Not too long ago , a couple of MIT scientist asked themselves a lofty question : “ Can you 3 - D photographic print an airplane ? ” It did n’t take long for them to realize that 3D publish anything on that scale was impractical . But 3D - publish chiliad of modest , Lego - like building blocks ? That could work .
Fast forward a few months , and Kenneth Cheung and Neil Gershenfeldhave put out a paper in Sciencedetailing the new construction method . Like Lego , it ask advantage of tiny , interlocking building block that connect to produce a larger body structure . And also like Lego , the structure can be taken apart , the occlusion rearranged and reassembled into a dissimilar social organisation . This comes in handy in case it gets damaged or builder need to reprocess the cloth . For convenience sake , Cheung and Gershenfeldare now designing a robotthat can be used as a construction worker .
The appeal of the arrangement is obvious , especially when it come to building large - shell objective like aircraft or even levees . The construction lug themselves can be chintzily manufacture through 3D printing and can be recycle again and again . Because they ’re made of a lightweight porous composite , the structures themselves are lightweight and well-fixed to transport . Unlike current methods for build airplane and spaceships , for instance , this method acting does n’t involve the final structure to be tack together all at once in a jumbo repair shed . You just snap the belittled pieces together when it ’s meter .
It seems reasonably likely that we ’re going to see something like this go into enjoyment at NASA , where Cheung will soon be an locomotive engineer . It should fit decent in . They’vebeen big Lego fansfor years . [ MIT ]
https://gizmodo.com/i-want-this-3-foot-long-lego-space-shuttle-so-badly-926125534
3D printinginnovationLego
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