2010 Ford Sport Trac Original Sales Brochure on 2040-parts.com

MIT develops self-transforming materials that behave 'like robots without robots'

A cross-disciplinary research lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed a suite of programmable materials, including carbon fiber, printed wood grain, textile composites, rubbers and plastics, that self-transform when exposed to an external stimulus. Director of the Self-Assembly Lab, Skylar Tibbits, presented a TED talk on 4D printing in 2013, where he demonstrated how a flat sheet of material could effectively build itself when exposed to water, like a robot without a robot. Following positive feedback from industries including aviation, automotive and manufacturing, his lab has been working on developing materials that change according to different activation sources, including heat, light, and air pressure, in addition to water – all of which have automotive relevance.

Nissan Juke-R – first picture

Nissan Juke-R - the first official picture from Nissan With all things in the car world seemingly focused on fluffy bunnies and green halos, it’s great to see Nissan pushing the envelope at the other end with the Nissan Juke-R, a bonkers version  of Nissan’s compact SUV with the heart of Godzilla – the Nissan GT-R. We first reported the Juke-R – which we dubbed ‘Super Juke’ - at the end of last month when we didn’t know whether the Juke-R would be a one-off or a production model. But within weeks Nissan had come out and confessed our Juke-R story was real and that they really were working on a monster Juke with the heart of a Nissan GT-R.

Spyker C8 Aileron Spyder (2009) first pictures

By Gareth Evans First Official Pictures 17 August 2009 12:30 Dutch supercar maker Spyker unveiled a prototype for its forthcoming C8 Aileron Spyder at the 2009 Pebble Beach concours d'elegance. It's a drop-top version of the company’s hand-crafted C8 Aileron and production versions are due early in 2010. There's a coupe version as well - which was unveiled at this year's Geneva motor show - and together the two cars mark Spyker's second generation of supercars after the original C8s.