To uninitiated, technology may very well be some kind sinister voodoo. Take for example 3D printing. Who would have thought it was even possible decades ago? With the possibly of faxing physical object (note: not teleporting. It is vastly different), now comes the possibility of printing a dress, complete with the flowing flexibility you expect of fabrics – the only difference is, the Nervous System’s 4D Printed Dress ain’t no textile. It is plastic. Printed using the firm’s 4D printing system known as Kinematics. Not a typo, btw; it is indeed 4-dimensional printing that we are talking about here. 4D printing is several steps up the 3D printing game. It allows complex, foldable structures with interlocking elements to be printed.
Kinematics allows tens of thousands of components interlocked with hinge mechanisms to be formed within the printing process, thus enabling the production of intricate wearables that conforms to the flexibly of the body. These wearables may include jewelry, belt and the dress you see here. As you can see, it is totally wearable, but just how tear-resistant it is, is a mystery for now. Kinematics is unlike any 3D printing process you may have seen to date. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this hardware and software combo is that it allows the designers to take large objects and compress them down for 3D printing through simulation. Meaning, in the case of the dress, the machine goes ahead and print the compress form, and almost like magic, the eventual printed product then unfolds into the dress – all without any assembly.
It is literally a dress that’s ready-to-wear right out of the printer. I know. It is hard to comprehend how the heck this could even be accomplished, so may we suggest that you take a look at the video and witness as the magic unfolds for yourself.
