Tangible cellular structure, associated method

1. A tangible structure, comprising:

a set of movable and parallel rods, each rod including a head;

a set of drive devices, each drive device including a motor element generating a rotational movement to a transverse shaft to transmit a translational motion to a rod, said drive device being piloted in order to transmit a motion to the rod at a given speed and in a given direction;

a holding system for the drive devices making said drive devices integral with each other, and

a calculator arranged to determine a set of pilot set points, each pilot set point being transmitted to a drive device based on a first digital set point;

wherein the first digital set point is:

at least one digital piece of data, or

pixel values of a digital image and/or a pixel distribution of said image, or

digital information including text and/or numbers.

2. The tangible structure according to claim 1 , wherein each drive device of the set of drive devices comprises a pressure element driven by the motor element in turn driving a rod of the set of movable and parallel rods by friction.

3. The tangible structure according to claim 2 , wherein the pressure element is a roller.

4. The tangible structure according to claim 1 , wherein each drive device of the set of drive devices comprises a bevel gear system including two gear wheels allowing transmission of a rotation of the drive shaft to a rotation of a transverse shaft, said rotation of the transverse shaft causing rotation of a roller, said roller being secured to the transverse shaft.

5. The tangible structure according to claim 1 , wherein the rods are made of a polymeric material.

6. The tangible structure according to claim 1 , wherein each drive device is integrated into a frame of substantially parallelepipedal shape and including two guides each including an opening adapted to receive a rod in order to direct translational motions of a rod, said rod passing through said frame.

7. The tangible structure according to claim 1 , wherein the rods are provided at their ends with an elastic head formed by a material among which: {elastomer, polymer, resin}.

8. The tangible structure according to claim 1 , comprising a deformable surface, the deformation of which is driven by the rods, each of the heads of which is in contact with said surface.

9. The tangible structure according to claim 1 , wherein:

the holding system is a plate including a plurality of openings, each opening allowing a rod to pass therethrough,

and wherein the tangible structure includes a second guide plate having a plurality of openings and parallel to the first plate and spaced apart by a predefined distance for sandwiching the drive devices, said second plate being arranged such that each rod passes through both plates.

10. The tangible structure according to claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of light sources, said light sources being controlled by a light set point, each of the light sources being arranged:

at one end of a head of a rod, or

in a thickness of a deformable surface,

the calculator coordinating generation of the pilot set point with generation of the light set point from a same first digital set point.

11. The tangible structure according to claim 1 , further comprising a heating source and a means for activating heat to be applied to a material arranged in contact with the ends of the rods.

12. A method for manufacturing a three-dimensional object, comprising:

positioning and holding a thermosetting material on a tangible structure according to claim 11 ;

activating the tangible structure by a rod pilot set point in order to form a three-dimensional shape deforming the thermosetting material held at the end of each rod;

activating a source of heating of the thermosetting material beyond a predefined temperature threshold allowing the thermosetting material to polymerize, and

cooling and removing the material.

13. A method for generating a three-dimensional shape by activating a plurality of rods of a tangible structure, said rods being arranged in parallel to each other, said tangible structure including

a set of movable and parallel rods, each rod including a head;

a set of drive devices, each drive device including a motor element generating a rotational movement to a transverse shaft to transmit a translational motion to a rod, said drive device being piloted in order to transmit a motion to the rod at a given speed and in a given direction;

a holding system for the drive devices making said drive devices integral with each other, and

a calculator arranged to determine a set of pilot set points, each pilot set point being transmitted to a drive device based on a first digital set point;

said method comprising:

receiving an image made by a communication interface or a memory of the structure;

calculating a plurality of stroke indicators for a plurality of sets of pixels of the image, each stroke indicator being calculated for a given rod of the structure depending on the properties of each set of pixels;

guiding the set of rods by means of each drive device, said drive devices each generating a motor set point from a pilot set point deduced from the stroke indicators, each pilot set point further generating an electrical set point each piloting a light source arranged at the end of each rod and activating a property of the light emitted by each of them.