Tag: repair
This insertable 3D printer will repair tissue damage from the inside
Researchers at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, have developed a flexible 3D bioprinter that can layer organic material directly onto organs or tissue. Unlike other bioprinting approaches, this system would only be minimally invasive, perhaps helping to avoid major surgeries or the removal of organs. It sounds like the future — at least in theory — but the research team warns it’s still five to seven years away from human testing.
The printer, dubbed F3DB, has a soft robotic arm that can assemble biomaterials with living cells onto damaged internal organs or tissues. Its snake-like flexible body would enter the body through the mouth or anus, with a pilot / surgeon guiding it toward the injured area using hand gestures. In addition, it has jets that can spray water onto the target area, and its printing nozzle can double as an electric scalpel. The team hopes its multifunctional approach could someday be an all-in-one tool (incising, cleaning and printing) for minimally invasive operations.
The F3DB’s robotic arm uses three soft-fabric-bellow actuators using a hydraulic system composed of “DC-motor-driven syringes that pump water to the actuators,” as summarized by IEEE Spectrum. Its arm and flexible printing head can each move in three degrees of freedom (DOFs), similar to desktop 3D printers. In addition, it includes a flexible miniature camera to let the operator view the task in real time.
The research team ran its first lab tests on the device using non-biomaterials: chocolate and liquid silicone. They later tested it on a pig’s kidney before finally moving onto biomaterials printed onto a glass surface in an artificial colon. “We saw the cells grow every day and increase by four times on day seven, the last day of the experiment,” said Thanh Nho Do, co-leader of the team and Senior Lecturer at UNSW’s Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering. “The results show the F3DB has strong potential to be developed into an all-in-one endoscopic tool for endoscopic submucosal dissection procedures.”
The team believes the device is brimming with potential, but further testing will be necessary to bring it into the real world. The next steps would include studying its use on animals and, eventually, humans; Do believes that’s about five to seven years away. But, according to Ibrahim Ozbolat, professor of engineering science and mechanics at Pennsylvania State University, “commercialization can only be a matter of time.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/this-insertable-3d-printer-will-repair-tissue-damage-from-the-inside-185147733.html?src=rss
Lanzarote tourism body scrambles to repair relations with Brit holidaymakers
UK phone repair apprenticeship needed, says firm
11 US States are Now Considering ‘Right to Repair’ Laws for Farming Equipment
The tractor’s manufacturer doesn’t allow Wood to make certain fixes himself, and last spring his fertilizing operations were stalled for three days before the servicer arrived to add a few lines of missing computer code for $950. “That’s where they have us over the barrel, it’s more like we are renting it than buying it,” said Wood, who spent $300,000 on the used tractor.
Wood’s plight, echoed by farmers across the country, has pushed lawmakers in Colorado and 10 other states to introduce bills that would force manufacturers to provide the tools, software, parts and manuals needed for farmers to do their own repairs — thereby avoiding steep labor costs and delays that imperil profits….
The manufacturers argue that changing the current practice with this type of legislation would force companies to expose trade secrets. They also say it would make it easier for farmers to tinker with the software and illegally crank up the horsepower and bypass the emissions controller — risking operators’ safety and the environment…. “I know growers, if they can change horsepower and they can change emissions they are going to do it,” said Russ Ball, sales manager at 21st Century Equipment, a John Deere dealership in Western states.
The bill’s proponents acknowledged that the legislation could make it easier for operators to modify horsepower and emissions controls, but argued that farmers are already able to tinker with their machines and doing so would remain illegal.
The article quotes Wood’s representative in Congress, who also argues that local dealerships in rural areas would be impacted by the legislation. “I do sympathize with my farmers,” he’s quoted as saying, but added “I don’t think it’s the role of government to be forcing the sale of their intellectual property.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Big Tech Lobbyist Language Made It Verbatim Into NY’s Hedged Repair Bill
The bill would have required that companies that provide parts, tools, manuals, and diagnostic equipment or software to their own repair networks also make them available to independent repair shops and individuals. It saw heavy opposition from trade groups before its passing. New York Assemblymember Patricia Fahy, the bill’s sponsor, told Grist that backers had to make “a lot of changes to get it over the finish line in the first day or two of June.” The bill passed with broad bipartisan support, but it was pared down to focus only on small electronics. Between that passage and the December signing, lobbyists working for TechNet and firms including Apple, Google, and Microsoft met with the governor, according to state ethics filings. Apple, IBM, and TechNet asked Hochul to veto the bill, while Microsoft sought to cooperate with Fahy on changes.
