The notion of actuator can go beyond man-made systems and enter the biological kingdom.
In a bio lab at MIT, we are growing our own natto cell actuators.
Natto cells were found a thousand years ago by a Japanese samurai, and since then it has been used to ferment natto food in Japan.
In this project, we utilize this Asian bacteria in a new way.
It becomes a nano actuator that expands and shrinks based on different relative humidity conditions,
such as the humidity level in the atmosphere or the sweetness of the skin.
Cell is conventionally considered as the factory for producing chemicals, but its own mechanical properties is always neglected.
Here, we are looking at its unique stellar structure by absorbing or releasing moisture from its intracellar components.
Cell can swell or shrink in a second.
We culture our own cell in bioreactors. One cell can turn into 10 billion cell overlimes.
This enables us for fabricating large volume cells in a short time for potential industrial applications.
The question now is, how can we translate the expansion and contraction of the cells into new type of transformations that we want?
We started to build up an automatic printing system in which fresh cell can be assembled on a thin fabric.
The different expansion and contraction level of the two materials creates a variety of bending behavior in space and time.
Here, the biological and digital fabrication processes are united together to synthesize a responsive biohybrid material.
We create our biohybrid films through a printing process.
With the micro printing resolution, we are able to align the cells along a certain orientation.
The alignments create a hierarchical structure which helps us to program the specific transformational behaviors that we hold.
The biohybrid films coming freshly out of the printer can be integrated into traditional fabric.
This way, the composite materials still hold the function of reacting to the skin and transforming.
However, it becomes much easier to handle for the garment production.
In this project, we are trying to create an interactive feedback loop among human body, biofilm, and the environment.
During the research process, we always need to modify the material properties based on our experimental data.
And we have to use these properties to explore all the design possibilities of our biofilm.
Therefore, we build a design interface which can not only simulate material behavior,
but more importantly, give the designers a real-time feedback, creating a seamless connection from experiment to design to fabrication.
In this time, fashion is changing, and this project is part of it.
I believe it's time where we think the way we create fashion and the reason behind it.
Biologic Project enables us to explore new, innovative materials combined with traditional garment making techniques.
The designs are inspired by the not-as-selves response to different body parts and that creates really fine, flat movements.
The experience of wearing these garments is very special because they come to life once you start wearing them.
In addition to a single-bending structure, different printing patterns and material combinations enable us to create more complex transformations.
If we embed heating circuits into the substrate, the material gets controllable through electronic signals.
And looking beyond the cell's mechanical transformation, we can imagine to incorporate additional functions produced by the cell itself, such as color change.
And that opens up a quite big variety of future applications.
We always find the opportunities in conflict between disciplines.
We deconstruct old patterns to create new archetypes. That's transdisciplinary.
We are very much excited about this biologic project and potential paradigm shift from building to growing.
Thank you.
