Furniture which can assemble itself underwater has been developed by scientists.
It is the latest project to emerge from the self-assembly laboratories of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and it is known as Fluid Assembly Furniture.Lead scientist Skylar Tibbits said its 15cm x 15cm chair is the first that can assemble itself.
The six white blocks are fitted with magnets which pull the pieces together in the correct order through a process of automatic trial and error.
Unique connection points on each of the pieces mean that it is impossible for it to fit together incorrectly.
Student Baily Zuniga told Wired magazine: "At close proximity, each piece should easily connect with its corresponding component but never with another one.
"Finding a way to make the pieces more interchangeable would increase the probability of the pieces finding their matches, thus resulting in a faster assembly."
The process took around seven hours to complete, but the team believes the process could be speeded up.
For now, scientists are demonstrating that the concept can work, but there are real-world uses for the idea that include underwater infrastructure repair.
By Ruchi Singh
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
