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Make Your Own Invisibility Cloak With a 3D Printer

Posted by samzenpus on from the now-you-see-it-now-you-don't dept.

cylonlover writes "Invisibility cloaks have been around in various forms since 2006, when the first cloak based on optical metamaterials was demonstrated. The design of cloaking devices has come a long way in the past seven years, as illustrated by a simple, yet highly effective, radar cloak developed by Duke University Professor Yaroslav Urzhumov, that can be made using a hobby-level 3D printer."

52 of 80 comments (clear)

  1. Meeting this professor by Lord+Lode · · Score: 1

    I'd love to meet this professor, and be like "what? did I hear something? who is there! I don't see anyone!"

    1. Re:Meeting this professor by NonUniqueNickname · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You will see him hiding behind a big off-white disc with holes in it. Call me a nitpicker, but to me "invisible" is the opposite of "visible", which is the defining characteristic of what we call visible light. Being being undetectable to 10GHz frequencies, while impressive in its own light (haha), is most certainly not invisibility.

    2. Re:Meeting this professor by gstoddart · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well, it's invisible to that spectrum. And if you're invisible to radar, it is a limited form of 'invisible'.

      Besides, inradarible sounds stupid. :-P

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    3. Re:Meeting this professor by MozeeToby · · Score: 2

      simple, yet highly effective, radar cloak

      I know they used the word 'invisibility' which implies visual, but they do identify it as being invisible to radar.

    4. Re:Meeting this professor by NonUniqueNickname · · Score: 1

      You make a good point. I can accept that it's "invisible" in the same sense that a radar "sees". It's still not a cloak!

    5. Re:Meeting this professor by interval1066 · · Score: 2

      Given that the visibility you're talking about is less than 10% of the entire spectrum, I'd disagree and say that invisibility to any particular part of the spectrum, especially the parts used for detection of any kind is pretty damned impressive.

      --
      Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
    6. Re:Meeting this professor by dcherryholmes · · Score: 1

      IIRC ever since Champions 4th edition you could buy your invisibility to specific sense groups, and vision was further subdivided into normal, IR/UV, and radar/radio. So *clearly* this counts as Invisibility, since it costs points.

    7. Re:Meeting this professor by VortexCortex · · Score: 1

      Call me a nitpicker, but to me "invisible" is the opposite of "visible", which is the defining characteristic of what we call visible light. Being being undetectable to 10GHz frequencies, while impressive in its own light (haha), is most certainly not invisibility.

      I DON'T see what you did there! "Being partially invisible by being undetectable..."
      Haha, Good One!

      You're right, full EM spectrum cloaking is out of our grasp at present, and the fact that you can print a sub-light frequency invisibility cloak with a hobby grade 3D printer pales in comparison to making multiple words disappear at broadband speeds with a high tech computing device. My hat's off to you good sir!

      I wonder other are in there?
      I , but can't tell am doing right.

    8. Re:Meeting this professor by Synerg1y · · Score: 1

      b-2 pilots approve.

    9. Re:Meeting this professor by nschubach · · Score: 1

      Suddenly, large off-white disc shaped vehicles will be sought after for speed enthusiasts!

      --
      Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
    10. Re:Meeting this professor by BitZtream · · Score: 1

      Less than 10% of infinity?

      The electromagnetic spectrum doesn't exactly have an upper bounds (unless you count theoretical limits that are extremely likely to be disproven.

      --
      Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
    11. Re:Meeting this professor by interval1066 · · Score: 1

      Less than 10% of infinity?

      Of course some one just HAS to bring in the theoretical limits of the subject and muddy my point. I'm an engineer, I deal in practicality. Don't you have something better to do?

      --
      Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
  2. Doesn't abscense imply presence? by RogueWarrior65 · · Score: 1

    Wouldn't this be similar to black holes in that although you can't see them, behavior of stars around them and energy emanating from them suggest that they are there?

    1. Re:Doesn't abscense imply presence? by slashmydots · · Score: 3, Informative

      Radar is very 1 dimensional. A radio wave, imagined as a vector or ray, bounces off the material and then back at the receiving dish. If it doesn't, nothing is there as far as they can tell. However, if you broadcast on one side of the material and then received on the opposite side with a grid of multiple receivers, that might give away that something is there.

