As far as I know there is no single recipe for creativity. But in this week’s podcast, Tom Nerdy and I talked about a number of hacks, especially inventors, out of the box, or simply “How did they come up with this?” One possible way to do something new is to learn from other disciplines.
We were talking about an inspirational video about 3D printing fabrics. At the moment, the world of design is going crazy for 3DP, so it’s no surprise to ask someone with a design background how to make things from 3D printers more flexible and a little better suited to their needs. But what about those of us who take what the fabric people have learned and applied to our work as a fully-functional aspect of the building? You’ll find something like this hybrid method of folding, or something like this method of removing supports from your prints.
I was constantly amazed at how much the home-gamer could learn from the art, and this week was no exception. [Anne Ogborn]The bulk material handling part draws on the hard work of most engineers who are concerned about feeding tons of screws in small boxes to properly unload huge grain silos or send them to customers. But the same physics works when you are designing an automated dry cat food provider for your next vacation, only on a small scale.
How are you What things did you learn from other disciplines, perhaps completely unrelated, that helped you in your hacking?