The Gravity-Defying Future of Manufacturing | Schendy Kernizan | TED · TED
介绍一种突破传统3D打印限制的新技术，通过在凝胶中直接打印，消除重力影响，实现更高效、可重复使用的制造方式。适合练习科技与制造相关英语表达。
I’m Schendy Kernizan.
我是 Schendy Kernizan。
I'm creating a new way of manufacturing objects.
我正在探索一种全新的物体制造方法。
I'm part of a company called Rapid Liquid Print that is rethinking how products are made.
我隶属于一家名为 Rapid Liquid Print 的公司，该公司正在重新思考产品的制造方式。
3D printing -- for those who are not familiar with it -- has been a technology that's really taken off in the past 30 years.
3D打印技术——对于那些还不熟悉这项技术的人来说——在过去30年里发展得非常迅速。
Traditional manufacturing was using a method that's just been so outdated, not digitized.
传统的制造业仍然采用那些早已过时、未实现数字化改造的生产方式。
3D printing became kind of the new way of making that.
3D打印已经成为实现这一目标的新方法。
People said, "Oh, this is going to replace traditional manufacturing."
人们说：“哦，这将会取代传统的制造业。
But the issue is that you need to build on a platform.
但问题在于，你需要在一个已有的平台上进行进一步的发展或建设。
So you always need a surface that you're starting with in order to create an object.
因此，为了创建一个物体，你总是需要一个作为起始点的表面。
And the more complex that geometry becomes, gravity starts to become a limitation of what you can make.
当这种几何结构变得越来越复杂时，重力就开始成为制约你制造物体能力的因素。
And in order to circumvent that, you need to actually create supports -- and then you need to remove those supports.
为了规避这个问题，你需要先创建一些支撑结构，之后再把这些支撑结构拆除。
So it's really kind of a manual effort of cleaning those pieces that are then discarded.
因此，实际上需要人工去清洗那些部件，之后这些部件就会被丢弃。
And it's quite wasteful.
而且这样做相当浪费资源。
So 3D printing has almost become kind of this system that's great for prototyping, but hasn't really created that bridge from prototyping to production.
因此，3D打印技术几乎已经成为一种非常适合用于原型制作的工具，但它尚未真正建立起从原型制作到产品生产的桥梁（即实现从原型到最终产品的转化）。
We solved that by printing inside of this gel that holds the shape that you're drawing.
我们通过在这种凝胶内部进行打印来解决这个问题；这种凝胶能够保持你所绘图形的形状。
You're able to eliminate gravity.
你可以消除重力的影响。
Think of the ability of, you know -- if I have an idea in my mind, and I have a pencil,
想象一下这样的能力：如果我脑子里有一个想法，同时手边还有一支铅笔……
can I draw it in space and then have that shape there?
我可以在空间中绘制这个形状，然后让这个形状真正存在于那个空间中吗？
So you go on the computer, you draw the geometry that you want, and that information gets sent to the printer.
然后你打开电脑，绘制出所需的几何图形，这些信息会被发送到打印机那里。
And as the machine is moving -- think of your arm moving that pencil around -- the material is coming out of it,
当这台机器运转时（想象一下你的手臂正在移动铅笔的样子），材料就会从机器中输出出来。
and the machine knows how fast or how slow it needs to go and where it needs to be drawing it inside of the tank.
这台机器能够自主判断应该以多快的速度移动，或者应该以多慢的速度移动，并且知道需要将物质输送到储罐内的具体位置。
The gel is mostly water that’s been transformed into gelatin.
这种凝胶主要由水组成，这些水经过处理后被转化成了明胶。
And think of hand sanitizer consistency where it can move, but it has structure to itself.
再想想洗手液这种产品的特性吧：它具有一定的流动性（可以流动），同时又具备自身的结构（即具有一定的形态或质地）。
And the viscosity is strong enough where whatever you extrude inside of it doesn't just pull out the bottom.
其粘度非常高，因此无论你向其中注入什么物质，这些物质都不会仅仅从底部被挤出。
And when it's done, you just let it there until it fully cures.
完成后，就让它留在那里，直到完全愈合为止。
You're literally doing calligraphy in space.
你实际上是在太空中进行书法创作。
You're able to make parts faster.
你可以更快地制造出所需的零件。
You can customize the colors that you want.
你可以根据自己的喜好自定义颜色。
You can blend colors, create gradients of colors.
你可以混合颜色，制作出渐变色效果。
And instead of having this mold that you then need to discard or put away
而且，你也不用使用那种之后必须丢弃或收起来的模具了。
because your design is different the next time that you build something, with this gel, it's reusable.
因为你的设计每次都会有所不同，所以当你下次使用这种凝胶时，它可以被重复利用。
So you can extract that part, you rinse it with water and you're reusing the gel to make more parts.
你可以提取出那部分材料，用清水冲洗干净后，再将其重新用于制作更多的部件。
So it's a reusable process and sustainable way of making things.
因此，这是一种可重复使用的生产流程，也是一种可持续的制造方式。
As human beings, anything I touch, even from your phone case, usually having some kind of flexibility and give to it feels more relatable
作为人类，我接触到的任何东西——哪怕只是手机壳——通常都具有一定的柔韧性；这种触感让我觉得这些物品更加“贴近生活”、更加真实可信。
than having a hard surface that you're touching.
总比接触到一个坚硬的表面要好得多。
Early days, there was another research group at MIT that was doing a lot of prosthetics, orthotics.
在项目的早期阶段，麻省理工学院（MIT）还有另一个研究小组，他们主要从事假肢和矫形器的研发工作。
They saw our process and thought, "Hey, this could be actually beneficial for us."
他们了解了我们的工作流程后，认为：“嘿，这实际上对我们可能会有好处。
And that led us to talk to more clinicians out there, more people in that space.
这促使我们与更多的临床医生以及该领域的专业人士进行了交流。
People said customization would be really beneficial, but don’t have a way to do that easily.
人们都说定制功能会非常有用，但实际上并没有简单的方法来实现这一点。
Most of the time, what's really pushed on the patient is to wear, you know, small, medium, large,
大多数情况下，真正需要患者注意的是选择合适的尺码——比如小号、中号、大号之类的。