Linked-Stick: Conveying a Physical Experience using a Shape-Shifting Stick

We use sticks as tools for a variety of activities, everything from conducting music to playing sports or even engage in combat. However, these experiences are inherently physical and are poorly conveyed through traditional digital mediums such as video. Linked-Stick is a shape-changing stick that can mirror the movements of another person's stick-shape tool. We explore how this can be used to experience and learn music, sports and fiction in a more authentic manner. Our work attempts to expand the ways in which we interact with and learn to use tools

Methods and apparatus for additive manufacturing of glass

In illustrative implementations of this invention, a crucible kiln heats glass such that the glass becomes or remains molten. A nozzle extrudes the molten glass while one or more actuators actuate movements of the nozzle, a build platform or both. A computer controls these movements such that the extruded molten glass is selectively deposited to form a 3D glass object. The selective deposition of molten glass occurs inside an annealing kiln. The annealing kiln anneals the glass after it is extruded. In some cases, the actuators actuate the crucible kiln and nozzle to move in horizontal x, y directions and actuate the build platform to move in a z-direction. In some cases, fluid flows through a cavity or tubes adjacent to the nozzle tip, in order to cool the nozzle tip and thereby reduce the amount of glass that sticks to the nozzle tip

Additive Manufacturing of Optically Transparent Glass

We present a fully functional material extrusion printer for optically transparent glass. The printer is composed of scalable modular elements able to operate at the high temperatures required to process glass from a molten state to an annealed product. We demonstrate a process enabling the construction of 3D parts as described by computer-aided design models. Processing parameters such as temperature, which control glass viscosity, and flow rate, layer height, and feed rate can thus be adjusted to tailor printing to the desired component, its shape, and its properties. We explored, defined, and hard-coded geometric constraints and coiling patterns as well as the integration of various colors into the current controllable process, contributing to a new design and manufacturing space. We report on performed characterization of the printed materials executed to determine their morphological, mechanical, and optical properties. Printed parts demonstrated strong adhesion between layers and satisfying optical clarity. This molten glass 3D printer demonstrates the production of parts that are highly repeatable, enable light transmission, and resemble the visual and mechanical performance of glass constructs that are conventionally obtained. Utilizing the optical nature of glass, complex caustic patterns were created by projecting light through the printed objects. The 3D-printed glass objects described here can thus be extended to implementations across scales and functional domains including product and architectural design. This research lies at the intersection of design, engineering, science, and art, representing a highly interdisciplinary approach.Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical EngineeringGlass Art Society (Technology Advancing Glass Grant

Design, analysis and fabrication of expressive, efficient shell structures: a prototype exploring synergy between architecture, engineering and manufacture

The research-prototype is a 4 x 5 x 2m, “topologically optimized” concrete shell that was designed and built in ten days. The prototype and this ensuing paper aim to extend the rich legacy of form-finding to adequately represent the complexities of scale, digital design systems and delivery mechanisms of contemporary architectural practice. They explore synergies in early design between architecture, structural engineering, and manufacturing

Towards a new transparency : high fidelity additive manufacturing of transparent glass structures across scales

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2017.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references.Optically transparent and structurally sound, glass has played a significant role in the evolution of product and architectural design across scales and disciplines, and throughout the ages. Glass processing methods - such as blowing, pressing, and forming - have aimed at achieving increased glass performance and functionality. Nonetheless, techniques and technologies enabling controlled tunability of its optical and mechanical properties at high spatial manufacturing resolution have remained an end without a means. This thesis presents GLASS II - a high fidelity, large-scale, additive manufacturing technology for optically transparent glass combined with demonstrations of novelty through a construction of fully transparent glass structures at architectural scale. The enabling technology builds upon previous research conducted at the Mediated Matter Group and introduces a fundamental restructuring of the platform's architecture and process control informed by the material properties and behaviors of silicate glass. The new manufacturing technology provides a digitally integrated thermal control system across the entire glass forming processes, combined with a novel 4-axis motion control system; enabling a high fidelity manufacturing process capable of producing glass structures with tunable yet predictable mechanical and optical properties. The material fundamentally drives how the machine is used, and in return, the machine can change how the glass is formed and used. In order to evaluate the full capability of this new manufacturing technology, a series of three-meter tall glass column structures were designed, engineered, manufactured, and constructed. Harnessing its optical transparency in conjunction with the spatial tunability of the material deposition across the full length of the column, geometry of each column is topologically optimized under the material constrains of the viscoelastic filament such that the result provides highly efficient structural performance as free standing columns while each layer of the printed glass acts as a lens and transforms the incoming light into spatial interactions of kaleidoscopic caustics. This large-scale multifunctional 3D printed glass structure, embodying a new mode of transparency in architecture, was exhibited in Italy for the first time during the Milan Design Week in April 2017.by Chikara Inamura.S.M

Additive Manufacturing of Transparent Glass Structures

Advancements in manufacturing during the Industrial Revolution enabled the widespread use of glass in buildings and household objects. Nonetheless, processes for the fabrication of complex geometry and custom objects with glass remain elusive. We present G3DP2 - a second iteration of the novel additive manufacturing (AM) technology for transparent glass products developed by The Mediated Matter Group at MIT. One of the oldest production materials, glass involves complex material chemistry and requires extreme working temperatures underlying the persistent challenges associated with its design and production. AM with molten glass presents a potential path toward production of highly complex geometry and custom-designed objects while retaining the optical transparency and chemical stability available through traditional manufacturing processes. G3DP2 is a new AM platform for molten glass that combines digitally integrated three-zone thermal control system with four-axis motion control system, introducing industrial-scale production capabilities with enhanced production rate and reliability while ensuring product accuracy and repeatability, all previously unattainable for glass. A series of material characterizations were conducted to evaluate the mechanical properties of the 3D-printed glass products produced by G3DP2. A set of 3-m-tall glass columns was designed, engineered, and digitally fabricated for Milan Design Week 2017, highlighting the geometric complexity, accuracy, strength, and transparency of 3D-printed glass at an architectural scale for the first time and a critical step in utilizing the true structural capacity of the material. Together, the installation and the G3DP2 platform serve as a foundation for future work and suggest exciting possibilities associated with the digital fabrication of glass as well as potential applications in product and architectural design. Keywords: 3D printing, additive manufacturing, glass, glass structures, printed glass, transparen