PIRAT - Programmable matter in reconfigurble products

Purpose and goal

The purpose of the project was to investigate the state of the art for the area of programmable materials and to showcase concepts for products and production technology in the area. Two techniques have been identified where today there are concepts for products and production technology. These are magnetorheological fluids and magnetic shape memory alloys. In other areas, the technology is too immature and is considered to have a TRL level of 3 to 4. The project has contributed to improved picture of the area and that there are better conditions for moving on with new research projects.

Expected results and effects

The project has increased our opportunities to start and run new projects in the area. We have also found concepts for products based on programmable materials in two cases. However, we had expected that the techniques we found, in the other cases, would have reached a TRL level of at least 6 or that one could see continued development towards higher TRL levels. However, there are applications in mind if one succeeds in developing the technology more which justifies continued research in the field.

Planned approach and implementation

The planning and implementation of the project followed essentially what was stated in the application. A large part was a literature study of published research results. An internal workshop was conducted to elucidate the gender perspective in implementation and results. The companies mentioned in the application have been interviewed over the conference telephone. The interviews that were semi-structured were conducted by two researchers and notes were conducted. The results of the interviews were used as input to the literature study.