      Though I think with this cloak, you wouldn't know specifically where it is. Radio waves warping around it would be received but not in the correct location unless you projected a grid of frequencies directly at it and then watched what geometric pattern they were received in then reversed it. You wouldn't know the object's exact location otherwise. Any cloak that simply makes the radar waves disappear though would show up easily. I believe this one does wrap the waves around though, instead of just absorbing them, just they wouldn't arrive quite correctly aligned on the other side the way they would if there was no object there so like I said, a grid would tell you the radar waves are being bent by something.

    2. Re:Doesn't abscense imply presence? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Read up on how they work ;-)

      In short, no, they're not like blackholes.

      The principle behind them is that emmissons heading into the cloak are routed around the object and then leave, and here's the clever bit, in a direction and intensity equal to what would happen if the invisible object wasn't there.

      A drawback of this is, if you were building your cloak on the observable spectrum, if your inside the cloak you can't see anything outside of it (as all the incoming light gets diverted around you)! Admittedly it's only a draw back if looking around you is important, there's good reasons not to care and cool applications e.g. building a sea platform that is invisible to incoming waves (google it, my brain hurts from remembering so much already)

    3. Re:Doesn't abscense imply presence? by cheesybagel · · Score: 1

      Modern AESA radars do not have single transmit-receive elements but are arrays of many elements. Modern fleets and air combat wings also usually share the radar data via datalinks so they have information of more than one radar available.

  3. Apparently it works by Errol+backfiring · · Score: 1

    I read about it a week ago, but I think nobody could see it back then...

    --
    Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
  4. It isn't a cloak. by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

    It isn't a cloak, it's a frisbee with some badly made holes in it.

    1. Re:It isn't a cloak. by Arker · · Score: 1

      Well, to be fair, it is a cloaking device. Much larger than the device it would cloak, and it only cloaks from microwaves, which are not the most common electromagnetic waves you would want to cloak yourself from. The size issues, and covering the rest of the spectrum (including radar and visible light) is supposedly a matter of engineering now. Time will tell.

      --
      =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
      Friends don't let friends enable ecmascript.
  5. endless possibilities by iggymanz · · Score: 3, Funny

    "ahhhhh, 3D printers, is there anything they can't do"

    "certainly Homer, they can't make doughnuts"

    !!!!

    ".....stupid 3D printers......."

    1. Re:endless possibilities by freeze128 · · Score: 1

      This link proves you wrong!

      http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:25897

    2. Re:endless possibilities by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      no, too much air between the strings of dough will make a kind of fritter rather than a donut upon frying.

      plunger driven doughnut maker or doughnut dough cutter is the way to go

  6. I followed the instructions... by Skiron · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...but now I can't find my 3D printer

    1. Re:I followed the instructions... by Morose1 · · Score: 1

      Daredevil... is that you?

  7. But how... by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

    ...do I print out the Marauder's Map?

    1. Re:But how... by gstoddart · · Score: 1

      You probably won't learn those spells until at least your 4th year at Hogwart's, and you might need to find some people who are pretty skilled at magic and mischief (and maybe even turning themselves into an animagus). ;-)

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    2. Re:But how... by Errol+backfiring · · Score: 1

      Repeat after me: "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good". Gee, read the manual!

      --
      Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
  8. Great! by Dcnjoe60 · · Score: 1

    Great! Now I can make my new 3D gun invisible

  9. Holster by PPH · · Score: 1

    Can I make a holster out of this and carry my Glock through the scanners at the airport? No need to print a stupid plastic gun.

    I'm just asking this to get crazy California legislators' panties in a bunch.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
    1. Re:Holster by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

      I'm guessing it's possible if you can tune it to the frequencies used by the scanners and make it spherical to hide the gun inside.

      --
      Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
    2. Re:Holster by PPH · · Score: 1

      The simpler method is just to have a fake fat belly,

      Nothing fake about it.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  10. Move along by fustakrakich · · Score: 5, Funny

    Nothing to see here

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  11. Re:Ready made missile cloak? by egcagrac0 · · Score: 1

    Let's make it personally relevant.

    Inform me when they've got one I attach to a Ducati, to make it invisible to radar.

