4-D Printing

Lately 3-D printing has made a few headlines, and has shown a lot of promise for the future of design. What most people are not talking about is 4-D printing. Skylar Tibbits did a TED Talk on The emergence of “4-D printing.” What is 4-D printing you may ask? 4-D printing is when you print an object from a 3-D printer yet it assembles itself. “Self-Assembly is a process by which disordered parts build an ordered structure through only local interaction.” The parts are printed with multi-material properties that can transform into an object. There is no human interactions. One example he gives is underground pipes that control water. In today's world if the pipes needed to be changed you would have to dig up the pipes and change them. With 4-D printed pipes the pipes could change shape, and would not need to be replaced. This made me wonder if furniture could be built with 4-D printing. Besides these examples I am not sure what else we could use this new technology for. The idea is really interesting and should definitely be further investigated.