WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:15.026 Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast 00:00:15.091 --> 00:00:17.339 I have a friend in Portugal 00:00:18.158 --> 00:00:20.582 whose grandfather built a vehicle out of a bicycle 00:00:20.582 --> 00:00:23.734 and a washing machine so he could transport his family. 00:00:23.734 --> 00:00:26.278 He did it because he couldn't afford a car, 00:00:26.278 --> 00:00:29.182 but also because he knew how to build one. 00:00:29.182 --> 00:00:32.318 There was a time when we understood how things worked 00:00:32.318 --> 00:00:36.150 and how they were made, so we could build and repair them, 00:00:36.015 --> 00:00:37.142 or at the very least 00:00:37.277 --> 00:00:40.325 make informed decisions about what to buy. 00:00:40.757 --> 00:00:43.149 Many of these do-it-yourself practices 00:00:43.149 --> 00:00:46.358 were lost in the second half of the 20th century. 00:00:46.358 --> 00:00:50.030 But now, the maker community and the open-source model 00:00:50.003 --> 00:00:53.151 are bringing this kind of knowledge about how things work 00:00:53.178 --> 00:00:56.373 and what they're made of back into our lives, 00:00:56.373 --> 00:00:59.397 and I believe we need to take them to the next level, 00:00:59.397 --> 00:01:02.365 to the components things are made of. 00:01:02.365 --> 00:01:04.517 For the most part, we still know 00:01:04.517 --> 00:01:08.039 what traditional materials like paper and textiles are made of 00:01:08.039 --> 00:01:10.068 and how they are produced. 00:01:10.068 --> 00:01:14.131 But now we have these amazing, futuristic composites -- 00:01:14.131 --> 00:01:16.334 plastics that change shape, 00:01:16.334 --> 00:01:18.686 paints that conduct electricity, 00:01:18.686 --> 00:01:23.102 pigments that change color, fabrics that light up. 00:01:23.102 --> 00:01:26.473 Let me show you some examples. 00:01:29.429 --> 00:01:33.145 So conductive ink allows us to paint circuits 00:01:33.145 --> 00:01:35.088 instead of using the traditional 00:01:35.088 --> 00:01:37.686 printed circuit boards or wires. 00:01:37.686 --> 00:01:40.075 In the case of this little example I'm holding, 00:01:40.075 --> 00:01:43.956 we used it to create a touch sensor that reacts to my skin 00:01:43.956 --> 00:01:46.671 by turning on this little light. 00:01:46.671 --> 00:01:49.766 Conductive ink has been used by artists, 00:01:49.766 --> 00:01:53.141 but recent developments indicate that we will soon be able 00:01:53.141 --> 00:01:57.636 to use it in laser printers and pens. 00:01:57.636 --> 00:01:59.669 And this is a sheet of acrylic infused 00:01:59.966 --> 00:02:02.762 with colorless light-diffusing particles. 00:02:02.762 --> 00:02:05.379 What this means is that, while regular acrylic 00:02:05.379 --> 00:02:07.727 only diffuses light around the edges, 00:02:07.727 --> 00:02:10.754 this one illuminates across the entire surface 00:02:10.997 --> 00:02:13.910 when I turn on the lights around it. 00:02:13.091 --> 00:02:15.393 Two of the known applications for this material 00:02:16.212 --> 00:02:21.325 include interior design and multi-touch systems. 00:02:21.325 --> 00:02:23.326 And thermochromic pigments 00:02:23.326 --> 00:02:25.939 change color at a given temperature. 00:02:25.939 --> 00:02:28.725 So I'm going to place this on a hot plate 00:02:28.725 --> 00:02:32.230 that is set to a temperature only slightly higher than ambient 00:02:32.023 --> 00:02:37.869 and you can see what happens. 00:02:38.076 --> 00:02:40.152 So one of the principle applications for this material 00:02:40.836 --> 00:02:44.078 is, amongst other things, in baby bottles, 00:02:44.078 --> 00:02:49.432 so it indicates when the contents are cool enough to drink. 00:02:49.432 --> 00:02:52.188 So these are just a few of what are commonly known 00:02:52.188 --> 00:02:54.097 as smart materials. 00:02:54.097 --> 00:02:56.191 In a few years, they will be in many of the objects 00:02:57.037 --> 00:03:00.396 and technologies we use on a daily basis. 00:03:00.396 --> 00:03:04.610 We may not yet have the flying cars science fiction promised us, 00:03:04.061 --> 00:03:06.430 but we can have walls that change color 00:03:06.979 --> 00:03:08.741 depending on temperature, 00:03:08.741 --> 00:03:10.635 keyboards that roll up, 00:03:10.635 --> 00:03:15.067 and windows that become opaque at the flick of a switch. 00:03:15.067 --> 00:03:17.572 So I'm a social scientist by training, 00:03:17.572 --> 00:03:21.429 so why am I here today talking about smart materials? 