2D patterns self-assemble into 3D objects under light

Remember the shrinkie-dinks you used to get in cereal packets back in the 70's and 80's? Scientists have taken that a step further, and can now make 2D plastic shapes fold into 3D objects just by shining light on them!

I'm not entirely sure what the commercial applications of this might be, but it's cool science nonetheless

LINK

WOW this is amazing, a true advancement. In my mind this is one step closer to machines that can maintain their self.

Just the joining material reacting to either to the heat of the light or the radiation. Nothing particularly special.

We could probably build some pretty cool campsites/temporary towns with this method in the near future..

Just a thought.

Reminds me of the reports of the roswell debris.

Just guessing from looking at the video - but it appears as though they've taken sheets of -clear- plastic and used a printer to print patterns of black ink - then take and 'stress' the inked areas (a stamping process, I would imagine). The black ink will heat up under a light (looks to be infra-red in this case) and cause the stressed areas to function as hinges (folding 'in' from where they were stamped).

There could be some application in industry utilizing plastics - probably more so in applications that need large sheets of ridged/folded plastics (such as types of dividers). Things could also get interesting if this were applied to very thin sheets of plastic (saran-wrap thin) with various patterns rolled and stamped onto their surface before passing under a light. Could provide some interesting types of insulation when layered together with rather minimal cost to manufacture by comparison to other methods.

If this were anything more than an interesting reaction to thermal stimulus then I would be impressed. But it appears that light is rather less important to this effect than is heat, and that doesnt interest me nearly as much. We have had materials that bend under heating in a controlled manner for years, in fire alarms and other gizmos.

I will say this though, the reaction is far faster, and happens at a far lower temperature than I thought, but I doubt very much that this reaction is purely the work of photons.

If it were , and the idea could be applied to larger items, then it would be a fantastic augmentation to a space craft for in system use. The sails could fold away when the sun is gone, and fold out when it appears , without having to be instructed to do so, or have programming and memory taken up with a computer controlled version of that action.