eafpres, thanks for the feedback. My April feature on self-assembly and self-reconfiguring robots will touch on several of these subjects. If you're interested in nanoscale self-assembly, I suggest you check out DNA origami and the Wyss Institute work on DNA 2D tiles and 3D bricks.
Thanks for sharing this. I watched the underwater cube, then I watched Skylar's TED talk as well. When you think about a system like this, it makes sense that 3D printing (or some form of 3D manufacturing) and self-assembly go together--things we want in the world are mainly 3D, so they are assembled out of 3D parts (the printer that prints out of stacked sheets notwithstanding--they are still 3D--they have thickness!).
It is interesting to think about gravity as the main source of energy (potential energy) and building structures. In a sense, this is already done on a large scale or certain types of retaining walls. You have 3D blocks that fit together, and gravity provides the force to keep them together. I have seen some blocks for walls that are very large--think a concrete lego brick the size of a bale of hay. Some I have seen have bumps on one side and dents on the other, so they stack and won't move horizontally, and gravity does the rest.
On a smaller scale, I wonder what could be done with structures that respond to other sources, such as thermal, and pH, or even blood chemistry, and how those could be used in the body.
For 3D printing to make the jump from rapid prototyping to manufacturing, engineers will need to find easier ways to move products from their CAD screens to their printers.
Gigabit and PoE are two networking technologies moving ahead in tandem as industrial users power remote Ethernet devices such as IP security cameras at 1,000 Mbps over existing CAT5 cable.
New versions of BASF's Ecovio line are both compostable and designed for either injection molding or thermoforming. These combinations are becoming more common for the single-use bioplastics used in food service and food packaging applications, but are still not widely available.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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