00:03:21.429 --> 00:03:24.142 Well first of all, because I am a maker. 00:03:24.142 --> 00:03:26.548 I'm curious about how things work 00:03:26.548 --> 00:03:28.175 and how they are made, 00:03:28.175 --> 00:03:31.483 but also because I believe we should have a deeper understanding 00:03:31.483 --> 00:03:34.304 of the components that make up our world, 00:03:34.304 --> 00:03:36.352 and right now, we don't know enough about 00:03:36.784 --> 00:03:40.473 these high-tech composites our future will be made of. 00:03:40.473 --> 00:03:43.998 Smart materials are hard to obtain in small quantities. 00:03:43.998 --> 00:03:48.002 There's barely any information available on how to use them, 00:03:48.038 --> 00:03:51.935 and very little is said about how they are produced. 00:03:51.935 --> 00:03:54.602 So for now, they exist mostly in this realm 00:03:54.602 --> 00:03:57.314 of trade secrets and patents 00:03:57.314 --> 00:04:01.426 only universities and corporations have access to. 00:04:01.426 --> 00:04:04.275 So a little over three years ago, Kirsty Boyle and I 00:04:04.275 --> 00:04:07.492 started a project we called Open Materials. 00:04:07.492 --> 00:04:09.299 It's a website where we, 00:04:09.299 --> 00:04:11.811 and anyone else who wants to join us, 00:04:11.811 --> 00:04:14.867 share experiments, publish information, 00:04:14.867 --> 00:04:17.869 encourage others to contribute whenever they can, 00:04:18.067 --> 00:04:22.076 and aggregate resources such as research papers 00:04:22.076 --> 00:04:25.110 and tutorials by other makers like ourselves. 00:04:25.416 --> 00:04:28.038 We would like it to become a large, 00:04:28.038 --> 00:04:30.576 collectively generated database 00:04:30.576 --> 00:04:34.869 of do-it-yourself information on smart materials. 00:04:34.869 --> 00:04:36.891 But why should we care 00:04:37.089 --> 00:04:40.852 how smart materials work and what they are made of? 00:04:40.852 --> 00:04:45.030 First of all, because we can't shape what we don't understand, 00:04:45.003 --> 00:04:47.355 and what we don't understand and use 00:04:47.382 --> 00:04:49.590 ends up shaping us. 00:04:49.059 --> 00:04:51.811 The objects we use, the clothes we wear, 00:04:52.342 --> 00:04:55.906 the houses we live in, all have a profound impact 00:04:55.906 --> 00:04:59.489 on our behavior, health and quality of life. 00:04:59.489 --> 00:05:02.630 So if we are to live in a world made of smart materials, 00:05:02.063 --> 00:05:05.422 we should know and understand them. 00:05:05.989 --> 00:05:08.333 Secondly, and just as important, 00:05:08.333 --> 00:05:11.369 innovation has always been fueled by tinkerers. 00:05:11.693 --> 00:05:15.078 So many times, amateurs, not experts, 00:05:15.078 --> 00:05:17.397 have been the inventors and improvers 00:05:17.397 --> 00:05:19.445 of things ranging from mountain bikes 00:05:19.877 --> 00:05:23.189 to semiconductors, personal computers, 00:05:23.189 --> 00:05:26.128 airplanes. 00:05:26.128 --> 00:05:30.157 The biggest challenge is that material science is complex 00:05:30.157 --> 00:05:32.653 and requires expensive equipment. 00:05:32.653 --> 00:05:34.821 But that's not always the case. 00:05:34.821 --> 00:05:38.409 Two scientists at University of Illinois understood this 00:05:38.409 --> 00:05:40.415 when they published a paper on a simpler method 00:05:41.009 --> 00:05:43.051 for making conductive ink. 00:05:43.429 --> 00:05:45.341 Jordan Bunker, who had had 00:05:45.341 --> 00:05:47.437 no experience with chemistry until then, 00:05:48.301 --> 00:05:51.088 read this paper and reproduced the experiment 00:05:51.088 --> 00:05:55.477 at his maker space using only off-the-shelf substances 00:05:55.477 --> 00:05:57.069 and tools. 00:05:57.069 --> 00:05:58.670 He used a toaster oven, 00:05:58.067 --> 00:06:01.033 and he even made his own vortex mixer, 00:06:01.636 --> 00:06:05.671 based on a tutorial by another scientist/maker. 00:06:05.671 --> 00:06:08.423 Jordan then published his results online, 00:06:08.423 --> 00:06:11.911 including all the things he had tried and didn't work, 00:06:11.911 --> 00:06:15.055 so others could study and reproduce it. 00:06:15.055 --> 00:06:17.727 So Jordan's main form of innovation 00:06:17.727 --> 00:06:21.606 was to take an experiment created in a well-equipped lab 00:06:21.606 --> 00:06:23.108 at the university 00:06:23.108 --> 00:06:26.295 and recreate it in a garage in Chicago 00:06:26.295 --> 00:06:30.556 using only cheap materials and tools he made himself. 