Joshua Pearce at Michigan Tech has published a study modelling return on investment for 3D printing open source syringe pump drivers in the lab – and the news is good with a high return on investment and large savings from lab budgets.
Pearce points out that quality is still an issue with open hardware for science:
It’s one thing to have a cheap device, and another to have a tool you can trust to do scientific research…[major funders] could make a big difference in improving open source validation…They can also build a centralized database to house that information—including the code—and make the hardware more accessible.
Link to paper on Academica.edu
Michigan Tech press release
Image credit: 3D Printer by Dennis van Zuijlekom on Flickr, licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.0