Cornell Researchers Develop 3D-printed Loudspeaker

A team of researchers at Cornell University has successfully produced a fully functional loudspeaker using a 3D printer.

The fabrication project, led by graduate students Apoorva Kiran and Robert MacCurdy, is one of the first of its kind to create a working electronic device, according to Cornell.

The speaker was crafted using plastic for the housing, silver ink for the conductive coil and a viscous blend of strontium ferrite for the magnet. The speaker was printed using a Fab@Home 3D printer, built by professor Hod Lipson and student Evan Malone at Cornell's Creative Machines Lab.

According to Kiran, the challenge in the project was devising a design that included compatible materials that could be processed, at the same time, through a single printer. Conductive coil, plastic and copper have different curing times and temperature requirements. The lab's customizable printer enabled the researchers to experiment with different cartridges, control software and other factors until they found a combination that worked.

Lipson said that he hopes this project opens the door for new developments in 3D fabrication that move it from "printing passive parts toward printing active, integrated systems."

A video walk-through of the speaker's fabrication can be found online.

About the Author

Kanoe Namahoe is online editor for 1105 Media's Education Group. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • student reading a book with a brain, a protective hand, a computer monitor showing education icons, gears, and leaves

    4 Steps to Responsible AI Implementation

    Researchers at the University of Kansas Center for Innovation, Design & Digital Learning (CIDDL) have published a new framework for the responsible implementation of artificial intelligence at all levels of education.

  • glowing digital brain interacts with an open book, with stacks of books beside it

    Federal Court Rules AI Training with Copyrighted Books Fair Use

    A federal judge ruled this week that artificial intelligence company Anthropic did not violate copyright law when it used copyrighted books to train its Claude chatbot without author consent, but ordered the company to face trial on allegations it used pirated versions of the books.

  • server racks, a human head with a microchip, data pipes, cloud storage, and analytical symbols

    OpenAI, Oracle Expand AI Infrastructure Partnership

    OpenAI and Oracle have announced they will develop an additional 4.5 gigawatts of data center capacity, expanding their artificial intelligence infrastructure partnership as part of the Stargate Project, a joint venture among OpenAI, Oracle, and Japan's SoftBank Group that aims to deploy 10 gigawatts of computing capacity over four years.

  • laptop displaying a phishing email icon inside a browser window on the screen

    Phishing Campaign Targets ED Grant Portal

    Threat researchers at cybersecurity company BforeAI have identified a phishing campaign spoofing the U.S. Department of Education's G5 grant management portal.