Walyou

Posted: 20 Apr 2015 11:12 AM PDT

“Just add a strap to it!” – LG plans to bridge the gap between smartphones and smartwatches, and it’s gonna take a strap, but also a few other functionalities.

LG introduced a new patent that shows a smartphone which can turn and serve as a smartwatch by using a strap. Now, let us clarify from the get-go: this is a patent, and it doesn’t mean LG are already producing these devices – the ideas from many patents just never come to be realized, and this is more interesting from what it implies for the future of LG and their technological pursuits more than the product itself.

The team at Phone Arena claim that LG’s phone would have to be entirely flexible, both screens and internal components, so they can “bend” along with the strap-bracelet, hooking up by using magnets.

This is just the design for an idea, and there’s a long distance between having an idea and knowing how to make it happen. LG has already done a bit of progress with the LG G Flex and the G Flex 2, but there is still quite a distance between these and a completely flexible device.

Even so, LG aren’t the only developers interested in the field, as we had already seen Samsung at the CES 2013, who had shown an amazing device that could bend, which had impressed everyone, but was only a prototype so far. The South Korean giant had announced the past month that maybe next year they would begin producing completely flexible phones.

We will have to wait until 2016 or 2017 to see if developers eventually cash in on these ideas, or if this is all just a pipe dream.

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Disney Unveils the Prototype of a Layered Fabric 3D Printer

Posted: 19 Apr 2015 12:16 PM PDT

Disney Research Layered Fabric 3D Printing

3D printing materials are no longer limited to ABS or PLA, as researchers are continuously looking to increase the number of options. The latest invention comes from Disney Research in the form of soft fabric that can be 3D printed in layers.

Disney Research seems to be focusing on the oddest things possible, some of the topics of interest including colorful swarms of Pixelbots or 3D printed human hair. Their latest addition to a long line of peculiar inventions is a 3D printer that relies on soft fabric and adhesive to create fluffy objects. That’s definitely a different take on 3D printing, a field where the majority of the resulting objects were rock hard.

The researchers behind the layered fabric 3D printer are aware that this is not the industry’s first attempt to create flexible objects using this process of manufacture. However, their unusual approach will not go unnoticed, as there are quite a few applications.

Using fabric lead to some significant changes in the 3D printing process, as there is some laser cutting involved. Even though it may seem that there are just sheets of fabric layered one on top of another, each of these layers is cut in 2D so that its perimeter matches the external area of the 3D object. The resulting block of fabric includes the object, as well as the support material, which can be easily peeled away.

Disney Research also exemplified in the above video how long cuts in the fabric layers could be used for reinforcing an object, conditioning its flexibility by changing the bending direction.

Obviously, one of the main applications for this new 3D printing method is the creation of toys for toddlers, as they are not old enough to play with plastic toys. I’m not yet sure how the conductive fabric showcased in the above video could be put to some good use, but that remains to be seen in the future.

We have to keep in mind that this 3D printer is currently just a prototype, and that the items that were printed so far can’t match the energy levels, nor the determination of a toddler. In conclusion, Disney Research might have to spend some additional time on perfecting this 3D printing method.

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