Researchers at Concordia have developed a novel method of 3D printing that uses acoustic holograms. And they say it’s quicker than existing methods and capable of making more complex objects. The process, called holographic direct sound printing (HDSP).
Now, by embedding the technique in acoustic holograms that contain cross-sectional images of a particular design, polymerization occurs much more quickly. It can create objects simultaneously rather than voxel-by-voxel.
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Fortunately, an international team led by researchers at Korea University Graduate School of Converging Science and Technology (KU-KIST) developed conductor materials that it claims are stretchable, self-healing, and bio-compatible. The biodegradable conductor offers a new approach to patient monitoring and delivering treatments directly to the tissues and organs where they are needed.
For example, a smart patch made of these materials could measure motion, temperature, and other biological data. The material could also be used to create sensor patches that can be implanted inside the body, and even mounted on the surface of internal organs. The bio-compatible materials can be designed to degrade after a period, eliminating the need for an invasive procedure to remove the sensor later.
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Microsoft invented robots that disassemble defective or worn-out hard disk drives, potentially by the millions, to recycle those valuable materials. At the 2022 Global Hackathon, a team created robots that dismantle hard drives, destroy data by destroying platters, and recycle the remaining parts to extract valuable materials, avoiding the current practice of shredding entire hard drives. The robotic system uses computer vision to recognize different HDD types and locate screws for disassembly. It carefully removes components, destroying only the data-carrying platters, while salvaging parts like magnets and printed circuit boards for reuse. Microsoft uses dozens of different hard drive models at its data centers, and most of them place screws in different places, so Microsoft certainly had to implement some kind of AI to dismantle and recycle its HDDs using robots made by Dobot Robotics.
Around 20 to 70 million hard drives reach the end of their lifecycle each year, and in 2022 alone, Microsoft shredded two million hard drives. It is unclear whether the number includes shredded and dismantled/recycled HDDs or just shredded drives, as even at Microsoft, not all HDDs are recycled. According to Microsoft, this new 'NoShred' approach aims to achieve a 90% reuse and recycle rate of hard drives by 2025. The robots ensure data security by destroying only the data-carrying components while recovering valuable materials like neodymium. It should be noted that in many cases, companies that are supposed to shred their drives do not do that, and these end up collecting dust in storage rooms or going to scrapyards. Microsoft's efforts extend beyond internal improvements. The company is working with hard drive manufacturers and governments to influence global e-waste management policies.
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