Forbes article on Infrastructs- Microsoft Researchers Introduce Technology For An Internet Of Things In 3D Printing

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rakeshsharma/2013/09/12/the-internet-of-things-for-3d-printing/

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As the Internet of Things or IoT becomes popular in mainstream consciousness, connected objects and devices are the holy grail for most companies and researchers. Researchers at Microsoft MSFT +1.04% may have taken the first step in building an IoT ecosystem for 3D printing.

Andy Wilson

At this year’s SIGGRAPH conference for computer graphics and interactive machinery in Anaheim, California, Lead researcher Andy Wilson and his associate Karl Willis presented a paper that proposed a technique to embed informationinto objects during the digital fabrication process. The project – called InfraStructs – “pioneers techniques for reading unique identifiers embedded within 3D printed objects.”

What Is The Thinking Behind Microsoft's 3D Printed Future?

Rakesh SharmaContributor

In simple words, this means that you can introduce all sorts of information in multiple formats into an object during its production process. As an example, Wilson says users can integrate URLs into an object during the production process. These URLs can be used for further processing or instructions when that object encounters other 3D printed objects.

The applications of this technology are wide-ranging. For example, mobile robots are constrained in their motion and object detection currently. This is due to the complexity of negotiating their way around objects of varying sizes and complexity. As an example, Wilson says it would be difficult for robots to detect power receptacles. A 3D printed ecosystem, where each object contains significant information about other objects, will help improve the robot ecosystem. Similarly, the technology can also be used for further authentication.

If the technology sounds vaguely familiar, then it is.

A variety of similar new technologies, such as Radio Frequency Identification Codes (or, RFID) and QR codes, clutter the aisles department stores or enable security access to office workers. However, these technologies require the addition of an external device or “disruption of visual appearance” as Wilson puts it. For example, RFID technology requires additional security cards or keys. Similarly, QR codes proliferate through the use of stickers. What’s more, they require placement of devices at specific angles and proximity for processing. This introduces friction into the process.

According to Wilson, InfraStructs eliminates these requirements because information is already encoded into an object during the production process. Thus, interaction between objects is independent of external devices or appendages.

For all their disadvantages, however, RFID and QR codes can be tacked onto existing objects. This approach has its benefits in a world consisting of multiple products and systems.  InfraStructs, however, requires object reinvention with embedded identifiers.

Part of the problem is due to the absence of popular applications of Terahertz technology, the internal imaging technology used to construct identifiers. Other imaging technologies have popular mainstream applications. Multispectral imaging, for example, has a similar use case to Terahertz and is used in popular technology applications such as Kinect to detect motion. Similarly, millimeter wave scanning technology is used in airport scanners (Yes, the very same infamous TSA scanners). Terahertz technology, in contrast, is yet to find a significant popular application.

However, Wilson and his team have outlined a potentially useful application of their technology for 3D printing service companies, such as Shapeways and iMaterialise. They can use InfraStructs to streamline operations and make their processes efficient. For example, their current processes involve manufacture of dozens of 3D printed objects, which, subsequently, require manual sorting. Embedding objects with the sender’s information and address could automate and simplify the sorting process. There are two ways this can be done, according to Wilson. For example, users can integrate this information during the design process itself by using a simple Save Asfunction to include their information and a unique identifier.

Alternately, 3D printing service companies can add unique identifiers during further object processing.

Shapeways, are you listening?

Picometrix a subsidiary of Advanced Photonix supplied the Terahertz platform and tools used in INFRASTRUCTS

My Note: Mike Favale* posted a link to an article today which indicates that the recent news  (see: http://terahertztechnology.blogspot.com/2013/07/internal-thz-tagging-technique_23.html ) concerning the joint venture by Carnegie Melon and Microsoft to develop a new technology called Infrastructs which embeds information directly inside items which can then be read by a THz scanner and which can be used in 3D printing, used a Picometrix platform.

