meet morph
Flexibility, plasticity, elasticity … concepts about to move into the material world.
Imagine transformers, not as a mechanical capability but as a material characteristic. Imagine all problems where different contexts require different form factors, different functionalities etc. yet basically only one underlying system.
The Nokia Research Centre and Prof. Mark Welland’s Nanoscience Centre at the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge developed Morph, a concept for a shapeshifting multifunctional device based on nanotechnology.
“Nanotechnology allows control of physical properties of nanostructures and devices with single-molecule precision.”
Watch Morph’s concept video here and see how Morph senses our environment, scans our food, etc. See how its nanowire grass recharges the device via solar power, how its superhydrophobic surface repells dirt and keeps it clean, how its nanoscale structure allows the device to stretch and change shape (a nanoscale mesh of fibres controls the stretching when folding for example rendering parts of it tough and strong as spider silk), its surface (able to shift shape depending on context) is responsive to touch (yes, buttons in real 3D with haptic feedback), its electronics invisible to the human eye fully integrated into the material etc.
The video – a visual/storyboarded scenario of use – clarifies the various ways in which nanotech advances could find their way into future products, fulfilling a broad range of functions. In this sense the video is a wonderful example of rendering the future tangible.
The Morph concept is currently on display at the MoMa exhibition ‘Design & the elastic mind‘, curated by Paola Antonelli.
Via Slashdot. Image courtesy of Nokia
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