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Why it's in the archive
Selected from the archive for the 3D Printing collection — a quick, visual way into the topic before you go deeper.
Skylar Tibbits is shaping the next development, which he calls 4D printing, where the fourth dimension is time. This emerging technology will allow us to print objects that then reshape themselves or self-assemble over time. Think: a printed cube that folds before your eyes, or a printed pipe able to sense the need to expand or contract. This may be the first time a program and transformation has been embedded completely in the material themselves. Imagine if water pipes could expand or contract to change capacity or change flow rate to move the water themselves? Visit the Self Assembly Lab .
3D printing4D Printingself-assemblySelf Assembly Labprogrammable materialsprogramsdesignerstechnologies