Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
In the same way a pixel is a building block of an image, a bit is a unit of
information, and an amino acid is a building block of biological matter, a voxel
is a volumetric pixel (hence its name). The elementary units of physical matter
are atoms. The elementary units of printed matter would be larger, a couple
hundred microns, the size of a grain of sand.
A rapid assembler, like a 3D printer, builds up objects layer by layer. But a rapid
assembler does this by assembling very large numbers of very small building blocks.
Like a few colors on an artist's palette, a few voxel types can take you far. If
fewer than two dozen element types give rise to all biological life, a few basic
voxel types can also open a large range of possibilities. To begin, let's combine
rigid voxels and soft voxels. Using just those two types, of voxels, it's possible
to make hard and soft materials. Add conductive voxels, to make wiring. Add
resistor, capacitor, inductor and transistor voxels, to make electric circuits.
Add actuator and sensor voxels and you have robots.
