What comes after 3 D printing, why 4 D printing of course.

They are taking 3 D printing to the next level in the self assembly lab of M I T.

Here is the DIRECT LINK to the video below. Be sure to click on "read more" in the description. There are many links to some very interesting things there.

SOURCE

Here comes 4D Printing. Seriously.

It follows that with a domain name like 3Dprinter.net that we disseminate information relating to 3D printing, but we’re not going to let the name of the site stop us from keeping with the times. 3D printing came after 2D printing, so where will printing go from here? 4D printing, naturally.

While working in the fourth dimension is often associated with manipulating time, you don’t need a flux capacitor for 4D printing. What 4D printing is about is self assembly — materials whose geometries are designed in a way to convert energy into form, and that energy doesn’t have to be specifically directed at making the form come about as with most manufacturing methodologies, like a robotic arm precisely positioning components to be followed by another specific weld job. Rather, with 4D printing, objects can assemble themselves with indirect energy and inputs, such as heat, moisture, motion, and electromagnetism. So for example, the pieces that make up a pair of headphones could be shipped to you as a few flat pieces in a normal envelope, and you just toss them in a box, give ‘em a quick Shake ‘n Bake jostle, and Alakazam you’ve got a new pair of headphones that required no Chinese child labor or expensive shipping fees.

I think 3D printers are GREAT , they actually printed an ear for a child from cow cartilage ! Give this tech about five more years and they will be able to replace an arm or a leg.

Folding does not make an object 4th dimension
Smell-O-Vision is not 4 dimensions
Shaking seats in a movie theater does not make 4 dimensions

stop that
stop it right this instant :I


But in all seriousness I can already think of a few applications, like artificial robotic muscles.
If this is as good as it says it is then we can use them to replace hydraulics in robotics.

It's been said before, but reality really does follow Sci-Fi.

This isn't a million miles away from an early Star Trek Replicator.

A few generations down the line and we'll probably be seeing systems where you feed in trash, old shop bags, empty bottles and tin cans and you'll get new products out.

The ultimate lean green recycling machine.

In the near future we could print robots and then arm them with printed ar15's and control them with that lab rat mind link thingy. Or we could just print beer and hookers
Just sayin

This is as many million light years away from Star Trek as it is possible to get at the moment. Lets be absolutely realistic here, the object may change shape once printed, but the finished product does not come at the hands of a nifty matter nudging energy beam.

The idea of a self constructing space station is one that has interested me for some time, and with all the man made junk orbiting our planet right now, I can see that there would be no shortage of raw materail for such a thing, if it could be reclaimed. However, this folding technique is (dare I say it) pretty lame. Its just an excersize in resistant materials. What is needed is machinery capable of building itself because it has been constructed and programned at such a deep level that its every molecule has significant computing power, not something that flops together because it contains two antagonistic materials which automatically assume a given shape dependant on temperature, lighting or moisture!

Good grief.

its NOT 4D !!
stop misleading people to your thread !

Originally posted by AnonyWarp
its NOT 4D !!
stop misleading people to your thread !

You could stop making uninformed comments if you just took the time to read AND UNDERSTAND the OP. The title was from the article, not me.

Having printed objects that self animate is very much 4D printing. Cars that repair themselves after a crash, or even creepy terminator dudes that can blend and alter their shape.

This is exciting. I cant wait to see where this technology goes.

reply to post by TrueBrit


You obviously haven't seen the video's of printers which scan objects with a laser! It won't be very long before the laser is building it too. Moore's law.

ok, so their term of 4d is something that creates it's own shapes and movements. That is not real 4d, but that is still a very cool concept, and could lead to forms of free energy! That is AWESOME!!

I'd build myself a car that doesn't require fuel other than water to keep it expanding and contracting.

Awesome!
s&f!

reply to post by Darkblade71


Yeah I agree their use of the term 4D is misleading. I have concerns about the stability of the products produced by it.

If the 3D printers used Titanium and Nickel nano-powders instead of plastics, then the movement would not be restricted to just one direction, once only...you would effectively be printing a Nitinol based product, which can move repeatedly back and forth depending on temperature applied to it.

In the example the guy in the video gives of one day building pumpless water pipes, a expanding and contracting section(s) of the pipe made from Nitinol, will achieve the ability of a mechanical pump, without parts that wear out. Simply apply heat and cold to pump the water, etc.

Nitinol actually get's stronger, the more it is flexed back and forth.

The same method could be applied to print monofilament Nitinol based wires, at the nano-scale.
These ultra thin wires, bundled together in their thousands would effectively act as artificial muscles fibres, to be used in Human limbs, or robotics.

Coat those Nitinol nano-fibres in several layers of monoatomic Graphene and you have artificial muscle fibres that can quickly store and release energy at the local level.

Use the same technology and coat the Nitinol fibres and Graphene in the patients own stem cells (also printed 'on' by the 3D printer) and you have a system that wouldn't be too hard to incorporate into artificial beating heart muscle tissue that would not be rejected by the immune system.

Artificial limbs, internal organs and realistic and lifelike robotics could be just around the corner.

Not a million miles away from Star Trek technology again TrueBrit, especially when a Graphene coating or layer can be made using a simple laser and Graphite Oxide, and since Lasers are indeed particle beams...the Star Trek analogy, although not a mirror of current progress, stands IMO.

Sounds eerily familiar to that UFO material that folded it self.

reply to post by LeLeu


im all for printing beer and hookers in all seriousness im super stoaked and my imagination is going nuts over this tech

reply to post by happykat39


So, the universe is a 4-d printer.

Originally posted by ImaFungi
reply to post by happykat39

 

So, the universe is a 4-d printer.

The universe just prints energy into other energy.

reply to post by yourmaker


I was regarding where it said somewhere in this thread that the concept of 4d printing is materials and energy that establishes into forms on its own... reminded me of the universe.

The title made me think of Spainal Tap's amps that go to 11.

I have always thought that 3D printing was about decentralizing the manufacturing process. About printing what you need at home. The article says:

So for example, the pieces that make up a pair of headphones could be shipped to you as a few flat pieces in a normal envelope, and you just toss them in a box, give ‘em a quick Shake ‘n Bake jostle, and Alakazam you’ve got a new pair of headphones that required no Chinese child labor or expensive shipping fees.

Why order rods that need to be soaked, shocked or whatever instead of just printing the shape you need? Seems like a step backwards from 3D printing.