5-Axis Robot Carves Metal Like Butter

kkleiner sends along an amazing video of what robot-controlled machining is coming to. "Industrial robots are getting precise enough that they're less like dumb machines and more like automated sculptors producing artwork. Case in point: Daishin's Seki 5-axis mill. The Japanese company celebrated its 50th anniversary last year by using this machine to carve ... a full-scale motorcycle helmet out of one piece of aluminum. No breaks, no joints, the 5-Axis mill simply pivots and rotates to carve metal at some absurd angles. Every cut is guided by sophisticated 3-D design software (Openmind’s HyperMill)."

Craves Metal

[Pennidren]

I read that as "Craves Metal" and was scared as hell.

Re:Not to sound overly nationalist

[swanzilla]

By what set of criteria do you judge software to be less valuable than hardware?

BitTorrent.

Re:Craves Metal

[McNally]

The idea of wearing a helmet made of a material hard enough to efficiently transmit blows directly to your skull, soft enough to deform under impact, ductile enough to stay deformed, and a sufficiently good conductor of heat to making cutting its deformed remains off of your head without burning you; but before you bleed out, a specialized operation makes me very nervous.

That's exactly what They want you to think.

This represents a tremendous step forward in aluminum hat technology.

That's all well and good...

[nadamucho]

but will it blend?

We're safe for now.

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought it was making a T-800 skull.

And I almost bought a one-way ticket to Japan to save man kind.

Re:Craves Metal

[DeadCatX2]

Aluminum hat technology...is that an upgrade over tin-foil hats?