Today, we met with Steven Keating. He works in the Media Lab on jamming. Jamming is the process by which liquid, mobile substances become solids. He talked with us about jamming and some of the work he's done on testing the internal particles and the elastomer in which is contained. He ran tests on how structural the internal components are compared to weight. Coffee grounds and glass beads show the best properties for their weight. Small, light hard particles with roughness work best. We learned about the vacuum, which he gets from food packaging devices. Vacuum which are stronger than this vacuum tend to get larger very quickly for the increase in pressure and this kind of jamming does not show significantly increased performance with .1 psi difference. He also talked about durability verses accuracy in your mold. The thinner the elastomer is the more accurate your molds will be, but it makes the shell more fragile. He showed us some of the other applications for jamming, such as a chair or vice.
-Annie
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