Predicting and controlling flexible materials and collisions, however, is tricky.
Adding flexible materials to strengthen tar roads is not a new idea.
However, researchers are working on ways to print more flexible materials.
To overcome this brittleness they are frequently deposited as thin films on other, more flexible, materials.
It was made of lightweight, flexible materials like fiberglass and aluminum so it could be driven over walls and through rough terrain.
A laser beam does not deform flexible materials as a mechanical drill would, so it can drill holes in materials such as soft rubber nipples for baby bottles.
Unlike conventional solar cells, made from silicon wafers, CIGS cells can be deposited on glass or flexible materials, much as ink is printed on rolls of newspaper.
The network of water and sewer pipes should be built with flexible materials that can be shallowly buried and easily repaired.
That leads to certain concrete opportunities — the chance to get into flexible electronics, which are very thin electronic components attached to flexible materials.
While there have been advances in terms of materials used in 3D printing (nylon for example can be combined with wood or bronze), more flexible materials are still in beta or prototype stages.
Eventually, the researchers hope to build on the work of David Kaplan, a Tufts professor of biomedical engineering who has pioneered the creation of tough, flexible materials based on spider silk so that the creatures would be largely biodegradable.
