The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Mediated Matter Group is honing its research into robotic swarm printing by focusing its efforts on material sophistication, or ‘tunability’, and ...communication or coordination between fabrication units. Here, the group's Neri Oxman, Jorge Duro‐Royo, Steven Keating, Ben Peters and Elizabeth Tsai illustrate this by describing three case studies that investigate robotically controlled additive fabrication at architectural scales.
Structural hierarchy and material organization in design are traditionally achieved by combining discrete homogeneous parts into functional assemblies where the shape or surface is the determining ...factor in achieving function. In contrast, biological structures express higher levels of functionality on a finer scale through volumetric cellular constructs that are heterogeneous and complex. Despite recent advancements in additive manufacturing of functionally graded materials, the limitations associated with computational design and digital fabrication of heterogeneous materials and structures frame and limit further progress. Conventional computer-aided design tools typically contain geometric and topologic data of virtual constructs, but lack robust means to integrate material composition properties within virtual models. We present a seamless computational workflow for the design and direct digital fabrication of multi-material and multi-scale structured objects. The workflow encodes for and integrates domain-specific meta-data relating to local, regional and global feature resolution of heterogeneous material organizations. We focus on water-based materials and demonstrate our approach by additively manufacturing diverse constructs associating shape-informing variable flow rates and material properties to mesh-free geometric primitives. The proposed workflow enables virtual-to-physical control of constructs where structural, mechanical and optical gradients are achieved through a seamless design-to-fabrication tool with localized control. An enabling technology combining a robotic arm and a multi-syringe multi nozzle deposition system is presented. Proposed methodology is implemented and full-scale demonstrations are included.
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Many exoskeletons exhibit multifunctional performance by combining protection from rigid ceramic components with flexibility through articulated interfaces. Structure-to-function relationships of ...these natural bioarmors have been studied extensively, and initial development of structural (load-bearing) bioinspired armor materials, most often nacre-mimetic laminated composites, has been conducted. However, the translation of segmented and articulated armor to bioinspired surfaces and applications requires new computational constructs. We propose a novel hierarchical computational model, MetaMesh, that adapts a segmented fish scale armor system to fit complex “host surfaces”. We define a “host” surface as the overall geometrical form on top of which the scale units are computed. MetaMesh operates in three levels of resolution: (i) locally—to construct unit geometries based on shape parameters of scales as identified and characterized in the Polypterus senegalus exoskeleton, (ii) regionally—to encode articulated connection guides that adapt units with their neighbors according to directional schema in the mesh, and (iii) globally—to generatively extend the unit assembly over arbitrarily curved surfaces through global mesh optimization using a functional coefficient gradient. Simulation results provide the basis for further physiological and kinetic development. This study provides a methodology for the generation of biomimetic protective surfaces using segmented, articulated components that maintain mobility alongside full body coverage.
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•MetaMesh is a hierarchical computational construct to generate articulated armored surfaces.•The ancient armored fish Polypterus senegalus provides source of bio-inspiration.•Local, regional and global levels of organization embed functional differentiation.•Articulation of scale units is preserved by neighborhood morphing techniques.•The model is adaptable to a wide array of complex hosting surfaces.
Cellulose, chitin, and pectin are three of the most abundant natural materials on Earth. Despite this, large-scale additive manufacturing with these biopolymers is used only in limited applications ...and frequently relies on extensive refinement processes or plastic additives. We present novel developments in a digital fabrication and design approach for multimaterial three-dimensional printing of biopolymers. Specifically, our computational and digital fabrication workflow-sequential multimaterial additive manufacturing-enables the construction of biopolymer composites with continuously graded transitional zones using only a single extruder. We apply this method to fabricate structures on length scales ranging from millimeters to meters. Transitional regions between materials created using these methods demonstrated comparable mechanical properties with homogenous mixtures of the same composition. We present a computational workflow and physical system support a novel and flexible form of multimaterial additive manufacturing with a diverse array of potential applications.
Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2015.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical ...references (pages 67-70).
This thesis sets the stage for Fabrication Information Modeling (FIM); a design approach for enabling seamless design-to-production workflows that can derive complex designs fusing advanced digital design technologies associated with analysis, engineering and manufacturing. Present day digital fabrication platforms enable the design and construction of high-resolution and complex material distribution structures. However, virtual-to-physical workflows and their associated software environments are yet to incorporate such capabilities. As preliminary methods towards FIM I have developed four computational strategies for the design and digital construction of custom systems. These methods are presented in this thesis in the context of specific design challenges and include a biologically driven fiber construction algorithm; an anatomically driven shell-to-wearable translation protocol; an environmentally-driven swarm printing system; and a manufacturing-driven hierarchical fabrication platform. I discuss and analyze these four challenges in terms of their capabilities to integrate design across media, disciplines and scales through the concepts of multidimensionality, media-informed computation and trans-disciplinary data in advanced digital design workflows. With FIM I aim to contribute to the field of digital design and fabrication by enabling feedback workflows where materials are designed rather than selected; where the question of how information is passed across spatiotemporal scales is central to design generation itself; where modeling at each level of resolution and representation is based on various methods and carried out by various media or agents within a single environment; and finally, where virtual and physical considerations coexist as equals.
by Jorge Duro Royo.
S.M.
SILK PAVILION NERI OXMAN; JARED LAUCKS; MARKUS KAYSER ...
Fabricate 2014,
08/2017
Book Chapter
Odprti dostop
Digital fabrication processes, such as layered manufacturing, typically involve the layered deposition of materials with constant homogeneous physical properties.¹ Yet most natural and biological ...materials are made of fibrous structures locally aligned and spatially organised to optimise structural and environmental performance.² In the fields of product and architectural design, specifically, the automotive and avionic industries, fibre-based digital fabrication has typically been confined to the development and application of high-per formance composites.³ These materials and their related processes are typically toxic and harmful to the environment. Based on previous research and inspired by the Bombyx mori silkworm, this research explores the
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