A loose bottle cap doesn’t sound like a major hazard, right?<\/p>\n
A bit of spilled water can’t do any harm?<\/p>\n
But if the open bottle is holding hazardous chemicals… now that is something to worry about.<\/p>\n
Researchers at MIT have created a mechanism that can tell one whether or not the cap is loose, without using any electronics at all.<\/strong><\/p>\n How is such a mechanism possible?<\/p>\n Interactive objects that require no electricity? <\/p>\n Yunyi Zhu, a graduate student at MIT studying engineering, has teamed up with other students to invent something completely new. <\/p>\n 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. <\/strong><\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n So the team had to come up with another way for an object to reveal its state. <\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n The MIT team created a system called ShiftLens. This system creates 3D-printed objects with mechanically switchable<\/strong> surface appearances.<\/p>\n What does that really mean?<\/p>\n It means that the outside of the object can change between two or more looks, based on something physically moving. <\/p>\n The paper written by the MIT<\/a> researchers is titled \u201cShiftLens: Mechanically Actuated Optical Surfaces for Switchable Appearances on 3D Objects\u201d.<\/p>\n Put more simply, they have created surfaces covered in tiny lenses that sit over a hidden pattern<\/strong>, and a part of the object physically moves them. <\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n Previously, this kind of method only worked on flat surfaces, but the team has ideas to expand past this barrier.<\/p>\n With 3D printing becoming so advanced, with even 3D electrodes being printed<\/a>, the team is thinking far into the future with many possible inventions.<\/p>\n 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. <\/strong><\/p>\n A ShiftLens invention is made up of two layers: a lens layer on top of a pattern. <\/p>\n In a certain aligned position, the viewer sees only one state.<\/p>\n Then, when there is a small sideways shift, the lens layer shows the layer beneath it, and the pattern is seen.<\/p>\n It’s as if, by magic, something new appears. <\/p>\n While it does appear almost magical, the mechanism is purely optical and mechanical.<\/strong><\/p>\n In the case of the chemical-filled bottle, the cap is what makes the pattern shift. <\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/strong> 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<\/a> that people never thought possible!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":45136,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_focus_keyword":"bottle cap,MIT","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_description":"MIT researchers have developed a mechanism by which a bottle cap can indicate whether they are open or closed, all without the use of electricity or screens.","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45129"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45139,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45129\/revisions\/45139"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}MIT researchers who invent non-electrical interactive surfaces<\/h2>\n
The optical illusion that can protect from danger<\/h2>\n
How this bottle works almost like magic<\/h2>\n