The researchers employed several off-the-shelf THz emitter-receivers, including Picometrix's T-Ray 4000 model. The team has also developed the software that analyzes the transmissions reflected from a scan of each item, and then links the results to a specific object. - See more at: http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?10856/3#sthash.ylr1UnVB.dpuf

Gizmodo had this to say about Inftrastructs:

Say you have a 3D-printed item you're selling. Maybe you slap a barcode on it that identifies what it is, where it came from, and how much it costs. However, Microsoft has developed a new technology called InfraStructs that offers a better alternative. With it, you could embed information directly inside of an item.

InfraStructs is a passive, material-based tag that can be identified using Terahertz imaging. Terahertz imaging is sort of like X-ray vision, and it's often used in biomedical or aerospace fields for quality control. With InfraStructs, it can see through an item and immediately pick up all kinds of data. InfaStructs could be embedded in even very small items. It could be used for inventory control, interactive gaming, or pretty much anything you'd need to link an object to. You can see how it works in the demo above. And maybe it's our future without sticky labels and price tags or awkward QR codes. [Karl D. Willis, TG Daily]

http://gizmodo.com/microsoft-has-invented-a-way-to-embed-data-in-3d-printe-922028963

    *(Mike's blog is found here):

http://terahertzspectrum.blogspot.com/

Internal THz tagging technique demonstrated for 3D-printed objects

http://thznetwork.net/index.php/archives/1794

The age of 3D printing, when every object so created can be personalized, will increase the need for tags to keep track of everything. Happily, the same 3D printing process used to produce an object can simultaneously generate an internal, invisible tag, say scientists at Carnegie Mellon University and Microsoft Research.
These internal tags, which the researchers have dubbed InfraStructs, can be read with an imaging system using terahertz (THz) radiation, which can safely penetrate many common materials. In proof-of-concept experiments, Karl Willis, a recent Ph.D. graduate in computational design at Carnegie Mellon, and Andy Wilson, a principal researcher at Microsoft Research, have demonstrated several possible tag designs and the THz imaging and data processing steps necessary to read them.
The tags themselves come at no extra cost, Willis said, but THz imaging, still in its infancy, can be pricey. As this imaging technology matures and becomes more affordable, however, InfraStructs could be used for a number of applications beyond keeping track of inventory or making point-of-sale transactions.
For instance, they could help mobile robots recognize or differentiate between things. They might encode information into custom accessories used in game systems. Or, they might enable new tabletop computing scenarios in which objects can be sensed regardless of whether they are stacked, buried or inserted inside other objects.
Willis and Wilson will present their findings July 25 at SIGGRAPH 2013, the International Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, in Anaheim, Calif.
Unlike conventional manufacturing, every single thing produced with digital fabrication techniques, such as 3D printing and laser cutting, can differ from the next, even in subtle ways. “You probably don’t want to have visible barcodes or QR codes on every object you make,” Willis said. Inserting a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag into each component would be a possibility, he acknowledged, but for now that would require interrupting the normal 3D printing process.
InfraStructs, by contrast, can be made with the same layer-by-layer process used for producing the object. In some cases, information can be encoded by positioning bubbles or voids inside the object; those voids reflect THz radiation. In other cases, materials that are reflective of THz radiation might be used to encode the information or create images inside the object.
“The ability to embed 3D patterns gives designers new opportunities in creating objects that are meant to be sensed and tracked,” Wilson said. “One idea is to embed a code just under the surface of the object, so that a THz beam can recover its position on the surface, wherever it strikes the object.”
THz radiation falls between microwaves and infrared light on the electromagnetic spectrum. It can penetrate many common plastics, papers and textiles but, unlike X-rays, does not harm biological tissues. THz imaging has yet to be fully commercialized. NASA famously has used it for inspecting the protective tiles on the space shuttle, detecting the same sort of voids Willis and Wilson have now used to encode information with InfraStructs.
Willis’ work on InfraStructs occurred while he was an intern at Microsoft Research. Additional research on materials, fabrication processes and imaging techniques will be necessary if the tags are to be widely adopted. InfraStructs aim to take advantage of trends toward high-speed electronics at THz frequencies and the rapidly growing capabilities of digital fabrication.

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For more information, visit the project website or the Microsoft Research Blog.