Later, TechNet sent a version of the bill that limited the effects to later products and excluded printed circuit boards and business-to-business or government contracts, according to Grist. Crucially, the new version, which had changes attributed to a TechNet vice president, allows for companies to offer “assemblies” of parts if the companies say the parts pose a “safety risk.” TechNet’s version also suggested independent repair shops should be forced to provide customers with “a written notice of US warranty laws” before they can start work. TechNet’s suggestions made their way to the Federal Trade Commission. A staffer at the FTC took aim at the assembly clause, the exclusion of security workarounds for repair, and other elements. Dan Salsburg, chief counsel for the FTC’s Office of Technology, Research, and Investigation, wrote that TechNet’s suggestions had “a common theme — ensuring that manufacturers retain control over the market for the repair of their products.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
How Big Tech Rewrote America’s First Cell Phone Repair Law
“That New York passed any electronics right-to-repair bill is ‘huge,’ Repair.org executive director Gay Gordon-Byrne told Grist. But ‘it could have been huger’ if not for tech industry interference.”
The passage of the Digital Fair Repair Act last June reportedly caught the tech industry off guard, but it had time to act before Governor Kathy Hochul would sign it into law. Corporate lobbyists went to work, pressing for exemptions and changes that would water the bill down. They were largely successful: While the bill Hochul signed in late December remains a victory for the right-to-repair movement, the more corporate-friendly text gives consumers and independent repair shops less access to parts and tools than the original proposal called for. (The state Senate still has to vote to adopt the revised bill, but it’s widely expected to do so.)
The new version of the law applies only to devices built after mid-2023, so it won’t help people to fix stuff they currently own. It also exempts electronics used exclusively by businesses or the government. All those devices are likely to become electronic waste faster than they would have had Hochul, a Democrat, signed a tougher bill. And more greenhouse gases will be emitted manufacturing new devices to replace broken electronics….
Jessa Jones, who founded iPad Rehab, an independent repair shop in Honeoye Falls, about 20 miles south of Rochester, New York, says the original bill included provisions that would have made it far easier for independent shops like hers to get the tools, parts, and know-how needed to make repairs. She pointed to changes that allow manufacturers to release repair tools that only work with spare parts they make, while at the same time controlling how those spare parts are used… “If you keep going down this road, allowing manufacturers to force us to use their branded parts and service, where they’re allowed to tie the function of the device to their branded parts and service, that’s not repair,” Jones said. “That’s authoritarian control.”
The bill’s sponsor believes it could create momentum for dozens of other states trying to pass similar laws, the article points out, possibly leading ultimately to one national agreement between electronics manufacturers and the repair community. A lawmaker from another state argued that New York’s law “gives us something to work from. We’re going to take that now and try to do a better piece of legislation.”
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader Z00L00K for submitting the article.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
The second-gen HomePod may be easier to repair than the first
The original HomePod was notoriously difficult to repair, to the point where cutting tools were sometimes necessary. Apple isn’t giving nearly as much grief with the second-gen model, however. iFixit has torn down the new smart speaker and discovered that it’s far easier to pry open. The large amounts of glue are gone — you can get inside using little more than a screwdriver, and the internal components are similarly accessible. Combine this with the detachable power cord and it should be feasible to fix at least some parts yourself.
iFixit cautions that it hasn’t tested for possible software restrictions on repairs. It’s not clear that you can replace circuit boards and still expect a functioning HomePod. Even so, it’s evident Apple considers repairability to be a priority this time around, much as it does with the standard iPhone 14 and other recent products.
Not that Apple has much choice but to make the HomePod more fix-friendly. Both federal and state governments are pushing for right-to-repair mandates. If Apple didn’t make the speaker easier to maintain, it risked a political pushback. And while we wouldn’t count on Apple adding the HomePod to its Self Service Repair program, the second-gen’s design makes that prospect more realistic.
You can finally repair your own Samsung Galaxy S22
Samsung is finally adding Galaxy S22 parts and manuals to the self-repair program it established last year with partner iFixit. Just as we’re preparing for the Unpacked event that will launch the Galaxy S23, customers can now get access to genuine replacement parts for the S22, S22 Plus, and S22 Ultra, as well as the Galaxy Book Pro (15-inch) and Pro 360 notebooks.
