Imagine if you could paint a working light switch directly onto your wall, without any need for sockets, cables or wiring. A group of students from
the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London has made that possible by
creating electrically conductive paint. The paint acts as a form
of liquid wiring. Unlike conventional wires, it can be applied to almost
any surface, including paper, plastic, metal and even fabric.
A group of students who came up with an electrically
conductive paint for an art project using research from Wikipedia are seeing
their product take off around the the world.
Four years ago the Royal College of Art students created the
substance that allows you to paint working light switch directly onto your
wall, without any need for sockets, cables or wiring.
The paint acts as a form of liquid wiring and, unlike
conventional wires, it can be applied to almost any surface, including paper,
plastic, metal and even fabric. The product has the appearance and consistency
of runny Marmite, but dries quickly when exposed to the air. Its inventors, RCA
graduates Isabel Lizardi, Matt Johnson, Bibi Nelson and Becky Pilditch, call
their creation 'Bare Paint.'
While they don't claim to be the first group to have
invented a conductive ink, they are pioneering new ways it can be used, CNN
reported.
Matt Johnson said: 'We started this project in earnest in
2009. We were originally interested in trying to apply electronics to the
skin... so we arrived at this idea of applying them as a coating and eventually
we got this idea of a conductive paint.
'In 2008 -- and probably still today -- there was a lot of
work around electronic textiles. And though we really liked the idea of having
a jumper (a piece of clothing) that has some intelligence in it, we didn't like
that it was so bulky and that once you took it off the functionality
disappeared.'
Around the same time there was a lot of 'extreme work' being
done by people who were injecting electronics beneath the skin. For their final
project, the RCA students began work on making something less intrusive,
looking for a substance that could be painted onto the body.
Mr Johnson said: 'That idea transformed into the material we
have now, which is very safe though it's not specifically intended for the body
anymore.'
After graduating from college, the team collaborated on a
video for DJ and producer Calvin Harris. The resulting project was the
'Humanthesizer,' a performance which literally brought the paint to life, with
dancers whose movements triggered audio loops from Harris's song 'Ready for the
Weekend.' Matt Johnson, co-inventor of Bare Conductive, said: 'Making a new
material was a bit daunting for four designers.'
So, the team went on Wikipedia. According to Johnson, the
online encyclopedia provided them with almost everything they needed to know
about crafting conductive materials.
Once the paint's formula was finalised, co-creator Isabel
Lizardi says the team began to consider how it might be applied to real-world
products. The first thing they launched was the paint in its raw form, which
they made available to other garden-shed inventors, CNN reported.
Today, Bare Paint jars and pens are sold on the internet and
stocked by electronics stores around the world. Projects being done by Bare
Paint users include everything from interactive colour wheels to homemade
electric toys. Mr Johnson said that conductive paint opens up an enormous range
of creative opportunities.
As conductive paint becomes increasingly common, we can look
forward to a future where billboards talk back, walls are interactive, and
greeting cards come to life in our very hands.
Mr Johnson added: 'Devices no longer have to look high tech
to be high tech. Our goal is to put interactivity onto objects you don't
expect.'
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