

How to make big things out of small pieces - tokenadult
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/how-to-make-big-things-out-of-small-pieces-0815.html

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jdotjdot
" The new material, the researchers say, could revolutionize the assembly of
airplanes, spacecraft, and even larger structures, such as dikes and levees."

I hate sentences like that when journalists are talking about a scientific
paper. I feel like I read one of those every week--and they're rarely
revolutionary, usually just the next step in what has been a long process of
discovery and may not even change things that much, especially as far as the
average Joe is concerned.

So let me ask someone who knows more about this than I do the questions I
really want the science-covering media to answer: How realistic is it that
this will become a reality, whether physically or financially? By when? And
how will it impact me?

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catenate
> Like the buckle on a seat belt, they are designed to be strong in the
> directions of forces that might be applied in normal use, and require
> pressure in an entirely different direction in order to be released.

Let's pretend you build a bridge out of this material. Could the direction of
force you'd need to apply to dissemble it capable of being generated by an
earthquake, or by harmonic oscillation of winds (eg Tacoma Narrows)? It would
be tragic to see a bridge with cars on it dissolve into cubes like the
spaceship in Super 8.

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andrewcooke
anyone have an image of a single cell, and how it is assembled from the
individual (flat?) pieces?

the paper is paywalled. googling cuboct isn't turning up much.

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yaddayadda
Not exactly what you're looking for, but there are accessible papers listed at
[http://cba.mit.edu/docs/papers/index.html](http://cba.mit.edu/docs/papers/index.html)
Three of the listed papers have Cheung as an author/co-author, the first two
look relevant to his conceptual and research progression.

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tocomment
I'm confused. How big are the cells? How do they attach and unattach.

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yaddayadda
"How do they attach and unattach"

FTA: "The team is now developing an assembler robot that can crawl,
insectlike, over the surface of a growing structure, adding pieces one by one
to the existing structure."

FTA: "Cheung produced flat, cross-shaped composite pieces that were clipped
into a cubic lattice of octahedral cells, a structure called a “cuboct” —
which is similar to the crystal structure of the mineral perovskite, a major
component of Earth’s crust. While the individual components can be
disassembled for repairs or recycling, there’s no risk of them falling apart
on their own, the researchers explain. Like the buckle on a seat belt, they
are designed to be strong in the directions of forces that might be applied in
normal use, and require pressure in an entirely different direction in order
to be released."

There was slightly more info in the article, but these sections were the most
relevant.