When Samsung first launched the self-repair program in August, customers only had access to limited OEM parts like replacement back covers, USB-C charge ports, and screens for previous generation Galaxy S20 and S21 devices, as well as the Tab S7. Even with the addition of S22 devices, not much has changed in terms of what customers can officially fix.
5 tech companies that make it (sort of) easy to repair your own devices
Ah, darn. Your phone, laptop, or tablet is on the fritz. What now?
Depending on which company made it, you might be able to avoid the hassle of dropping it off and paying for repairs. That is, if you’re brave enough to bust that device open and fix it yourself. Over the past couple of years, some tech companies have made it easier to do self-repairs on certain devices. Microsoft, Samsung, Google, and others come to mind.
Why are these companies doing this? Years of persistence by the “Right to Repair” movement, mostly. Right to Repair activists have pushed laws over the years requiring tech companies to offer resources for self-repair, winning legal victories in places like New York in 2021. Sure, repairing your own devices might be fun in and of itself, but it’s also good for the planet; billions of electronics are simply thrown away each year, contributing to massive amounts of e-waste. A repaired device is a device not thrown away.
If you’re in need of a quick fix for your device, there’s a chance you may be able to buy authentic repair parts and find easy online instructions to make it happen. Here are how some of the biggest tech companies (as well as one nifty startup) handle self-repairs.
Microsoft
Credit: Molly Flores/Mashable
Microsoft was one of the first big companies to allow self-repair of its devices, back in late 2021. At the time of writing, this exclusively applies to Microsoft’s Surface line of tablets and laptops, and only certain models.
Thankfully, there’s an easy way to find out if your device is eligible for self-repair. Microsoft has a website with downloadable PDF service guides for every eligible device. These include, but are not limited to:
-
Surface 2 and 3
-
Surface Laptops 3, 4, and 5
-
Surface Pro 7+, 8, 9, and X
As for where to get parts, the online device repair hub iFixit is going to be your best friend, be it for Microsoft or any of the other companies on this list. Screens, batteries, kickstands, and more components for various Surface devices are available via iFixit.
Samsung
Credit: Zlata Ivleva/Mashable
Last summer, Samsung launched its official self-repair partnership with iFixit. There’s a page on iFixit’s site dedicated solely to this partnership, offering easy access to repair tools and guides for the small handful of supported devices.
And by small, I mean small. At the time of writing, iFixit only supplies parts for the Samsung Galaxy S20 and S21 smartphone lines, as well as the Galaxy Tab S7+. You can buy replacement screens, batteries, and charging ports for these devices, but only these devices. If your Galaxy S22 Ultra breaks, you’re out of luck, for now.
Credit: THOMAS URBAIN/AFP via Getty Images
Google Pixel fans are going to love this.
Google also partnered with iFixit last year to provide repair tools, parts, and information for Pixel phones. Unlike Samsung, however, there doesn’t appear to be any major holes in the program. Every Pixel phone up through the excellent Pixel 7 Pro (including the budget Pixel A-series models) looks to be supported with genuine replacement parts from Google. These include replacement screens and batteries.
Oh, and iFixit has helpful guides for each device, too. It doesn’t get much more convenient than that.
Apple
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable
Apple usually prefers to do things its own way, and that’s no different when it comes to self-repairs.
Rather than working with iFixit like everyone else, Apple has its own self-repair website with tools, parts, and manuals for your perusal. Right now, the list of supported devices is pretty limited. You can order parts for each variant of the iPhone 12 and 13, as well as the latest iPhone SE, but not for any version of the iPhone 14 just yet.
The same goes for desktops and laptops. You can order parts for the 2020 and 2021 models of MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, but not the newer M2 MacBook Air. For desktops, your options are limited to the 2021 iMac, the 2020 M1 Mac mini, and the 2022 Mac Studio.
Still, it’s better than nothing.
Framework
Credit: Molly Flores/Mashable
This last one isn’t a big name brand like the others, but it’s super cool anyway, so it’s on the list.
The Framework Laptop is a laptop that’s designed for laypeople, like you and I, to swap out parts as needed, without requiring a great deal of expertise. It comes with a tool for opening up the laptop, and the individual parts inside are labeled with QR codes that link to repair manuals. There are even four slots on the laptop where you can put in whatever ports you want.
Need four USB-C ports? Just order four of them from the Framework store and you’ve got that. The same goes for replacing basically any part of the device, from the battery to the motherboard. Don’t get me wrong, the repair instructions still look pretty daunting if you have zero experience with self-repairing devices, but you probably won’t find anything more easily repairable on the market.