Today's Engineering Newswire looks at hovering over land and sea in the navy’s newest ship-to-shore connector, 3D printing a comfortable dress, and giving a dog the opportunity to run free for the first time.
The Navy’s Newest Hovercraft
Production has started on the navy’s newest hovercraft. Designed to haul vehicles, equipment, and supplies at land and at sea, the ship to shore connectors are slated for completion in 2017.
The new crafts will be able to carry 60 tons of cargo, 14 more than their predecessor, and travel at 35 knots over 2-foot waves. They will also feature more efficient engines, composite materials instead of metal for many parts, and improved communication and computer systems.
3D-Printed Dress
Nervous System’s sleeveless, mid-length dress hangs naturally on the body and flows as if it was made from fabric. After 44 hours of printing at in an industrial 3D-printer, technicians removed the dusty piece of non-toxic nylon plastic and cleaned it up. In all, the dress is contains 2,279 triangular panels interconnected by 3,316 hinges.
Designers can adjust the quantity, size and placement of the triangles through use of a Javascript-based design tool. Algorithms add the hinges to the triangles and compress the design into as small a shape as possible, often reducing the volume by 85%.
Dog Runs for First Time
Also in 3d printing this week, Derby the dog was able to run for the first time thanks to new 3d printed prosthetics.
Data of Derby’s forearms and 3D scan data of a cup design were used to create the 3D design, and a digital sculpting platform was used to make sure the prosthetics fit correctly. 3D systems plans on fitting Derby with progressively longer legs until he reaches his optimal height. The work is ongoing but the team is already about to 3D print the 4th version of the prosthetics.
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