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Hello, folks. Here's a link to a MIT article dated 11/18/2020; its title is the thread subject.
https://news.mit.edu/2020/versatile-buil...locks-1118
Apparently, a car made using these materials a) was assembled in about a month instead of the nearly a year fiberglass techniques would have provided and b) survived a crash into a wall that would have totaled either traditional metallic or composite vehicles. Wicked neat!
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Fascinating! And agreed - wicked neat! 
This stuff seems to span the gap between 'dumb matter' (what we basically use now) and 'smart matter' (matter that reacts in a predictable active way to stimuli - usually imagined to involve microscopic machines although that isn't strictly necessary). It's not actively computer controlled, but it still actively does things. And the lego like structure seems tantalizingly close to ufog. For that matter, I wonder what ufog built from this kind of stuff might do in addition to the stuff we already theorize?
Given that it's already been demonstrated not just in a lab, but on a race track (admittedly in a lab demo type setting), it seems more than reasonable that applications of this tech could start appearing in the next few years to decades. And in the OA setting we might presume that it is in common use even early in the timeline.
Admittedly, given this exists now it also means we'd be potentially violating our general principle of not getting too deep into the next 100 years. But it seems unreasonable to just ignore this or pretend it doesn't exist.
I suppose we could try to imagine something even more advanced than what is described in the article - a second or third generation form of it - and then play with that later in the timeline (the Interplanetary Age and beyond) or the like. Or just take this as described and run with, adding in advancements as we think of em over time?
Also - would you be interested in writing up an article on this stuff?
Thoughts?
Todd
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It would be interesting to do some additional research on metamaterials and attempt to extrapolate future advances. I'll look over the submission guidelines for articles. What would you like to see?
Those voxels were huge, assembled by hand. Really useful commercial applications probably won't start being seen until they're manufacturing and assembling these at a microscopic level. At a guess, utility fog and utility sand would already include this technology, allowing different objects to have different properties based on which nanovoxels assembled where. Very complex group behaviors would arise from very simple unit behaviors, much like you see with ants, only with macroscopic physical properties.
One area with applications might be artificial muscles. There's fascinating ongoing research;
article with examples https://physicsworld.com/a/artificial-mu...the-twist/
Now combine this most recent research.
Mass produce the basic, microscopic structural components in an electroactive polymer that expands when subjected to a piezoelectric charge, and generates a piezoelectric charge when compressed. Micro-assemblers create the voxels and assemble them into muscle shapes. The muscles are given a tough outer membrane, which is filled with an electrolyte. Opposing muscle groups are linked via valves. As electricity is applied to make one muscle 'contract', the other 'stretches', compressing its component voxels and creating additional electricity, which travels through the electrolyte to help power the opposing muscle. Minimal power would be required to hold the system at rest, just like human muscles.
The basic problem of science fiction writers throughout history: Either you get it (sort of) correct, and you're a visionary, or the science catches up and you're just another fantasist making stuff up. Gravity waves are a great example. We now know they're a light-speed phenomena. This is bad news for David Weber's Honor Harrington series; Manticore's FTL communications tech is now even more ridiculous.
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(11-24-2020, 04:37 AM)Technothrope Wrote: It would be interesting to do some additional research on metamaterials and attempt to extrapolate future advances. I'll look over the submission guidelines for articles. What would you like to see?
Those voxels were huge, assembled by hand. Really useful commercial applications probably won't start being seen until they're manufacturing and assembling these at a microscopic level. At a guess, utility fog and utility sand would already include this technology, allowing different objects to have different properties based on which nanovoxels assembled where. Very complex group behaviors would arise from very simple unit behaviors, much like you see with ants, only with macroscopic physical properties.
In terms of what I'd like to see - Nothing specific really - although some notions were mentioned in the article itself. The description of the car 'bouncing back' would see to offer some initial applications up front.
In terms of making smaller voxels - While I agree with that in principle, I think that if this tech is already being demonstrated then it will likely have applications long before utility fog and such become available. Note that in the OA timeline, ufog isn't developed until about 1000 years from now. It very likely does use this tech in some fashion, and that could be mentioned in the article certainly. But more near term applications - such as flexible car bodies, aircraft hulls, wind turbines, etc. all come to mind. These wouldn't be as 'actively flexible' as ufog - which can restructure itself actively and in real time - but might be sort of 'universal building blocks' out of which a lot of stuff gets made.
Thinking about this a bit further - in RL there have been demonstrations of 3D printing tech that can build houses. What would combining that tech with voxels perhaps accomplish?
Agreed complex group behaviors could play a role to an increasing degree as the tech advances and is integrated with active automation.
(11-24-2020, 04:37 AM)Technothrope Wrote: One area with applications might be artificial muscles. There's fascinating ongoing research;
article with examples https://physicsworld.com/a/artificial-mu...the-twist/
Now combine this most recent research.
Agreed. 
Todd
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(11-24-2020, 04:37 AM)Technothrope Wrote: It would be interesting to do some additional research on metamaterials and attempt to extrapolate future advances. I'll look over the submission guidelines for articles. What would you like to see?
Those voxels were huge, assembled by hand. Really useful commercial applications probably won't start being seen until they're manufacturing and assembling these at a microscopic level.
Here’s some other mechanical metamaterials:
https://news.rice.edu/2019/11/13/theoret...-polymers/
https://c6xty.com/
Why do you think that? Material forms can be “coarse grained” and still be useful. Look at honeycombed panels, foamed materials (metals, polymers etc.), space frames, and the honeycomb inside TerrainArmor tires.
LEGO-sized voxels could be assembled into materials by delta robots.
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Did you read about this uncrushable beetle? It could have many applications...
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/un...le.995168/
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Here’s a lot of information on mechanical metamaterials: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full....201800864
Come to think of it, fiberglass fabric is a metamaterial. Glass as a bulk material has very poor fracture toughness, but fiberglass composites are very tough.
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Since there is a lot of silicon on the Moon, glass-based metamaterials will probably be a good choice for that location. What would be the best choice for a large, relatively light-weight, multilayered airtight dome in the Interplanetary Age, using local materials?
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(11-26-2020, 07:46 PM)stevebowers Wrote: Since there is a lot of silicon on the Moon, glass-based metamaterials will probably be a good choice for that location. What would be the best choice for a large, relatively light-weight, multilayered airtight dome in the Interplanetary Age, using local materials?
Unless translucency is required, basalt fiber is a superior material over fiberglass for building construction.
A pneumatically-supported dome made from layers of basalt fiber cloth and aluminum or titanium membranes would be my guess. Armor the dome against micrometeorites using Whipple shields and tubulane-inspired metamaterials.
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