| I saw this story a few months back when I was back home in Finland and was impressed with the simplicity of this minesweeper. The Mine Kafon by Massoud Hassani is an amazing invention, if you think about how much they cost compared to other minesweeping technologies. Essentially, it is a tumbleweed like minesweeper, as reported by CNN, which is moved around by the wind and goes wherever the wind takes it, just like a tumbleweed. And besides looking very cool (personal opinion, I like spheres!) it also takes out landmines which could harm innocent civilians. While I first believed that it was mimicking tumbleweeds, as the CNN title might lead you to believe, it was inspired from children's toys in Afghanistan. If you watch the video on the right (and you should!) you will hear everything about the Mine Kafon, how it came to be, and what the potential future uses are. Ever since this story came out, the Mine Kafon has received a lot of attention internationally. It has been covered on major news outlets in the US and Europe. What started of as a design project now has turned into an effort of saving innocent lives, funded by Kickstarter backers. While one Mine Kafon can take out up to 4 mines in theory, it is a far cry short of what a full size, military grade minesweeper can achieve. However, not every village in war ravaged countries can afford these minesweepers, therefore the Mine Kafon can help in many places where help was not affordable before. Oh, and it is biodegradable, how about that? |
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In a follow up to last weeks blog post about the pioneering utilization of 3D printers I would like to share this story from WIRED.com. If you would like to read more about how somebody might end up with this amazing 3D printable material called Osteofab™, starting from CT scans all the way through manufacturing, follow this link here. All you Trekkies out there...replicators are finally here. Well, at least the earliest prototype! If you are unfamiliar what a replicator is in the Star Trek universe, essentially it generates almost anything you desire out of thin air (Essentially reconstituting atoms and what not, you get the drift). Anyways, I'm talking about 3D printers. In recent years 3D printing technology has skyrocketed to the point of where we are considering sending 3D printers onto the moon to build moon bases out of moon dust. The applications of this new technology is so diverse that anything from manufacturing cars, customized parts for machines, toys,and etc is possible! For scientists, 3D printing allows for cost efficient and relatively fast assembly of complex 3D structures which can be used in a wide array of research (ex. prosthetic research). Using traditional assembly methods, something as complex as the prosthetic limb on the left would have taken a long time. Depending on what material is used in the 3D printer, the material properties could be altered to mimic biomaterials of all sorts (cartilage, bone, etc). Which brings me back to Biomimetics! Discovery.com reported on the 23rd of February about some cool research performed at Brown University. Scientists at the Breuer and Swartz Labs used 3D printers to build a robotic bat-wing, directly mimicking the wing of a fruit bat. This robotic model is used to study the energetics and aerodynamics of winged flight. The story states some interesting facts about the aerodynamics of wing flapping, namely that while the down-stroke generates lift, the up-stroke does not and has the opposite effect...if wings were completely stiff and didn't bend or move. Bats bend their wings in the up-stroke motion and the robotic bat wing showed a decrease of force pushing downwards by 50% if bent in the up-stroke. In the future this research could culminate in the creation of a robot which utilizes flapping wings for flight instead of static wings and propellers or jet engines for propulsion. If you would like to read up on this research, here is the link to Discovery.com's article. Do you want a 3D printer yet? I do. Earl Grey, hot (Mandatory Star Trek reference, and no, it can't print Earl Grey tea...yet!) Until next time! JP |
Janne PfeiffenbergerPhD Student @ Temple University. Biological Science Archives
May 2013
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