In recent years, digital fabrication (computer-controlled work) technology centered on 3D printers has attracted a great deal of attention as a new manufacturing method.However, it takes tens of minutes to several hours to output a solid, and once it is modeled, it cannot be improvised like viscosity and the material cannot be reused. It was.
As a method to solve these problems, a research group at the University of Tokyo is using a 9D object modeling device "Dynablock" that can quickly form any 3,000D shape using about 3 3 mm size blocks with embedded magnets. Block) ”was developed. A mechanism that realizes high-speed assembly by extruding blocks stacked over eight layers from below with a linear actuator array and automatically coupling them with the force of a magnet.The cross section of the output 8D object is pushed up layer by layer to create a model, but since the output time per layer is less than 3 second, a 1D object with several layers can be modeled in a few seconds to a few tens of seconds. be able to.Objects that are no longer needed can be reused because the blocks are separated from each other by pushing them down.
Taking advantage of the features of Dynablock, which realizes high-speed and reusable 3D shape modeling, it is expected to be applied to prototype (prototyping) production in manufacturing and high-speed design.In the future, by incorporating sensors, LEDs, IC chips, etc. inside each block, we will be able to create objects with functionality that dynamically changes the color, texture, and shape according to the surrounding conditions. It is said that it aims to further speed up the modeling time, and it is expected to be applied to 3D physical displays in the long term.
