【一项尘封四十年的专利终于问世：这就是Y型拉链！】
一种3D打印的三面紧固件，能够让任何物体在柔性和刚性之间自由切换。

它在机器人领域的应用最吸引我。

一种四足机器人，能够根据地形调整腿部刚度，无需额外电机或复杂的机械系统即可实时切换刚性和柔性。

但这远不止于机器人领域。一种白天松动、夜晚变硬的腕部石膏。一种只需90秒即可展开的帐篷，而不是传统的六分钟。

这项发明在专利申请中沉寂了四十年，最近才得以面世。

最终，3D打印技术让它成为现实。

A 40-year-old patent finally brought to life.

That's the Y-zipper.

I hope that this invention will be named 'the yipper'. 😮‍💨

A 3D-printed three-sided fastener that transitions any object from flexible to rigid and back again.

The robotics application is the one that caught my attention.

A quadruped robot that adjusts its leg stiffness depending on terrain, switching between rigid and flexible in real time without additional motors or complex mechanical systems.

But this goes way beyond robotics. A wrist cast that loosens during the day and stiffens at night. A tent that pops into shape in 90 seconds instead of six minutes.

The idea sat in a patent filing for four decades, and has been recently brought to wider public.

It took 3D printing to finally make it real.

来源：郦家骥，美国麻省理工学院 - 博士后研究员 http://t.cn/AXpJzWP4