Orthopedic implant development is rooted in historical achievements, from advancements in materials, x-ray technology and inventions like fracture plating and interbody cages. Until the advent of additive manufacturing, most product form factors had only slightly changed over the past 60 years.
A boom of 3D-printed cages, screws, guides and plates has now flooded the scene, but the question must be asked: to what extent does additive manufacturing improve outcomes? What constitutes a design worth printing? What relevant design inspiration can be taken from biological forms, and does it matter?
This session delves into these questions and helps communicate advanced composition techniques using computational design tools that will assist engineers and other development professionals in their journey to advance the next generation of orthopedic implants.
Matthew Shomper is a visionary leader in the computational design of advanced 3D-printed medical implants, with close to 15 years of experience in engineering, research and innovation. As an inventor, creator and passionate leader, he has been a part of founding businesses focused on additive manufacturing. He is an internationally recognized speaker on biomimicry, computational modeling and additive manufacturing, lecturing at conferences and prestigious universities like MIT and Harvard.
Matthew’s work is driven by his passion for exploring the macro and micro of biological forms, turning algorithms into functional structures for physical devices. He has pioneered the idea of a “biologically advantageous implant” and has spearheaded multiple public initiatives to synthesize biological structures as computational models for use in engineered products. He is the Founder and Principal Consultant of Not a Robot Engineering, a co-founder of LatticeRobot and involved in several other stealth startups.