# Can we make things that make themselves?

- Institution: TED
- Department: TED2011
- Speaker: Skylar Tibbits
- Year: 2011
- Level: For everyone
- Language: English
- Subjects: Art, architecture and design
- Source: [TED](https://www.ted.com/talks/skylar_tibbits_can_we_make_things_that_make_themselves)
- Licence: [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) (Non-commercial use only, and no changed versions.)
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (sources give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the source's own words)

MIT researcher Skylar Tibbits works on self-assembly -- the idea that instead of building something (a chair, a skyscraper), we can create materials that build themselves, much the way a strand of DNA zips itself together. It's a big concept at early stages; Tibbits shows us three in-the-lab projects that hint at what a self-assembling future might look like.

## Lectures

1. [Can we make things that make themselves?](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/ted/skylar_tibbits_can_we_make_things_that_make_themselves/10ea494d4614), 6 min (TED's player)