4-D Printing Means Building Things That Build Themselves

4-D Printing Means Building Things That Build Themselves Enlarge this image toggle caption Glenn J. Asakawa/University of Colorado Glenn J. Asakawa/University of Colorado In our Weekly Innovation series, we pick an interesting idea, design or product that you may not have heard of yet. Here's how it works: A 3-D printer with extremely high resolution uses materials that can respond to outside stimuli, like heat or light, as ink. Sponsor Message One team of researchers led by H. Jerry Qi, an associate professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, is using heat and mechanical pressure to transform flat objects into three-dimensional structures. Another team — a collaboration between University of Pittsburgh, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Harvard University — recently garnered an $855,000 grant from the U.S. Army Research Office to explore how adaptive materials can respond to stimuli like light or temperature.