Programmable Matter
In a small twist, this weeks technology sort of relates back to the aerogels I talked about last week. At the moment this programmable matter is only dealing with hydrogel variants, but this leaves the path open for messing with aerogels in the future. Due to the wide nature of programmable matter, I will be focusing on some of the more recent advancement with getting hydrogels “ expand and shrink in a space- and time-controlled way that applies force to their surfaces…” ( https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/09/180913134554.htm)
Programmable matter, is a way of controlling different materials through either code itself, or by introducing properties into the material that would make them react differently when their environments change. The main way that this hydrogel example works is by swelling or shrinking the material based on changes in temperature. ( https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/09/180913134554.htm)This form of shaping the hydrogels allows for creating some very fluid and almost exact shape of objects. In a way, it is almost like a new way of 3-D printing, though it could be referred to as a 4-D printing technique as well.
This is a very interesting technology, with this being only a fraction of the surface for programmable materials. The extent that this type of technology has is almost as limited as the minds of the people working with it. In a very far distant future, we could have buildings that could swell at the bottom for support and shrink at the top for stability. We would have a lot less swaying buildings in the wind. We might even be able to have building that move with the earth in case of earthquakes, causing even less damage than before.
