this is me too. Archive

125

8bitfuture: Robotic dinosaurs to be made with 3D printers. Palaeontologists at Drexel University are using 3D printers to reconstruct dinosaur skeletons, which will be animated using robotics to see how the dinosaurs might have moved and behaved. The team is first using a 3D scanner to analyse existing bones, before using a 3D printer to construct an exact replica of the skeleton. A mechanical engineer is working with the team to develop the robotic side of the project, but the 3D printing will also allow them to create small-scale models for educational use, and to create exact-size replicas for museum display, without the limitation on the number of copies made and materials and storage hassles of traditional casting methods. The first goal is to have a working robotic dinosaur limb constructed by the end of 2012. A complete robotic dinosaur replica will take one to two years to create. While 3D printers have been available for a few years, they have been slow to catch on with home users, instead finding niche markets like in medicine, where they have been used to print organs and tailored prosthetics for patients. The Pirate Bay launched a new category for 3D designs last month, predicting a world where “you will print your spare sparts for your vehicles. You will download your sneakers within 20 years.” Who knows, maybe in the zoo of the future we will be wearing downloaded Nike shoes and watching a robotic Tyrannosaurus chase a newly cloned woolly mammoth!

8bitfuture:

Robotic dinosaurs to be made with 3D printers.

Palaeontologists at Drexel University are using 3D printers to reconstruct dinosaur skeletons, which will be animated using robotics to see how the dinosaurs might have moved and behaved.

The team is first using a 3D scanner to analyse existing bones, before using a 3D printer to construct an exact replica of the skeleton. A mechanical engineer is working with the team to develop the robotic side of the project, but the 3D printing will also allow them to create small-scale models for educational use, and to create exact-size replicas for museum display, without the limitation on the number of copies made and materials and storage hassles of traditional casting methods.

The first goal is to have a working robotic dinosaur limb constructed by the end of 2012. A complete robotic dinosaur replica will take one to two years to create.

While 3D printers have been available for a few years, they have been slow to catch on with home users, instead finding niche markets like in medicine, where they have been used to print organs and tailored prosthetics for patients. The Pirate Bay launched a new category for 3D designs last month, predicting a world where “you will print your spare sparts for your vehicles. You will download your sneakers within 20 years.”

Who knows, maybe in the zoo of the future we will be wearing downloaded Nike shoes and watching a robotic Tyrannosaurus chase a newly cloned woolly mammoth!

(Source: drexel.edu, via 8bitfuture)

125 notes

  1. prehistoric-giraffe reblogged this from fractalsaurus
  2. emipi reblogged this from crownedrose
  3. braingasmic reblogged this from 8bitfuture
  4. yourlifeupgraded reblogged this from 8bitfuture
  5. pensivereason reblogged this from 8bitfuture
  6. beetlebot reblogged this from 8bitfuture
  7. tyler-paff reblogged this from 8bitfuture
  8. queennubian reblogged this from sperri and added:
    wannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnt!
  9. sperri reblogged this from crownedrose
  10. fractalsaurus reblogged this from 8bitfuture
  11. darwindbowman reblogged this from 8bitfuture
  12. theloversthedreamersandyou reblogged this from 8bitfuture and added:
    how it ends. Robot Dinosaurs. I knew it.
  13. jerseybornsdbred reblogged this from 8bitfuture
  14. methodguitar reblogged this from 8bitfuture
  15. selectivededuction reblogged this from 8bitfuture
  16. i-will-h0ld-on-hope reblogged this from 8bitfuture
  17. webshooters reblogged this from shadowofastolensun
  18. shadowofastolensun reblogged this from fyeahlilbitoeverything
  19. jipper reblogged this from nolitevastare
  20. undertherubble reblogged this from 8bitfuture
  21. goodmorningnightowl reblogged this from 8bitfuture
  22. nakedsciencebutt reblogged this from 8bitfuture
  23. auroraxaustralis reblogged this from 8bitfuture
  24. tybarbary reblogged this from 8bitfuture
  25. artemisia-absinthium reblogged this from oliviawaite
  26. paleblued0t reblogged this from 8bitfuture
  27. lisanweed69 reblogged this from 8bitfuture