But the truly ground-breaking feature of BAC's ultra-sleek design is still under wraps. The company are developing an autonomous rear wing that self-transforms according to the conditions. In rainy weather it curves to increase downforce for a safer drive, and straightens out when the downpour clears. This process is powered by the rain itself.The startling concept is the result of collaboration with MIT's ground breaking Self-Assembly Lab, which seeks to programme materials to build themselves, and transform how we make things."Any place that uses robotics today, you could use materials and have the same capabilities," says Skylar Tibbits, a computational architect who leads the Lab and pioneers the movement. "With planes, we have done a great job of making articulated wings to have lift, to change aerodynamics and make the plane functional. But the weight, energy and control mechanisms involved are pretty excessive at this point. Trying to find more elegant solutions seems an obvious target, and what we're proposing is a single material with the same actuation capability, the same sensing, the same range of movement, if not more."The self-assembly process has been described as 4D printing. Tibbits' team produce composite materials that react in predictable ways when exposed to external stimulus such as water. The materials are 3D-printed into specific shapes and then autonomously transform into another, with wide-ranging implications for industry from automotive to medical to military.But the dream for a new paradigm of component-free, labor-sparing robotics requires further breakthroughs. "More materials, more energy sources," Tibbits says are the current priorities. Wood and carbon fibers are responding well, but "can we do it with everyday materials, with repeatability? Can we fuel it with heat and light?"If he can, the results would not merely match existing capabilities. "We can develop material compositions that respond to many different triggers, or find solutions that haven't been programmed but fall within an acceptable range. They could self-optimize based on logic and sensing."(CNN)Bakudaily.Az