3D material straw

The 3D Material Straw is the ultimate hi-tech designer’s tool that goes beyond the limitations of photography for design research and uses discoveries from MIT’s recent exploration into elastomer sensitivity for recording true-to-life 3D surfaces and textures. When the devices is pressed into an object, the elastomer component mimics the surface and records information into a digital file format that can be used as an additional element in the design process.

Thanks to research from MIT, Gelsight :

http://www.mit.edu/~kimo/gelsight/

http://www.gelsight.com/