Taketo Kobayashi, collaborating with designer Yoshinori Sakamaki, is taking 3D printed prosthetic legs to the next level with their XSENSE brand, incorporating influences from anime and abstract expressions of Japanese subculture. 

Japanese designer, Tatsuo Ishibashi, is focused on creating 3D printed products to assist the elderly and people who suffer from diminished physical functions, available on his Shapeways shop, mizulabo.

Kyushu University was awareded a patent for “Method for production of three-dimensional structure of cells.”

Yukako, a japanese mother, was inspired by the 3D printed prosthetics being delivered around the globe. After downloading the blueprints from the internet, she instantly reached 3D prnting companies and brought a prosthetic hand for his son, Siego. Unhappy with simple design, she approached e-NABLE for help, who printed them Cyborg Design Hand.

Materialise announced the signing of an agreement to see Canon Lifecare Solutions distributing software solutions from the Materialise Mimics Innovation and Care Suites in Japan. With this agreement, users of workstations and 3D printers offered by Canon Lifecare Solutions will be able to benefit from Materialise’s open and flexible software solutions.

In Tokyo’s Akihabara electronics district, the founders of robotics startup Exiii revealed their latest open-source prototype called Exii Hackberyy which only costs about $200. The Exiii Hackberry has a flexible wrist, partially motorized fingers and low-cost parts such as an Arduino controller and a digital camera battery.

At the corporate meeting in Tokyo, CEO Kaz Hirai of Sony announced establishment of a new Robot-Focused Organization in April. Targeting emotionally compelling experiences, Sony is planning to develop a robot capable of forming an emotional bond with customers.

A group of researchers from Japan’s Osaka University have developed a new bioprinting ink using a method based on hydrogelation mediated by horseradish peroxidase, an enzyme that can create cross-links between phenyl groups of an added polymer in the presence of the oxidant hydrogen peroxide. This bioprinting ink will be better substitute of Sodium Alginate as it will allow 3D Printing of more variety of scaffolds.

Researchers from Nagasaki University in Japan are working on scaffold-free approaches for an artificial trachea by assessing the circumferential tracheal replacement using scaffold-free trachea-like grafts, generated from isolated cells in an inbred animal model. Regenova 3D bioprinter from Cyfuse Biomedical was used to assemble multicellular spheroids in a tube-shaped artificial trachea.

A group of researchers from Tokyo Dental College set up a “One-stop 3D printing lab” at the college for the purposes of quickly and inexpensively designing and 3D printing models for oral and maxillofacial surgery. The researchers created their One-Stop 3D printing Lab by generalizing the software and hardware around its inexpensive Value3D MagiX MF-2000 desktop 3D printer from MUTOH Industries Ltd. The researchers determined, by 3D printing dental models daily, that the amount of preparation cost and modeling material can be lowered by increasing the laminating pitch.

Oxford Performance Materials Inc., a Connecticut-based company known for its 3D Printed Implants close to bones with osteoconductive properties and PEKK, has recently been accredited as a foreign medical device manufacturer by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare. Now able to serve over 14 countries of Asia in a partnership with JSR Corp. of Tokyo, OPM looks forward to expanding the reach of 3D Printing to far horizons.

Next 21 K.K., after receiving a commercialization approval in Japan and Europe, has announced formal approval for a new technology to 3D print synthetic bone grafts, called CT-Bone, which is a 3D printable, calcium phosphate implant that’s actually converted into real bone by the patient’s own body. After a CT-scan, Next21 K.K.’s biomedical team create a patient-specific implant (PSI), which can incorporate porosity and match the patient’s anatomy perfectly, which helps facilitate bony ingrowth and good bone-to-implant contact.