Olvídate de las impresoras 3D, lo nuevo es la impresión 4D


por Lucia Yarzabal

Curiosidades

Mientras nosotros, los simples mortales, nos maravillábamos con las impresoras 3D y todas las impresionantes cosas que se podía hacer con ellas, en algún lugar del mundo, un ser superior ya estaba pensando en las impresoras 4D

Si, es posible: la impresión en cuatro dimensiones ya es una realidad. ¿Estás impresionado? Nosotros también. Vamos a ver de qué se trata. 


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¿Cómo funciona la impresión 4D? 

Básicamente se trata de crear objetos inteligentes gracias a una impresora 3D tradicional. Es decir, el secreto de la impresión 4D no es la impresora, sino el material con que se imprime. 

Los científicos lograron formular un material sintético capaz de ser programado para cambiar de forma al pasar de un ambiente a otro. 

En principio se trata de diseños tridimensionales hechos en un material que fue programado para cambiar de forma al ser mojado con agua. Por ejemplo, se puede crear una simple plancha rectangular que al ser sumergida en agua se transforme en una caja, o se pueden crear cañerías plásticas "programadas" para expandirse en función del caudal de agua o repararse a sí mismas si se rompen.

Los materiales expansibles no son algo del todo nuevo. Siempre se ha conocido la existencia de materiales que cambian en función de las condiciones ambientales que lo rodean como temperatura, presión o humedad.


Información:

4D Printing is the Future of Design

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That's right, it's one D better! Actually, 4D printing is about using a 3D printer to produce self-reconfiguring, programmable material that intelligently arranges itself into basically any object - with no computers or electricity required! Skylar Tibbits, an MIT researcher, has already developed prototypes from his self-assembly lab. And this is just the beginning - from skyscrapers to space stations, the promises of 4D printing are amazing.

How would you use 4D Printing? Let us know in the comments below!

[TRANSCRIPT]:
Some assembly required may soon be replaced with "Just Add Water."

3D printers. I never get tired of thinking about all the possible applications, like building a brand new coffee table, or building a brand new 3D printer, or finally getting that Strickland action figure everyone's been asking for. But all of these great products have one thing in common - rigidity. That means they're going to keep that shape once I print them, unless I take a flamethrower to them, or maybe a hacksaw. But the advent of something called 4D printing could turn all of that on its head! That's right, it's one "D" better!

Actually, it's not just a catch phrase, 4D printing is really about using a 3D printer to print out self-reconfiguring, programmable material. Now imagine this. You have a non-living object that can change its shape and behavior over time. It's kind of like a robot, but there are no microprocessors, no circuit boards no motors - in fact to you it looks like a string of plastic. But you toss it into a kiddie pool, and upon contact with water you now have a secret message spelled out in plastic cursive!

Skylar Tibbits, the man who really came up with this idea of 4D printing, has gone even further. He's created programmable sheet material. It's a sheet of plastic that, when submerged in water, can clench up into the shape of a cube. And a cube is just the beginning! More complex designs will mean millions of more shapes - like self-folding origami!

In the near future, imagine a smart grid of plumbing, with pipes that can actually expand and contract in response to water demand. Or maybe even heal if there is a frozen segment that breaks open. Or imagine self assembling furniture. Print out a flat board and just add water, next thing you know it curls up into a rocking chair. Now, wrap your mind around how useful this would be in a really hostile environment, like low Earth orbit, where building stuff comes at a high cost and a high risk.

Now the prototypes we have seen so far have been pretty simple, but the promises are amazing! Think about it on the really big scale. What about skyscrapers and bridges. If we could make them out of smart materials like smart beams and smart bricks, they could heal themselves after weather damage or prepare for something massive like an earthquake.

Or we flip it. We go on to the very small scale and now we have micro particles moving around in our bodies, maintaining our health. You might be wondering, how much complexity can build up our of stuff that changes its shape without computers or electromechanical motors. Lets think about proteins for a second. Proteins are pretty much what make any basic animal function possible on a cellular level. And a protein is really self-reconfiguring material. It's a polypeptide. It's a long chain of amino acids. So once again we're playing Copy Cat to mother nature.

Now lets not get ahead of ourselves, I'm not actually suggesting that we're going to be printing out some sort of plastic replicant that can gain self-awareness and yearn for more life But maybe we will. In fact, it's hard for us to predict right now. We're just seeing the very beginning of this technology, and the complexity could become truly amazing.

So, how would you use 4D printing? Let us know! Leave a comment below, we promise we're going to read every single one of them and while your there why don't you "like" the vide if you enjoyed it, and subscribe, we got some great stuff coming up soon!

   
     

Publicado el 28 de ago. de 2013 por  FW: Thinking   


Lo verdaderamente novedoso es poder imprimirlos con una impresora 3D. En el video anterior vemos como los materiales, sin tener ningún tipo de microchip ni motor, pueden ser programados para transformarse a sí mismos bajo determinadas condiciones.

La impresión en 4D puede ser un método revolucionario que cambie la forma en que se conciben desde las obras más importantes de arquitectura e ingeniería hasta las más pequeñas y cotidianas necesidades domésticas.

Nuestro mundo cambia de forma cada vez más veloz y dramática y es necesario que, en adelante, los objetos que fabricamos y los edificios que construimos sean más fácilmente adaptables a los cambios.


Fuente:  curiosidades.batanga.com/2014



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