Bhargav Srinivas Vasudevan joins HP Labs this summer from Clemson University, where he is studying for a masters degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering with a special focus on electronics. A native of Chennai in south eastern India, Vasudevan received his undergraduate degree in Electronics and Communication from Chennai’s Anna University and worked briefly for Tata Consultancy Services before moving to South Carolina. Outside of work, Vasudevan enjoys playing soccer and exploring different musical genres. He’s also a keen vocalist in a variety of music styles, including a progressive form of traditional Carnatic music from southern India.
HP: Tell us about what you are working on this summer.
I’m working on two projects in the 3D Lab to do with 3D printed electronics. In the first one, I’m trying to 3D print a Stylophone, which was a pioneering miniature musical synthesizer developed in the 1960s. While we can’t yet print components like speakers or batteries, we can use HP’s research 3D testbeds to print both circuit boards and electronic connections between components. I’m printing a Stylophone circuit board in plastic and the connections with a conductive printed agent. What’s really significant – and what I’m exploring with this project – is that it allows us to print the circuitry in three dimensions.
HP: Has that not been possible before?
Yes, it has, but not in the way that we conventionally create most electrical circuitry, which is laid out on boards in two dimensions. Now we are able to 3D print the circuitry. In particular, we can use 3D printing to optimize the space we’re working with and to reduce the number of separate components we need to build any specific electrical device. The original Stylophone had several different circuit boards, for example. I’m designing mine to have just one.
