Three-dimensional printing (3DP) and additive manufacturing (AM) have evolved rapidly, enabling engineers, researchers, clinicians and medical-device specialists to develop new innovations and approaches to biomedical engineering. To keep pace with the extraordinary developments in the global phenomenon that is 3D printing, and to ensure that our biomedical-engineering students were being trained for the future, Prof Conor Buckley, assistant professor in biomedical engineering in Trinity ...

Most manufacturers see investments in factory connectivity not just as a means of cutting costs, but also as a way to increase revenue. In fact, respondents to the Annual Manufacturing Report 2017 anticipate additional revenues of £775,000 (€873,000) in the next 12 months because of their investments in connectivity. Automated engineering is not about engineering humans out of the production process. Regardless of how a control system is used, whether it is by manual code writing or by ...

Engineers from the University of Limerick (UL) are set to play an important role in a new European research project that seeks to revolutionise the shipbuilding sector, by replacing steel with composite materials for the construction of more efficient large-length ships. FIBRESHIP is an ambitious project that will allow for the construction of light commercial vessels, passenger and leisure transport and oceanographic vessels more than 50 metres in length using fibre-reinforced polymer ...

On 4 April 2017, Festo South Africa hosted a seminar at which its global Industry 4.0 campaign head, Eberhard Klotz, demystified the concepts and introduced the key opportunities. Introducing Klotz at the start of the seminar, Festo South Africa’s Russell Schwultz said that, while Industry 4.0 is much spoken about, “it doesn’t seem real yet". "In South Africa, we need to demystify the concepts and make them more practical. Globally, unlike many other companies, Festo is able to back the ...

You may have seen a lot more people checking in at emergency departments or taking selfies from their hospital bed recently. It’s not that all your Facebook friends have suddenly been under the weather, it’s just that hospital patients and visitors are now allowed to use mobile phones on site without fear of interfering with medical equipment. However, hospitals still have a long way to go to reduce power quality issues. Power quality problems can be just as severe in medical environments ...

Upright walking on two legs is a defining trait in humans, enabling them to move very efficiently throughout their environment. This can all change in the blink of an eye when a stroke occurs. In about 80 per cent of patients post-stroke, it is typical that one limb loses its ability to function normally – a clinical phenomenon called hemiparesis. Even patients who recover walking mobility during rehabilitation retain abnormalities in their gait that hinder them from participating in many ...