Researchers at the German Hasso Plattner Institute have been working on a newly refiined 3D-printed metamaterial, a system of microstructures printed inside an object alllowing many new properties to be explored and utilized
(From HassoPlattnerInstitute HCI Youtube Channel ) "We dont consider metamaterials as "materials" but as "machines"
(Another video from INSIDER that just stole the content from the HassoPlattner Institute )
This new breakthrough can be used to make things like pliars, dooor handles and SO much more! You can probably even think of some new uses for this! FInally we are one step closer to 3d printing everything! 3d printing drugs will be the ultimate.
"We demonstrate metamaterial objects that perform a mechanical function. Such metamaterial mechanisms consist of a single block of material the cells of which play together in a well-defined way in order to achieve macroscopic movement. Our metamaterial door latch, for example, transforms the rotary movement of its handle into a linear motion of the latch. " - from the HPI official site
"Acknowledgements: We thank David Lindlbauer for his insights and for printing many of our prototypes. We also thank Louis Kirsch, Moritz Hilscher, David Stangl, Arthur Silber, Friedrich Horschig and Noel Danz for their contribution to earlier versions of this work. We also thank Shapeways for their friendly support via their educational grant program: http://www.shapeways.com/education
Link to the Germaan HP Institute offical page on the Squishy 3d printed door handles:
https://hpi.de/baudisch/projects/metamaterial-mechanisms.html
PDF detailing the project: https://hpi.de/fileadmin/user_upload/fachgebiete/baudisch/projects/metamaterial/metamaterial-mechanisms/2016UIST_Metamaterial_Mechanisms__authors_copy_.pdf
Press Photos for Higher Resolution: https://hpi.de/fileadmin/user_upload/fachgebiete/baudisch/projects/metamaterial/metamaterial-mechanisms/Press-images__Metamaterial-Mechanisms__2016.zip
