openMaterials

The OpenStructures project is an open and modular construction system where everyone designs for everyone on the basis of one shared geometrical grid: It is an ongoing experiment that wants to find out what happens if people design objects according to a shared modular grid, a common open standard that stimulates the exchange of parts, components, [...]

Open3DP’s Recipes are a really nice resource for those interested in experimenting with different materials for 3D printing. There’s a little bit of everything in there, from glass to porcelain to sugar. Open3dp is a website hosted by the Solheim Rapid Prototyping Laboratory in the Mechanical Engineering Department on the University of Washington campus. [...]

Tonight at dockbot I will be giving a short talk about openMaterials and show some paper and wood based electronics projects I have been working on. The night starts at 8pm @ dock18 which is at Rote Fabrik, Zurich. Other presenters include members and friends of SGMK (Swiss Mechatronic Art Society). You can also [...]

I just found an interesting ‘Technical Note’ authored by Western Research Laboratory (WRL), a research group that was founded by Digital Equipment Corporation in 1982. ‘Characterization of Organic Illumination Systems’, inspired by the work of Bill Bidermann, investigates claims that by inserting electrodes into a dill pickle, and energizing with modest alternating currents, caused the pickle [...]

Tinkercell is a computer-aided design (CAD) tool for synthetic biology. According to New Scientist, the package has a library of the components of life, from which users can pick different cells, membrane proteins, fluorescent proteins, enzymes and genes to create their organism. Tinkercell can then simulate the life form to see if it functions as expected. Features include :: [...]

Some things are so simple we don’t even think about writing them down. We assume everyone knows them. Well, that may often be true, but not always. The materials 101 series is our attempt at systematizing, through a series of thematic blog posts, some basic materials-related knowledge that is ‘out there.’ The series will thus provide [...]