“Watch your backs, professional origamists: researchers are working on a sheet of material that can fold itself. The sheets of material, called “programmable matter” by their inventors, use electric pulses to stimulate themselves into various folded shapes.
So far, one sheet can fold itself into a little boat or an airplane, but the creators envision wide-ranging applications for their programmable matter, from shelving to measuring utensils to a modern Swiss Army knife.
The programmable matter actually works much like origami, and the researchers have integrated some origami folding into its development. One of the first steps in the creation of their folding algorithms is to record a step-by-step unfolding of a real origami object, which they can then reverse and apply to the programmable matter sheets.
The half-millimeter thick sheets used in the experiment are squares made up of 32 triangles joined by flexible silicon seams. Each triangle has an actuator wired to it which, when stimulated, can force the triangle to fold at an angle to the surrounding triangles.
The folding instructions are stored in stickers that users can place on the surface of the sheet. Once a current is supplied, the sheet executes the folding algorithm in the sticker, following the steps until it reaches its final shape.”
Read more at Ars Technica (Thanks Tracey)
Oooh! Another sci-fi standard.
I hope they keep building the nice things from sci-fi and forget about the death rays and interstellar robot wars…
Think of the applications they could create once they’ve improved this. Awesome.
Now this is my kind of science! Wow those scientists must’ve been REALLY bored when they came up with the idea for that. Plus, they could’ve been trying to find a cure for some disease in the time that it took them to make probably the most useless invention known to man. I mean its hardly like if you’re being attacked by a werewolf you can whip out your good old automatic origami and let it do the work. Still, it’s cool!
nice if its real
It is real, there was an article about it in the science supplement of the paper I read and I assume they check their facts.
@JubJub I was actually thinking: “What can we use this for?!” apparently you have some ideas of the usability of such a technology. Do you mind sharing those with us?
I couldn’t get any further than self unfolding napkins
I did notice the neodymium magnets to actually close a fold and keep it closed. So the actuators are currently very week. So fold all the way themselves.
The applications are endless.
What about adjustable flight surfaces on wings, increasing aerodynamic efficiency.
Or a robot, flat-packed for delivery to the moon, that self-assembles.
Or a tent.
Or a PC that can be any shape you want, to fit into corners and stuff.
Alright, not really endless applications, just a few, but it is cool anyway.
By being more efficient with energy and resources we can save lives, just as if we had developed a cure for disease. This would seem to me to provide a lot of ways of increasing efficiency.
@iheartderren:
so what you are saying is that these scientists should have been trying to find a cure for lycanthropy? because as we all know werewolf attacks are on the rise!
It is a fantastic innovation. For starters can we use this in advertising? Can we replace the paper with this automatic matter. We could then give a 3D effect to our magazine ads to showcase the products better.
Can it be made available commercially, and immediately?