Our initial experiments in spark electrosintering fabrication have demonstrated a capacity to solidify granular materials (35-88 micron soda ash glass powder) rapidly using high voltages and power in excess of 1 kW. The testbed high-voltage setup comprises a 220V 60A variable autotransformer and a 14,400V line transformer. There are two methods to form members using electrosintering: the one-electrode drag (1ED) and two-electrode drag (2ED) techniques. The 1ED leaves the first electrode static while dragging the second through the granular mixture. This maintains a live current through the drag path and increases the thickness of the member due to the dissipation of heat. Large member elements have been produced with a tube diameter of around 0.75". The 2ED method pulls both electrodes through the granular mixture together, sintering the material between the electrodes in a more controlled manner.

Beast is an organic-like entity created synthetically by the incorporation of physical parameters into digital form-generation protocols. A single continuous surface, acting both as structure and as skin, is locally modulated for both structural support and corporeal aid. Beast combines structural, environmental, and corporeal performance by adapting its thickness, pattern density, stiffness, flexibility, and translucency to load, curvature, and skin-pressured areas respectively.

How can additive fabrication technologies be scaled to building-sized construction? We introduce a novel method of mobile swarm printing that allows small robotic agents to construct large structures. The robotic agents extrude a fast-curing material which doubles as both a concrete mold for structural walls and as a thermal insulation layer. This technique offers many benefits over traditional construction methods, such as speed, custom geometry, and cost. As well, direct integration of building utilities such as wiring and plumbing can be incorporated into the printing process. This research was sponsored by the NSF EAGER award: Bio-Beams: FGM Digital Design & Fabrication.

CNSILK explores the design and fabrication potential of silk fibers—inspired by silkworm cocoons—for the construction of woven habitats. It explores a novel approach to the design and fabrication of silk-based building skins by controlling the mechanical and physical properties of spatial structures inherent in their microstructures using multi-axis fabrication. The method offers construction without assembly, such that material properties vary locally to accommodate for structural and environmental requirements. This approach stands in contrast to functional assemblies and kinetically actuated facades which require a great deal of energy to operate, and are typically maintained by global control. Such material architectures could simultaneously bear structural load, change their transparency so as to control light levels within a spatial compartment (building or vehicle), and open and close embedded pores so as to ventilate a space.

The digitally reconfigurable surface is a pin matrix apparatus for directly creating rigid 3D surfaces from a computer-aided design (CAD) input. A digital design is uploaded into the device, and a grid of thousands of tiny pins, much like the popular pin-art toy–are actuated to form the desired surface. A rubber sheet is held by vacuum pressure onto the tops of the pins to smooth out the surface they form; this strong surface can then be used for industrial forming operations, simple resin casting, and many other applications. The novel phase-changing electronic clutch array allows the device to have independent position control over thousands of discrete pins with only a single motorized "push plate," lowering the complexity and manufacturing cost of this type of device. Research is ongoing into new actuation techniques to further lower the cost and increase the surface resolution of this technology.

A better understanding of the biomechanics of human tissue allows for better attachment of load-bearing objects to people. Think of shoes, ski boots, car seats, orthotics, and more. We are focusing on prosthetic sockets, the cup-shaped devices that attach an amputated limb to a lower-limb prosthesis, which currently are made through unscientific, artisanal methods that do not have repeatable quality and comfort from one individual to the next. The FitSocket project aims to identify the correlation between leg tissue properties and the design of a comfortable socket. The FitSocket is a robotic socket measurement device that directly measures tissue properties. With these data, we can rapid-prototype test sockets and socket molds in order to make rigid, spatially variable stiffness, and spatially/temporally variable stiffness sockets.

Digital design and construction technologies for product and building scale are generally limited in their capacity to deliver multi-functional building skins. Recent advancements in additive manufacturing and digital fabrication at large are today enabling the fabrication of multiple materials with combinations of mechanical, electrical, and optical properties; however, most of these materials are non-structural and cannot scale to architectural applications. Operating at the intersection of additive manufacturing, biology, and architectural design, the Glass Printing project is an enabling technology for optical glass 3D printing at architectural scale designed to manufacture multi-functional glass structures and facade elements. The platform deposits molten glass in a layer-by-layer (FDM) fashion, implementing numerical control of tool paths, and it allows for controlled optical variation across surface and volume areas.

Gemini is an acoustical "twin chaise" spanning multiple scales of human existence, from the womb to the stretches of the Gemini zodiac. We are exploring interactions between pairs: sonic and solar environments, natural and synthetic materials, hard and soft sensations, and subtractive and additive fabrication. Made of two material elements--a solid wood milled shell housing and an intricate cellular skin made of sound-absorbing material--the chaise forms a semi-enclosed space surrounding the human with a stimulation-free environment, recapitulating the ultimate quiet of the womb. It is the first design to implement Stratasys' Connex3 technology using 44 materials with different pre-set mechanical combinations varying in rigidity, opacity, and color as a function of geometrical, structural, and acoustical constraints. This calming and still experience of being inside the chaise is an antidote to the stimuli-rich world in which we live.

