3-D printing

“Orbiting” prototype installation view by CAST Visiting Artist Thom Kubli and Hiroshi Ishii, the Jerome B. Wiesner Professor of Media Arts and Sciences, in the Media Lab's Tangible Media Group

Speculative machines produce existential wonder

“Orbiting” will be an aerial archive of symbols that reference the cultural and technological achievements of humanity.

March 12, 2020

CurveBoards are 3D breadboards — which are commonly used to prototype circuits — that can be designed by custom software, 3D printed, and directly integrated into the surface of physical objects, such as smart watches, bracelets, helmets, headphones, and even flexible electronics. CurveBoards can give designers an additional prototyping technique to better evaluate how circuits will look and f...

Integrating electronics onto physical prototypes

In place of flat “breadboards,” 3D-printed CurveBoards enable easier testing of circuit design on electronics products.

March 3, 2020

Printing objects that can incorporate living organisms

A 3D printing system that controls the behavior of live bacteria could someday enable medical devices with therapeutic agents built in.

January 23, 2020

The Maldives, a chain of islands in the Indian Ocean, are at risk of erosion and, at worst, submersion from rising sea levels. MIT's Skylar Tibbits is conducting field experiments with a group called Invena in the Maldives to harness the power of waves with underwater bladders to promote sand accumulation where it is most needed to protect shorelines from flooding.

Transformation by design

Skylar Tibbits makes materials that water, heat, or mechanical forces can alter into new shapes.

November 27, 2019

An MIT-invented model efficiently and simultaneously optimizes control and design of soft robots for target tasks, which has traditionally been a monumental undertaking in computation. The model, for instance, was significantly faster and more accurate than state-of-the-art methods at simulating how quadrupedal robots (pictured) should move to reach target destinations.

How to design and control robots with stretchy, flexible bodies

Optimizing soft robots to perform specific tasks is a huge computational problem, but a new model can help.

November 22, 2019

Photo shows two prototype assembler robots at work putting together a series of small units, known as voxels, into a larger structure.

Assembler robots make large structures from little pieces

Systems of tiny robots may someday build high-performance structures, from airplanes to space settlements.

October 16, 2019

Recent graduate student Karly Bast shows off the scale model of a bridge designed by Leonardo da Vinci that she and her co-workers used to prove the design’s feasibility.

Engineers put Leonardo da Vinci’s bridge design to the test

Proposed bridge would have been the world’s longest at the time; new analysis shows it would have worked.

October 9, 2019

A lattice structure, originally printed flat, has morphed into the outline of a human face after changing in response to the surrounding temperature. Perspective view (left), top view (middle), and side view (right) of transformed lattice, approximately 160mm tall.

This flat structure morphs into shape of a human face when temperature changes

New structural design could lead to self-deploying tents or adaptive robotic fins.

September 30, 2019

PhotoChromeleon, a reversible process for changing the color of objects developed at MIT, involves a mix of photochromic dyes that can be sprayed or painted onto the surface of any object.

Objects can now change colors like a chameleon

Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory team creates new reprogrammable ink that lets objects change colors using light.

September 10, 2019

Building on the legacy of the Apollo program, MIT faculty, staff, and students are working toward the next great advances in space flight — ones that could propel humans back to the moon, and to parts still unknown.

Taking the next giant leaps

Fifty years after the first moon landing with Apollo 11, the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics looks to the future of space exploration at MIT.

September 5, 2019

MIT researchers have 3-D printed ultrathin ceramic films that convert energy from one form into another for flexible electronics and biosensors. Here, they’ve printed the piezoelectric films into a pattern spelling out “MIT.”

Ultrathin 3-D-printed films convert energy of one form into another

Low-cost “piezoelectric” films produce voltage, could be used for flexible electronic components and more.

August 28, 2019

Researchers at MIT demonstrated gloves fabricated by a system for automating knitted garments.

Computer-aided knitting

New research from the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory uses machine learning to customize clothing designs.

August 6, 2019

Microfluidic devices, like those shown here, could be 3-D printed in space and used to construct DNA for insertion into bacteria, reprogramming them to make specific products.

Scientists look to synthetic biology and 3-D printing for life support in space

Do-it-yourself bio and maker communities can help NASA meet needs of long-distance missions.

July 26, 2019

MIT alumnus Steven Keating has died. Keating conducted research on additive manufacturing and synthetic biology. He developed a technology that could 3-D print the foundation of a building.

Celebrating a curious mind: Steven Keating 1988-2019

Steven Keating SM'12, PhD '16 inspired millions with his research-driven approach to battling cancer and his advocacy for open patient health data.

July 22, 2019

A new MIT-invented system automatically designs and 3-D prints complex robotic actuators optimized according to an enormous number of specifications, such as appearance and flexibility. To demonstrate the system, the researchers fabricated floating water lilies with petals equipped with arrays of actuators and hinges that fold up in response to magnetic fields run through conductive fluids.

Automated system generates robotic parts for novel tasks

When designing actuators involves too many variables for humans to test by hand, this system can step in.

July 12, 2019

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