Robert Couto
Google Jacquard Stratasys
Picture of a 5 x 5 array of Google Jacquard tag protoypes.
Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects Group (ATAP) has used Stratasys’ multi-colour PolyJet 3D printing technology to carry out design iterations of a new wearable product.
Jacquard by Google is made up of a physical tag and a digital app that has been designed to allow the user to perform actions like pausing music or answer phone calls when paired with their smart device. It can be attached to clothing and accessories, with users completing actions by tapping or swiping the Jacquard tag.
During the development of the product, ATAP turned to Stratasys’ J8 Series PolyJet printer to produce a range of design iterations for the Jacquard Tag, which included single-colour concept models and functional multi-material prototypes. ATAP is said to have enjoyed the ‘speed, material performance and functional fidelity’ of the J8 platform, which is said to have helped the team closely replicate the multi-material assembly of the final product. Typically, generating multi-material prototypes for a product like this would take the ATAP team weeks, but with 3D printing they were able to turn around design iterations overnight. ATAP also found the J8’s compatibility with KeyShot 10 and the 3MF file format particularly helpful, harnessing its colour, displacement maps and 3D simulate texture tools to better replicate how the final product looks.
“A lot of designers are using KeyShot. The closer the end part coming off the printer looks to the KeyShot rendering and the easier it is to go from the designer’s vision to the print, the better,” Bryan Allen, Technical Program Manager and ATAP Lab lead, commented. “You’re buying design time to explore and optimise your solutions and get critical needs done so you can move into the next stages.”
While ATAP has the Jacquard platform to introduce other wearable products, it is also beginning to use Stratasys’ Digital Anatomy technology to improve functional material performance. With Digital Anatomy and the J8 printer, they are able to replicate the appearance, texture and responsiveness of the human body and use those insights to better inform their product development.
The group, which has been set up to ‘develop technologies that enrich everyday interactions with the physical world,’ believes there is much more to come from 3D printing technology.
“Printers are really catching up to how designers think about design and materials,” Allen added. “The future is coming a lot faster than we thought it would, and at Google ATAP, we’re building the capabilities for us to be able to predict what’s possible.”
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