lab.
Luke Hayes, a UVU student, has worked with the 3D printer to create a robot for his graduation project. So far Hayes has completed an arm that is programmed to understand speech commands through a computer program. The arm took four days to build.
The robot arm, according to Hayes, would be easy to make into a prosthetic arm. Hayes hopes to work with prosthetics using Electroencephalography (EEG) waves.
According to Medscape, part of WebMD, medical EEG waves are the electrical activity happening at the surface of the brain. With EEG machines, the activity can be recorded for varying types and frequency.
Hayes said an EEG programmed prosthetic would have to be personally created for each individual, since all people think differently.
“I’m bringing my vision to life.” Hayes said. “I want to build a whole body—I just have the arm first.”