How can we design relationships between the most primitive and sophisticated life forms? Can we design wearables embedded with synthetic microorganisms that can enhance and augment biological functionality, and generate consumable energy when exposed to the sun? We explored these questions through the creation of Mushtari, a 3D-printed wearable with 58 meters of internal fluid channels. Designed to function as a microbial factory, Mushtari uses synthetic microorganisms to convert sunlight into useful products for the wearer, engineering a symbiotic relationship between two bacteria: photosynthetic cyanobacteria and E. coli. The cyanobacteria convert sunlight to sucrose, and E. coli convert sucrose to useful products such as pigments, drugs, food, fuel, and scents. This form of symbiosis, known as co-culture, is a phenomenon commonly found in nature. Mushtari is part of the Wanderers collection, an astrobiological exploration dedicated to medieval astronomers who explored worlds beyond by visiting worlds within.

Micro-Macro Fluidic Fabrication (MMFF) enables the control of mechanical properties through the design of non-linear lattices embedded within multi-material matrices. At its core it is a hybrid technique that integrates molding, casting, and macro-fluidics. Its workflow allows for the fabrication of complex matrices with geometrical channels injected with polymers of different pre-set mechanical combinations. This novel fabrication technique is implemented in the design and fabrication of a midsole running shoe. The goal is to passively tune material stiffness across surface area in order to absorb the impact force of the user's body weight relative to the ground, and enhance the direction of the foot-strike impulse force relative to the center of body mass.

The PCB Origami project is an innovative concept for printing digital materials and creating 3D objects with Rigid-flex PCBs and pick-and-place machines. These machines allow printing of digital electronic materials, while controlling the location and property of each of the components printed. By combining this technology with Rigid-flex PCB and computational origami, it is possible to create from a single sheet of PCB almost any 3D shape that is already embedded with electronics, to produce a finished product with that will be both structural and functional.

Computation and fabrication in biology occur in aqueous environments. Through on-chip mixing, analysis, and fabrication, microfluidic chips have introduced new possibilities in biology for over two decades. Existing construction processes for microfluidics use complex, cumbersome, and expensive lithography methods that produce single-material, multi-layered 2D chips. Multi-material 3D printing presents a promising alternative to existing methods that would allow microfluidics to be fabricated in a single step with functionally graded material properties. We aim to create multi-material microfluidic devices using additive manufacturing to replicate current devices, such as valves and ring mixers, and to explore new possibilities enabled by 3D geometries and functionally graded materials. Applications range from medicine to genetic engineering to product design.

Raycounting is a method for generating customized light-shading constructions by registering the intensity and orientation of light rays within a given environment. 3D surfaces of double curvature are the result of assigning light parameters to flat planes. The algorithm calculates the intensity, position, and direction of one or multiple light sources placed in a given environment, and assigns local curvature values to each point in space corresponding to the reference plane and the light dimension. Light performance analysis tools are reconstructed programmatically to allow for morphological synthesis based on intensity, frequency, and polarization of light parameters as defined by the user.

The Silk Pavilion explores the relationship between digital and biological fabrication. The primary structure was created from 26 polygonal panels made of silk threads laid down by a CNC (Computer-Numerically Controlled) machine. Inspired by the silkworm's ability to generate a 3D cocoon out of a single multi-property silk thread, the pavilion's overall geometry was created using an algorithm that assigns a single continuous thread across patches, providing various degrees of density. Overall density variation was informed by deploying the silkworm as a biological "printer" in the creation of a secondary structure. Positioned at the bottom rim of the scaffold, 6,500 silkworms spun flat, non-woven silk patches as they locally reinforced the gaps across CNC-deposited silk fibers. Affected by spatial and environmental conditions (geometrical density, variation in natural light and heat), the silkworms were found to migrate to darker and denser areas.

The Synthetic Apiary proposes a new kind of environment, bridging urban and organismic scales by exploring one of the most important organisms for both the human species and our planet: bees. We explore the cohabitation of humans and other species through the creation of a controlled atmosphere and associated behavioral paradigms. The project facilitates Mediated Matter’s ongoing research into biologically augmented digital fabrication with eusocial insect communities in architectural, and possibly urban, scales. Many animal communities in nature present collective behaviors known as “swarming," prioritizing group survival over individuals, and constantly working to achieve a common goal. Often, swarms of organisms are skilled builders; for example, ants can create extremely complex networks by tunneling, and wasps can generate intricate paper nests with materials sourced from local areas.