00:06:30.556 --> 00:06:32.829 And now that he published this work, 00:06:32.829 --> 00:06:34.553 others can pick up where he left 00:06:34.553 --> 00:06:39.097 and devise even simpler processes and improvements. 00:06:39.097 --> 00:06:41.313 Another example I'd like to mention 00:06:41.313 --> 00:06:44.978 is Hannah Perner-Wilson's Kit-of-No-Parts. 00:06:44.978 --> 00:06:47.066 Her project's goal is to highlight 00:06:47.858 --> 00:06:50.330 the expressive qualities of materials 00:06:50.033 --> 00:06:55.057 while focusing on the creativity and skills of the builder. 00:06:55.354 --> 00:06:57.398 Electronics kits are very powerful 00:06:57.794 --> 00:07:00.346 in that they teach us how things work, 00:07:00.346 --> 00:07:03.322 but the constraints inherent in their design 00:07:03.322 --> 00:07:05.338 influence the way we learn. 00:07:05.482 --> 00:07:07.970 So Hannah's approach, on the other hand, 00:07:07.097 --> 00:07:10.313 is to formulate a series of techniques 00:07:11.186 --> 00:07:13.885 for creating unusual objects 00:07:13.885 --> 00:07:16.690 that free us from pre-designed constraints 00:07:16.069 --> 00:07:19.480 by teaching us about the materials themselves. 00:07:20.101 --> 00:07:22.834 So amongst Hannah's many impressive experiments, 00:07:22.834 --> 00:07:23.931 this is one of my favorites. 00:07:24.804 --> 00:07:28.221 ["Paper speakers"] 00:07:28.221 --> 00:07:31.499 What we're seeing here is just a piece of paper 00:07:31.499 --> 00:07:35.941 with some copper tape on it connected to an mp3 player 00:07:35.941 --> 00:07:37.594 and a magnet. 00:07:37.594 --> 00:07:45.243 (Music: "Happy Together") 00:07:48.191 --> 00:07:52.027 So based on the research by Marcelo Coelho from MIT, 00:07:52.027 --> 00:07:54.810 Hannah created a series of paper speakers 00:07:54.081 --> 00:07:56.484 out of a wide range of materials 00:07:57.213 --> 00:08:01.488 from simple copper tape to conductive fabric and ink. 00:08:01.488 --> 00:08:04.224 Just like Jordan and so many other makers, 00:08:04.224 --> 00:08:05.851 Hannah published her recipes 00:08:05.851 --> 00:08:10.985 and allows anyone to copy and reproduce them. 00:08:10.985 --> 00:08:14.189 But paper electronics is one of the most promising branches 00:08:14.189 --> 00:08:15.996 of material science 00:08:15.996 --> 00:08:20.198 in that it allows us to create cheaper and flexible electronics. 00:08:20.198 --> 00:08:22.754 So Hannah's artisanal work, 00:08:22.754 --> 00:08:25.002 and the fact that she shared her findings, 00:08:25.002 --> 00:08:28.084 opens the doors to a series of new possibilities 00:08:28.822 --> 00:08:33.866 that are both aesthetically appealing and innovative. 00:08:34.262 --> 00:08:37.167 So the interesting thing about makers 00:08:37.167 --> 00:08:40.210 is that we create out of passion and curiosity, 00:08:40.021 --> 00:08:42.100 and we are not afraid to fail. 00:08:42.289 --> 00:08:46.177 We often tackle problems from unconventional angles, 00:08:46.177 --> 00:08:49.166 and, in the process, end up discovering alternatives 00:08:49.166 --> 00:08:51.598 or even better ways to do things. 00:08:51.598 --> 00:08:55.366 So the more people experiment with materials, 00:08:55.366 --> 00:08:58.842 the more researchers are willing to share their research, 00:08:58.842 --> 00:09:00.886 and manufacturers their knowledge, 00:09:01.282 --> 00:09:03.366 the better chances we have to create technologies 00:09:04.122 --> 00:09:07.060 that truly serve us all. 00:09:07.006 --> 00:09:09.499 So I feel a bit as Ted Nelson must have 00:09:09.553 --> 00:09:13.264 when, in the early 1970s, he wrote, 00:09:13.264 --> 00:09:16.262 "You must understand computers now." 00:09:16.262 --> 00:09:20.116 Back then, computers were these large mainframes 00:09:20.116 --> 00:09:22.129 only scientists cared about, 00:09:22.246 --> 00:09:24.318 and no one dreamed of even having one at home. 00:09:24.966 --> 00:09:27.942 So it's a little strange that I'm standing here and saying, 00:09:27.942 --> 00:09:30.946 "You must understand smart materials now." 00:09:30.982 --> 00:09:34.718 Just keep in mind that acquiring preemptive knowledge 00:09:34.718 --> 00:09:36.982 about emerging technologies 00:09:36.982 --> 00:09:39.379 is the best way to ensure that we have a say 00:09:39.379 --> 00:09:41.542 in the making of our future. 00:09:41.542 --> 00:09:44.013 Thank you. 00:09:44.013 --> 00:09:48.013 (Applause)