New Technology Allows You To Touch Your Baby While Still In The Womb

Most parents are very keen to know what their child looks like after he/she is conceived. The excitement of soon to be parents used to revolve around knowing the gender of the baby as soon as it develops big enough, but now a company is taking this to the next level.

In Utero 3D, a 3D printing company based in Poland is giving soon to be parents a chance to actually feel their baby before he/she is born, and that too for a nominal cost 1 Euro!

This project was originally designed for blind mothers, who can’t see the ultrasounds of their babies like any mother with eyes can.

But due to its popularity, it is now being used by a lot of parents across Poland, whether blind or not.

IN UTERO 3D creates a bas-relief of an unborn child using technology based on 3D ultrasound examination. They use a file with a 3D ultrasound examination which is saved in Cartesian Volume Files (*.vol) from General Electric Voluson or DICOM (*.dcm) format. For this purpose, Aloka instruments are utilised, which make a very picture that is very similar to the baby’s features like the face, limbs or any part in 1:1 scale.

Below is a brief description of the entire process:

The company said that best imaging takes place between the 18^th -30th weeks of pregnancy.

The company uses their self-developed software, and integrate it with the ultrasound examination technology from GE Voluson and Aloka instruments to make a flawless picture of “3D printed babies”.

The company says that they don’t manipulate the ultrasound images at all, and do not idealise a baby’s face. They simply take the picture and port it to another data storage device. The picture is then 3D printed on a non-toxic bioplastic material.

The bas-relief provides a true three-dimensional representation of baby and his/her environment in the mother’s womb.

The proportions, spatial relations and actual dimensions of an unborn child are maintained and translated onto the final printed material.

Would you consider making a 3D printed model of your unborn child? Let us know in the comments’ section below!