FFF Seminar: Programming machines and materials for on-demand assembly

Abstract

Hardware bound for space, from machines to tooling, must today be anticipated, prefabricated, and launched before needs arise, and larger structures require extensive manual assembly in situ. However, by automating and consolidating digital manufacturing techniques, in-space manufacturing and assembly capabilities have the opportunity to address many of these constraints placed on space-bound hardware by launch mass, volume, and scheduling. In turn, these automated technologies can open new opportunities for how to democratize manufacturing here on Earth. This talk will give an overview of recent research projects addressed to this end, including a stand-alone fabrication platform capable of printing custom robots, and a method to assemble magnetically programmed structures via passive self-assembly.

Bio

Martin Nisser is a 6th year PhD Candidate at MIT, where he leads MIT’s Extrusion Payload, a 14-person team developing a microgravity-adapted fabrication platform launched to the International Space Station aboard NASA/SpaceX CRS-26. He holds degrees from MIT, ETH Zurich, and the University of Edinburgh, and previously held appointments at Tesla Motors, Harvard University and the European Space Agency. He is a Sweden-America fellow, a Bernard Gold fellow, and has appeared in media including BBC News, The Washington Post, NASA TV, Forbes, and Popular Science. He is the cofounder of Brave Behind Bars, a college-accredited introductory computer science program for incarcerated people.