The Road to 3D Printed Guns

Colt CM901 Assault Rifle with a blue 3D printed lower reciever

              People have been attempting to 3D print guns since 3D printers first hit the market but not many of them work and the ones that did were not as powerful as a normal gun and would commonly break after the first shot. One group of people were able to successfully build a handgun out of all 3D printed parts but if I remember correctly, it did not survive long and was unable to use more poewrful rounds. However, a member of Printedfirearm.com, a website that has been devoted to trying to print guns for awhile now, was able to develop a fully functions lower receiver for a Colt CM901 rifle. The printed print is able to withstand the force of firing up to a 7.62 mm bullet and can be adjusted to also fire a 5.56 mm bullet. The creator of the printed part has so far allegedly shot around 100 rounds of ammunition using the part without any signs of damage to the part yet. The part was also printed using only a $500 XYZ DaVinci printer and unspecified plastic filament. The lower receiver for one of these guns is not the most important part of the gun, but it leaves many to believe that someone may be able to print a fully functional and powerful assault rifle using a 3D printer and no one would ever be aware if someone was printing 3D guns. That day is not going to be anytime soon though according to printedfirearm.com. Some people are also just seeing this as very bad publicity for 3D printers as they slowly begin to grow in popularity and believe that it may send 3D printers into a downward spiral until the government begins to try and ban or put restrictions on the printers.

Future Firefighters

A "Robot on reins" in a smokey cave

          The King's College London and Sheffield Hallam University have developed a new type of robot to potentially save a firefighters life. Unlike the actual robot dogs as mentioned in one of my previous posts, these robots are made to sense any objects that may be blocking a firefighters path while they are in the fire. The robots are equipped with tactile sensors that enable them to detect any objects that it might run into. As stated by an article on sciencedaily.com " firefighters could save vital seconds moving through fires, thanks to revolutionary reins that enable the robots to act like guide dogs".  As the robot encounters an object it emits vibrations and other signals that travel through the reins to the firefighters hand that are supposed to be able to inform a firefighter of and objects size shape and stiffness. In theory the robots should be very beneficial to firefighters during fires, especially when minimal time is available. No matter how well a firefighter may know the layout of a building or house, during a bad fire the firefighters face a struggle with very low visibility caused by the smoke and dust. And even if it was a well-known house to a firefighter, fires could cause a wall to fall and if the firefighter does not notice it then their life may be in danger. The robots are programmed to sense any hesitations and movements made by the person in control and have the availability to adjust their movements in orer to compensate for the human controller. They may even be able to be programmed to eventually predict the users next steps and detect a firefighters level of trust in it.
         However, the creating team did not release too many specific details of the robot yet causing several question to arise, such as:

• How much do these robots cost to make?
• Will these robots become a common thing for every firehouse?
• What is the melting point of these robots or what is the max heat that they can withstand?
• How much do these robots weigh?
• How long would they take to set up on the scene of a fire?

Original Article:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150325082029.htm

The UniMoto

        So throughout our First Year Seminar class, we have came across topics such as the Segway that was created by Dean Kamen along with Open-Sourced inventions such as the 3D printers mentioned in one of my recent posts. I am sure that almost everyone reading this also knows what a Uni-cycle is as well. The thing is that the Segway was not as big of a seller as Dean Kamen thought it would be. However, the Segway was not a complete bust as the technology that was incorporated into it is still being incorporated into new inventions. One relatively new invention that this technology has been incorporated into is called the SoloWheel.
         As I was walking back home after one of my classes, I noticed a kid riding one of these "contraptions?" and  decided to look more into what it actually was when I got back. So to put it in a nutshell, the SoloWheel is a single wheeled Segway without the handles or can be thought of as a motorized, self-balancing Uni-Cycle without a seat or pedals. But sadly this invention runs for around $1800 putting it out of reach for many potential users. In response to this, in Decemeber 2011, the "UniMoto" open source project was started to try to make a cheaper version of the SoloWheel. The goal was to have a finished prototype for its release by March, 2012 that sold for around $800. I have ever only seen that one SoloWheel/UniMoto (do not know which it was) so I am guessing that they were not very popular either, but none-the-less they are still pretty cool little things and would most likely be fun to have.
         I have not found any recent updates about the UniMoto but the original plans consisted of a frame that was made out of Lexan (some sort of plastic maybe?) that compacted the wheel, batteries, and motor together. The plans consisted of having four Lithium-Polymer batteries that would be able to power the UniMoto for about an hour and for speeds up to fifteen miles per hour. The foot stands would also be able to fold up making the UniMoto more portable. I said before, I did not come across anything else about this Open Source "UniMoto" project but there has been several other "Motorized Unicycles" / "Single Wheeled Segways" (whichever you prefer to call them) that have been made since this idea was originally started.

