Foam-Spraying Quadcopter Becomes a Flying 3D Printer 34
Zothecula writes "The swiftlet may not look much different than other little birds, but it has one unique ability – it builds its nest out of its own saliva. Inspired by the swiftlet, scientists at Imperial College London's Aerial Robotics Lab have created a robotic quadcopter that can extrude polyurethane foam while in flight. By targeting where that foam goes, it can build up simple structures, essentially becoming a flying 3D printer."
Accuracy (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
If we can load up that quad copter with hot grits, and then fly it over to Natalie Portman's place, and ....-nevermind.
Re: Accuracy (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
I was thinking about emergency shelters in disaster areas.
Seriously, if you could scale these, it would be ideal as you wouldn't have to deal with closed or obstructed even washed away roads. If you used a closed cell foam, they would be buoyant. and the liquid to foam design means you do not have to level or set the grade of the area before installing. Just get the supplies as close as possible, fly in and spray a few domes where people are congregating, then get better relief to them once the paths of in
Re: (Score:3)
Probably better to just use a larger quad-copter, set up an area near the disaster to build your foam huts, and then fly them to the exact location.
No matter how good these things get, it will still be less efficient than a fixed printer, and you still have to move the same weight of materials to the final location. You also still need a nearby staging area to refill the printer, so there is no gain there, either.
It might be a lot more useful at a science fair, or a geek bar.
Re: (Score:2)
I was thinking immediate response. Take a situation like Katrina for instance. Ignore all the slow response BS, the fact that the mayor of New Orleans failed to follow the disaster plans, or that the governor chose to argue over who controlled what instead of letting the feds who seemed to be unprepared anyways come in so it would help her political career. But what we had was a number of people who took shelter from the flooding on an overpass with no shade or relief from the wind. They were stuck there fo
Re: (Score:2)
A quadcopter could just drop a tarp and water?
Slightly easier than trying to spray plastic on a overpass?
Re: (Score:2)
Point taken. I guess I was getting excited and trying to Rube Goldberg everything up.
Re: (Score:2)
Pretty lame either way.
Now if we sprayed nanobots in to the wind at disaster sites, they could coalesce together around people who require assistance and build them whatever they need.........
Best Headline EVAR! (Score:2)
Convinced (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Even if it wasn't fun, it would be cool to work in a place called Imperial College London's Aerial Robotics Lab.
Re: (Score:2)
um (Score:5, Funny)
ok, so we're now basically calling anything that moves a robot? and anything that deposits any sort of material a 3D printer?
My ass has been 3D printing better stuff that this since the 70s. It does it totally automatically so it's the best robotic 3D printer on the market!
3D Printing? (Score:5, Interesting)
Why do we continue to call all of this shit "3D Printing"? Why not fabrication? And squirting foam from a drone is a long way from a "printer".
If it doesn't put ink on a piece of paper, it's NOT a printer.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
"Makers" aren't innovating anything apart from finding new ways to butcher the english language.
Re: (Score:2)
Personal attacks? I'm a ChE, so you wouldn't be "making" anything more than early 18th century tools without people like me.
Re: (Score:2)
Because fabrication is too general a word. The proper name is "additive manufacturing".
But fabrication can include many processes, including subtractive manufacturing (usually CNC machine), simply bolting two parts together to form a third, nailing things together, injection molding, etc. And it can involve multiple processes - additive followed by subtractive, etc.
In fact, combining the existing tools of being able to injection mold some stuff, add and subtract bits can easily manufactu
Does anyone remember... (Score:2)
Prelude to nanolathing (Score:2)
Remember Total Annihilation (now rebooted as Planetary Annihilation)? Reminds me of the concept in that game of nanolathing, ie spraying nanite construction bots to build a structure or vehicle, either from a mobile platform (vehicle, kbot or plane) or static factory.
Re: (Score:2)
By far the best RTS ever.
Hello? Will you enterain us? (Score:1)
Can You See It Coming? (Score:2)