HYDERABAD:The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Hyderabad, which is the only institute in India to offer course in digital fabrication in BTech, is likely to introduce a full-fledged programme in this field in another three years.
“So far we are teaching digital fabrication as one of the subjects in the undergraduate course. But we may introduce a full-fledged course in the next three or four years,” Prof UB Desai, Director, IIT-H has said.
Currently, digital fabrication is still in its initial stage in India, we can start the courses once it is able to offer employability in India, Desai added.
To discuss the recent developments in the field, an international symposium on Digital Fabrication was organised by IIT-Hyderabad in association with Keio University Japan and Deakin University Australia under the aegis of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) here on Monday.
Speaking to newsmen on the sidelines of the symposium, Desai said the digital fabrication is out to change the manufacturing industry. It is an advanced technology through which any product can be manufactured with least wastage of raw material and with accurate measurements.
In digital fabrication, a digital 3D prints of the desired products will be prepared and it will be installed in separately made machines. When the raw material is attached to the machine, it will create the product with the accurate measurements that are given in the 3D prints.
“In conventional methods, we make product my removing the extra part of raw material, but in digital fabrication, the products are created by adding the raw material to a small peace of it in layers”, Desai explained. The new technology will allow the manufacturers to produce goods with the limited raw material in less time. It would drastically reduce the manufacturing cost, he added.
Currently, very few of the Indian industries are using this technology in manufacturing. But it is popular in Western countries, East Asia and Australia. Recently Australian scientists made a cabin of jet plane using digital fabrication, Guy Littlefair, Dean of Engineering, Deakin University, said.