Link to UniMoto Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZhkoLbFjT8

Mechanical Animals...

Robot Dog

     Okay so I am sure that many people reading this have seen the whole news story about this new "canine creation" that Boston Dynamics has created. I am not exactly sure about how I feel about this creation that they decided was necessary to make mainly for the fact that...Who actually wants a robot dog?? I think everyone has seen enough movies to inform us on why this is a bad idea. Most of us are trying to avoid the whole Robot Takeover while Boston Dynamics is trying to make it happen sooner.
      But on a serious note, this little (160 pound) robot dog is pretty impressive. It has the ability to walk and and down inclines along with walking up steps and running around. Boston Dynamics has not given out too many details about how this robot works but I would suppose that there is some sort of camera on its head along with motion sensors and something to determine its balance.

Robot Cheetah

      Apart from the Dog Bot, Boston Dynamics has also decided to make a Cheetah Robot but I do not believe it is fully functional yet. But even if its not fully self functioning yet, the Cheetah Bot tested with a running speed of up to 28.3 mph which is faster than any human could run at all and there is definitely no way that there is any human that could maintain that speed for a duration of time more than 10 seconds at max.
       Boston Dynamics has also produced a robotic creature that they call the Sand Flea. The name Sand Flea does not sound very terrifying but it has the ability to jump vertically for distances around 30 feet in the air. This little robot was also able to jump back off of a building, falling like 30 feet, and continue to work. So again, I am pretty sure that there is no human being that can jump (vertically) 30 feet in the air and there is not many who can jump off of a 30 or so foot building and be unharmed.

Sand Flea

       With all of this being said, I guess Boston Dynamics just has not seen movies like I,Robot and are not aware of the whole Robot Revolution. I am pretty sure that Boston Dynamics is trying to make it happen actually, In the first video below one of the workers is already deciding to kick the robot and tick the thing off. But lets be honest, if these animal robots want to attack us, they are going to be able to. But all of the pictures in this post are credited to Boston Dynamics and the links to videos of these robots can be found below.

Video Links

Robot Dog - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8YjvHYbZ9w
Cheetah Robot - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chPanW0QWhA#t=11
Sand Flea - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b4ZZQkcNEo

Printing in 3-D...

       Throughout my First Year Seminar in Engineering Design I have had the opportunity to tinker with and use 3-D printers. For anyone who doesn't know what a 3-D printer is: A three-dimensional printer is a printer that has the ability to melt material (usually plastic but can be a variety of different materials) and move in such a way that as the melted material is extruded out of the tip it forms a 3-Dimensional object layer by layer until the final product is completed. The design of the product is made into a coded form which is then transferred from the computer to the printer. Most if not all 3-D printers open sourced, which means that they are free-licensed designs that are opened to the general public. I believe my class has been working with a model called the Prusa-Mendel Open Hybrid model of a 3-D printer so that is the printer that I will be giving my opinions about in this post. 

       There is a good chance that most people outside of my class reading this have not had the opportunity to "play" with one of these printers so you will just have to take my word for it. The ones that I have been working with are generally, very simply designed for what they actually do. They mainly consist of a platform, a support structure made of metal and plastic, simple motors, and a tip that heats up to melt the plastic. On the less simple side, they have a motherboard thing (not an electrical engineer so I don't know what the actual name is) that sends the commands to move the motors but I am not 100% sure on how it works so we can just ignore that for now. I like their general design because everything is very open which make it easy to adjust/fix parts if needed. Several of the ones that we are using could definitely work with out as many wires everywhere though. Some of the downfalls of them are that they can be very slow while printing some things and seem to break a lot or at least need to be adjusted often. But according to my professor these models only run around $500 compared to others that can sell for $1000 and up so I believe that compensate for the minor issues that can easily be fixed.

        If I was able to change anything about these printers I would probably try to make a program which would incorporate the entire process of printing in one program, such as creating the codes and changing the arrangement of the object. I also do not know if it is possible or not but maybe if you could create a printer where both the bed and the extruder carriage independently move in both the X and Y directions at the same time and set the extruder to release the material quicker then it might be possible to make a model that can produce a finished product faster. Apart from those ideas, making an over-sized version of one of these printers would lead to a wider variety of things that they can make. The extruder would most likely have to increase proportionally to the overall printer size keep it running at a tolerable speed which would result in less detailed products but still a wider variety of products. I do not know if there is already a design for a printer that incorporates these ideas into it already but I am sure that there is always room for improvements.