A loose bottle cap doesn’t sound like a major hazard, right?
A bit of spilled water can’t do any harm?
But if the open bottle is holding hazardous chemicals… now that is something to worry about.
Researchers at MIT have created a mechanism that can tell one whether or not the cap is loose, without using any electronics at all.
How is such a mechanism possible?
MIT researchers who invent non-electrical interactive surfaces
Interactive objects that require no electricity?
Yunyi Zhu, a graduate student at MIT studying engineering, has teamed up with other students to invent something completely new.
They have created a way that a bottle full of hazardous liquid can report on its own lid state, to show whether it is open or not.
They focused on creating a new mechanism that does not rely on electronics, as these usually fail when dealing with water or chemicals, and can reduce robustness.
So the team had to come up with another way for an object to reveal its state.
But how can this be done in something like a bottle of liquid? The answer comes down to what appears to be an optical illusion.
The optical illusion that can protect from danger
The MIT team created a system called ShiftLens. This system creates 3D-printed objects with mechanically switchable surface appearances.
What does that really mean?
It means that the outside of the object can change between two or more looks, based on something physically moving.
The paper written by the MIT researchers is titled “ShiftLens: Mechanically Actuated Optical Surfaces for Switchable Appearances on 3D Objects”.
Put more simply, they have created surfaces covered in tiny lenses that sit over a hidden pattern, and a part of the object physically moves them.
This lets their real, three-dimensional object, like the bottle, switch between different looks, and they’ve tested their mechanism hundreds of times and have seen no damage from use.
Previously, this kind of method only worked on flat surfaces, but the team has ideas to expand past this barrier.
With 3D printing becoming so advanced, with even 3D electrodes being printed, the team is thinking far into the future with many possible inventions.
They’re thinking about weather-resistant warning signs or shipping packaging that can indicate whether something is loose. Before then, though, they are perfecting the bottle cap.
How this bottle works almost like magic
A ShiftLens invention is made up of two layers: a lens layer on top of a pattern.
In a certain aligned position, the viewer sees only one state.
Then, when there is a small sideways shift, the lens layer shows the layer beneath it, and the pattern is seen.
It’s as if, by magic, something new appears.
While it does appear almost magical, the mechanism is purely optical and mechanical.
In the case of the chemical-filled bottle, the cap is what makes the pattern shift.
The ShiftLens structure is embedded in the bottle body. Then, as the cap is tightened, its outer rim pushes the lens layer, making the change.
When the cap is tightly closed, it shows a check. If it is slightly loose, it shows a warning symbol. In this way, one will always know if the bottle is properly closed or not.
ShiftLens has turned a simple mechanical movement into a visible message. A cap tightening or loosening can now show its own state, with no battery, sensor, or screen. The work is still in its research stage, but the idea is clear and appears to work well. 3D printing is becoming highly advanced, with 3D-printed inventions like this that people never thought possible!
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