http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/ Engadget Comments for Skunk Works' Polecat printable robotic plane http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/Jul 23rd 2006 9:26AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/Jul 23rd 2006 9:26AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/Jul 23rd 2006 9:29AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/Jul 23rd 2006 9:31AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/Jul 23rd 2006 9:32AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/
"The Skynet Funding Bill is passed. The system goes on-line July 23rd, 2006. Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, July 23rd. In a panic, they try to pull the plug."]]>Jul 23rd 2006 9:46AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/
I was at the airshow at oshgosh and at the nasa area they had 2 small laser printers. They put in a dust like plastic/wood and then a laser hist areas where it they want more dust to be applyed and microsopic layres are created. They had interlocked gears (Should have brought a camera) that couldn't be taken apart but could turn, they were made together. Overall very cool stuff. I think its 100% the only method that will be used once it works with metal. You can create a solid hollow box, and other basicly ipossible things.]]>Jul 23rd 2006 10:38AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/
'In rapid prototyping, a three-dimensional design for a part - a wing strut, say - is fed from a computer-aided design (CAD) system to a microwave-oven-sized chamber dubbed a 3D printer. Inside the chamber, a computer steers two finely focussed, powerful laser beams at a polymer or metal powder, sintering it and fusing it layer by layer to form complex, solid 3D shapes.']]>Jul 23rd 2006 10:41AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/Jul 23rd 2006 11:15AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/Jul 23rd 2006 12:03PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/Jul 23rd 2006 12:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/Jul 23rd 2006 1:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/Jul 23rd 2006 2:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/Jul 23rd 2006 2:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/Jul 23rd 2006 3:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/
1. The whole idea is to create CHEAP UAVs. I quote:
"It was designed in part to test cheaper manufacturing technologies.
...
But speed and stealth performance are not everything: cost matters too. And since UAVs tend to crash more often than piloted planes, the race is on among UAV makers to make them cheaper. The Skunk Works thinks a technique called 3D rapid prototyping, or 3D printing, is the best way to lower costs."

2. The materials are not your average RP stuff.
"Now the strength of parts printed this way has improved so much that they can be used as working components. I quote:

About 90 per cent of Polecat is made of composite materials with much of that material made by rapid prototyping."

3. This is for limited numbers of UAV squads that are DISPOSABLE so you really don't mind that they won't last 20 years. I quote:

"The classic way is to set up a production line with very heavy-duty fixed metal tools that hold everything in the right place." That is too expensive an approach for the low production runs that reconnaissance UAVs are likely to need, he says."




Remember kids: read the article before smashing your head against the "add your comments" button]]>Jul 23rd 2006 3:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUIipa3AgNg]]>Jul 23rd 2006 9:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/Jul 23rd 2006 9:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/Jul 24th 2006 9:29AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/
Stabilized hyperspectral cameras and phased array radars with ATR processors are not getting cheaper at the same rate.]]>Jul 24th 2006 9:30AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/Jul 24th 2006 10:51AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/23/skunk-works-polecat-printable-robotic-plane/
Think of it, a wing of B-2's could wipe out hundreds of targets in a single strike!]]>Jul 24th 2006 4:42PM