Duke Researchers Create 3D Printed “Invisibility Cloak”
The idea of a magical item that bestows invisibility on the user is older than characters famous for using such cool toys, such as Harry Potter or Bilbo Baggins. The notion of invisibility still captures the imagination, though, to be honest, I suspect invisibility would be put to less than benevolent uses by most people.
While the object in question is neither a cloak, nor does it provide actual invisibility, researchers at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering still refer to their creation by the pop culture reference. The object in question is actually a circle with holes of seemingly random shapes and sizes punched in it, surrounding a larger circular hole in the center. Continue reading
3D Printing Spawns Robotic Spiders
3D printing is enabling all sorts of advancements in design and prototyping, and now some German engineers are leveraging the technology to produce low-cost, potentially disposable robotic spiders.
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation in Stuttgart hope to use selective laser sintering (SLS) to create small, low-cost robots that look and walk like spiders. Using elastic drive bellows that generate pressure and pump fluid into the devices’ legs, the robotic arachnids can crawl and jump very much like the real thing.
The Fraunhofer team can generate interchangeable, modular parts for the robots using the 3D printers, increasing flexibility and lowering cost significantly. Thin layers of polyamide powder are applied and melted in place, allowing the group to produce “complex geometries, inner structures and lightweight components.” Leg modules can even be designed with variable load-bearing characteristics. According to the Fraunhofer website: Continue reading
1 Million People Ready to Fund Your Design Engineering Work
If you’re looking for cutting-edge innovation from the garages and basements of the world, Kickstarter is the place to be. The project funding platform allows engineers, designers and other creative types to describe their project, set funding goals and pledge rewards, and then rake in the cash needed to make their ideas a reality.
From a multi-function camera tripod plate system to iPod Nano watch kits to a Maryland school that wanted to purchase a Makerbot 3D printer, there are thousands of niche projects collecting millions of dollars via the site. DE reported on one such project this summer, a PadPivot Stand that was prototyped using Quickparts’ rapid prototyping services.
Of course, the more people perusing the site, the better the chances of securing funding. To that end, Kickstarter recently announced it had reached the milestone of 1 million backers. Continue reading
The Power of Making
Headed to London this year? If so, be sure to stop by the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum to check out the Power of Making exhibit. Power of Making is a free V&A and Crafts Council exhibition that engineers are sure to be inspired by. Curator Daniel Charny’s aim is to encourage visitors to consider the process of making, not just the final results.
All knowledge about making was once new. Someone, sometime, had to formulate it. But there is a big difference between established, ‘traditional’ forms of making and those which are innovative. Both are crucially important, and both can be expressive, but they serve different purposes. — V&A website
One process for making that design engineers are particularly keen on is additive manufacturing. A shoe created with an Objet Ltd. 3D printer by avant-garde shoe designer, Marloes ten Bhömer will be on display at the exhibit, which runs until Jan. 2, 2012. The “Rapidprototypedshoe” is designed and manufactured in a modular way so that it can be dismantled and reassembled for the purpose of replacing parts.
The shoe combines rubber-like materials and rigid materials in a single prototype via an Objet Connex 3D printer.
“My work is very much about liberating design – I use new materials and methods because this helps to break away from conventional approaches,” ten Bhömer explains in a press statement. “The rapid prototyping process stimulated the idea for this shoe, as the name suggests. I explored the technology and saw that rapid prototyping – adding material in layers – rather than traditional shoe manufacturing methods – could help me create something entirely new within just a few hours.”
Source: Objet press release
Welcome to Engineering on the Edge
Desktop Engineering (DE) magazine has been publishing useful, how-to design engineering information for more than 16 years. The magazine, website and e-newsletters focus on providing information readers can immediately put to use in their day-to-day tasks. If it’s not practical information, it doesn’t get published in DE unless it’s a special issue like the ones to the right.
That leaves a lot of engineering technology out. Such bleeding-edge engineering technology is not only cool, it’s inspirational and will help mold the future of design engineering. We believe design engineering is being revolutionized by the confluence of advanced computing, design, simulation, rapid prototyping and testing technologies. Engineering on the Edge is where DE‘s editors will file our reports from the front lines of that revolution.
Engineering on the Edge posts may not be practical, but they will help prepare you for what’s next. We hope you enjoy them.
If you have any cutting-edge, future focused engineering technology you’d like to share with us, please send it to de-editors@deskeng.com.
- Download: Using Acoustic Beamforming for Pass-By Noise Source Detection
- MagiCAD 2013.4 Shipped with AutoCAD, Revit MEP 2014 Support
- Accusoft Ships Prizm Cloud Document Viewer
- Flow Science Releases FLOW-3D/MP
- Autodesk PLM 360 to Integrate NetSuite ERP
- SpaceClaim Technology Used in NovaMethod for Castings
- MTI Systems Releases Costimator Software Version 12
- Dell Launches New Entry-Level and Rack-Mountable Workstations
- Kubotek Releases KeyMarkUp with Optional Mold and Die Module
- Autodesk Partners with NetSuite to Take On ERP/PLM Integration in the Cloud
- Going with the Flow: Dassault Joins the Bid for Mold Simulation with Acquisition
- Grabcad Workbench (Beta): Browser-Based Project Management and Collaboration App
- 3D Printing is What’s for Dinner
- Building Better Plastic Filament
- Rapid Ready Roundup: Manufacturing Innovation Institutes, MakerBot, 3D Medical and Zelda
- Students Make Novel Use of voxeljet Sand Mold
- TAZ 3D Printer Offers Materials Flexibility
- Recreating Vintage Spacecraft
- Additive Manufacturing Employed for Aquatic Animal Tagging