TY - CONF

T1 - Coupling self-assembling materials with digital designs to grow adaptive structures

AU - Blaney, Adam

AU - Alexander, Jason

AU - Dunn, Nick

AU - Richards, Daniel

AU - Doursat, Rene

AU - Rennie, Allan

AU - Anwar, Jamshed

N1 - Conference code: 15

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - There is a discrepancy between digital design simulations andthe physical structures they produce. While current fabricationtechnologies and materials used to create artefacts lack theflexible and adaptive qualities present within the digital models,this is not the case in biological structures. The latter continuallyadapt their shape and material compositions to suit imposedenvironmental demands, maximise available resources and havethe ability to self-heal, a process particularly evident in boneremodeling [ 1 ]. In order to instill these qualities intomanufactured structures we propose a fabrication system thatincorporates self-assembling / self-organising materials anddesign simulations. The resulting objects would have the abilityto tune and adapt their material properties (location, type,composition, volume, rate, shape) and offer radically newopportunities for design and manufacturing. Firstly the paperhighlights major benefits of fabricating adaptive structures fromself-assembling/self-organising materials. Then it describesongoing research that uses self-assembling materials (crystalgrowth) to fabricate adaptable structures by inducing turbulenceelectrically.

AB - There is a discrepancy between digital design simulations andthe physical structures they produce. While current fabricationtechnologies and materials used to create artefacts lack theflexible and adaptive qualities present within the digital models,this is not the case in biological structures. The latter continuallyadapt their shape and material compositions to suit imposedenvironmental demands, maximise available resources and havethe ability to self-heal, a process particularly evident in boneremodeling [ 1 ]. In order to instill these qualities intomanufactured structures we propose a fabrication system thatincorporates self-assembling / self-organising materials anddesign simulations. The resulting objects would have the abilityto tune and adapt their material properties (location, type,composition, volume, rate, shape) and offer radically newopportunities for design and manufacturing. Firstly the paperhighlights major benefits of fabricating adaptive structures fromself-assembling/self-organising materials. Then it describesongoing research that uses self-assembling materials (crystalgrowth) to fabricate adaptable structures by inducing turbulenceelectrically.

M3 - Conference paper

T2 - ALife

Y2 - 4 July 2016 through 8 July 2016

ER -