  12. Oh No.... What DHS gonna do now? by 3seas · · Score: 1

    Between the printable weaponry and this printable cloak..... Maybe those who create enemies need to stop doing that.
    Hmmm, now I wonder if mods will cloak me...

    1. Re:Oh No.... What DHS gonna do now? by egcagrac0 · · Score: 1

      I wonder if mods will cloak me...

      Who said that?

    2. Re:Oh No.... What DHS gonna do now? by Dept.+Homeland+Sec. · · Score: 2

      As soon as I print a new cloak, I am coming after you! (Obama took my other one.)

      --
      If you see something; SAY something.
  13. Re:This is a hunk of plastic... by Lord+Lode · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think it can be integrated in flying cars, to have invisible 3D-printed flying cars.

  14. I wonder if we can make an invisible gun... by Alejux · · Score: 1

    Want to take my guns?! You'll have to find them!!!

  15. Regulate 3D Printing Now! by misexistentialist · · Score: 2

    Before the terrorists and pedophiles use it to hide their crimes.

  16. it's for radar only by Jacek+Poplawski · · Score: 2

    You can see him through the holes. It works for radar not for human eyes.

  17. Re:This is a hunk of plastic... by Reeses · · Score: 1

    It can also be integrated into unmanned drones, to have radar-invisible unmanned drones. Convenient for popping over a border real quick and taking a look around without alerting local air forces.

    --
    Reeses
  18. Re:Hobbit-level? by VortexCortex · · Score: 1

    For a moment I read "can be made using a hobbit-level 3D printer".

    Well, hobbit bodies have a different refractive index than the pex material used here, It might get a bit gruesome, but you can use the same basic principal in TFA with hobbits.

    Off to craft a new one-ring, I take it?

  19. Not Verifiable by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

    So, ua, I looked for the download to verify the claim; nothing. I guess someone at Duke is, self medicating?

  20. Re:Defense implications by lister+king+of+smeg · · Score: 1

    or more practical cars that are invisible to police radar speed guns. speed with impunity.

    --
    ---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.
  21. OMG!!! by Cosgrach · · Score: 1

    First undetectable plastic guns printed on a 3D printer.

    Now we can have undetectable assassins as well.

    Ninjas are now obsolete.

    There ought to be a law against this sort of thing. Won't someone PLEASE think of the Children?!?!?

    --
    Why is it that most of the people that I encounter seem to have been shat from the Sphincter of Mediocrity?
  22. picture by ZiggyStardust1984 · · Score: 1

    picture or it didn't happen

  23. ok by doti · · Score: 1

    as long as the car keys are not invisible too.

    --
    factor 966971: 966971
  24. Re:Ready made missile cloak? by supervillainsf · · Score: 2

    Why would you need to be invisible to radar to hang out in front of Starbucks?

  25. Re:This is a hunk of plastic... by rjstanford · · Score: 1

    I think it can be integrated in flying cars, to have invisible 3D-printed flying cars.

    I believe that this is already the case. Leastwise, I've never seen one... have you?

    --
    You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
  26. Don't anybody tell Leland Yee about this by roman_mir · · Score: 1

    Be careful not to tell Californian senator Leland Yee, he is already throwing a fit about 3D printed guns, if you tell him that an INVISIBILITY CLOAK can be printed with a 3D printer, then that's it, the guy will have a freaking heart attack while pushing for a bill that would declare 3D printers military grade technology that must be strictly prohibited for civilian use.

    I can imagine him talking about it: they will have 3D printed guns and they will put on their 3D printed invisibility cloaks and then they'll take over Washington without us even noticing!

    --
    You can't handle the truth.
  27. Re:This is a hunk of plastic... by Sulphur · · Score: 1

    Is ANYONE in a rush to make their consumer products invisible?

    How about a stealthy invisabra for my car.

  28. Not enough detail by JeanCroix · · Score: 1

    A 1/5 energy reduction is the equivalent of -7dBsm, hardly what would be considered invisible in the radar world. And whatever you're trying to hide has to fit entirely within the cylinder, whose size is almost certainly dictated by frequency - the larger you make it, the lower the narrow frequency it hides from. Aside from that, there's no information given on co- or cross-polarization measurements. And only one look angle was measured - i.e., it only works from edge-on. Tilt the disk a little and there goes your reduction.