4 ms·

I think they're metal, and it's using an electromagnet to pick them up. ...I've seen 3D printed faux-sandstone back in, um, 2012 or so? And news reports show t

I think they're metal, and it's using an electromagnet to pick them up. ...I've seen 3D printed faux-sandstone back in, um, 2012 or so? And news reports show that Dubai has just announced a 3D printed office, although I can't find any pictures of it in construction. Here's a (moderately terrible) video of a 3D printed building in the Phillipines under construction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTSakUtxXYY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTSakUtxXYY And here's a much better one of what looks like similar technology in a testbed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgPJdpGV8mE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgPJdpGV8mE

riskable 10y ago
No and no. Those are just standard (albeit colored) bricks and it was using a vacuum clamp to pick them up. If you're thinking, "there's no way you can pick up a brick with a vacuum; it's too porous." Think again. The hottest thing in woodworking right now is Festool's new vacuum clamp. I've personally witnessed it holding on to a cinder block so strongly that I could not pull it off with all my might.
- LeifCarrotson 10y ago
  Interesting that you call it new. In industrial textile manufacturing, vacuum tables have been around for a long, long time. It doesn't matter if your leather is perforated or your upholstery is somewhat porous, or even if your foam is open-cell: A differential of just a few PSI, multiplied by width, multiplied by height, results in a lot of holding power.
  - akiselev 10y ago
    Textile materials have a much lower density (which usually means a much higher ratio of exposed surface area to mass) and suction is a lot easier when it is in the same direction as gravity. As you point out, vacuum tables have been in use by a variety of machines for a long time, including in metal fabrication and construction. This is novel (or at least interesting) because using vacuum pumps to hold things up instead of down is usually reserved for low density, well balanced, flat objects like electronic parts.
- david-given 10y ago
  I mainly thought they were metal because of being suspiciously shiny and the 'clang' they made as they fell down! The grasper didn't seem to have much of a vacuum hose, either. But metal bricks would be an odd choice --- very heavy and not really good for demonstrations, so I'm quite willing to be wrong.

riskable 10y ago

No and no. Those are just standard (albeit colored) bricks and it was using a vacuum clamp to pick them up. If you're thinking, "there's no way you can pick up a brick with a vacuum; it's too porous." Think again. The hottest thing in woodworking right now is Festool's new vacuum clamp. I've personally witnessed it holding on to a cinder block so strongly that I could not pull it off with all my might.

LeifCarrotson 10y ago
Interesting that you call it new. In industrial textile manufacturing, vacuum tables have been around for a long, long time. It doesn't matter if your leather is perforated or your upholstery is somewhat porous, or even if your foam is open-cell: A differential of just a few PSI, multiplied by width, multiplied by height, results in a lot of holding power.
- akiselev 10y ago
  Textile materials have a much lower density (which usually means a much higher ratio of exposed surface area to mass) and suction is a lot easier when it is in the same direction as gravity. As you point out, vacuum tables have been in use by a variety of machines for a long time, including in metal fabrication and construction. This is novel (or at least interesting) because using vacuum pumps to hold things up instead of down is usually reserved for low density, well balanced, flat objects like electronic parts.
david-given 10y ago
I mainly thought they were metal because of being suspiciously shiny and the 'clang' they made as they fell down! The grasper didn't seem to have much of a vacuum hose, either. But metal bricks would be an odd choice --- very heavy and not really good for demonstrations, so I'm quite willing to be wrong.