New Real Life Laser-Rifle Cuts Through Metal Like a Blowtorch

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New Real Life Laser-Rifle Cuts Through Metal Like a Blowtorch

Posted by samzenpus on Sunday September 29, 2013 @04:47AM from the like-a-hot-knife-through-butter dept.

dryriver writes "We've seen real laser guns before pulling off tricks like starting small fires, or popping black balloons. That's cool, sure, but it's got nothing—on this handheld laser rifle. Developed by TWI this laser-cutter was initially designed for use by robots, but a few recent tweaks including a pistol-grip and a trigger made it into a human-sized rifle. It is designed specifically with nuclear decommission in mind, specifically chopping up huge pieces of metal infrastructure into bite-sized bits that are easily disposed of. And while it's definitely suited for that, it has some short-comings compared typical rifles. That range is pretty low, for instance, and it's not exactly mobile."

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of course it isn't mobile by peragrin · 2013-09-29 04:53 · Score: 5, Insightful

WE don't have high energy portable power sources.
We really need to figure out an iron many style reactor to power the next generation of cool toys that we can dream but not really use.

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1. Re:of course it isn't mobile by TeknoHog · 2013-09-29 05:05 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  WE don't have high energy portable power sources.
  We really need to figure out an iron many style reactor to power the next generation of cool toys that we can dream but not really use.
  Also, it should be able to operate in frickin' saltwater. In fact, the frickin' buoyancy might even help with the frickin' portability.
  
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  Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
2. Re: of course it isn't mobile by pollarda · 2013-09-29 05:16 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  This isn't very impressive. If it isn't mobile, then it is like any other cutting solution. Of course, if you want to see something really impressive for cutting metals, Petrogen is the way to go. It is an oxy-gasoline cutting torch and can cut up to 14 inches of steel at once. Be sure to check out their videos. Super impressive.
3. Re:of course it isn't mobile by Beardo+the+Bearded · 2013-09-29 05:16 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Jarvis and the reactor were the two most under-rated bits of tech Tony put together.
  The reactor would have ended war.
  But Jarvis... a real AI? That's far beyond anything else we've ever built.
  
  --
  
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  ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
4. Re:of course it isn't mobile by Subm · 2013-09-29 05:18 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  "You're going to need a bigger shark."
5. Re: of course it isn't mobile by KiloByte · 2013-09-29 05:32 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  This isn't very impressive.
  What I find more impressive is that they somehow made a laser rifle. I wonder what does it do: shoot a helical beam like those in some games?
  
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6. Re: of course it isn't mobile by Ferzerp · 2013-09-29 05:45 · Score: 2
  
  It emits a circularly polarized beam of light of course!
7. Re: of course it isn't mobile by pollarda · 2013-09-29 05:53 · Score: 2
  
  Perhaps it is for use by Duke Nukem....
8. Re: of course it isn't mobile by blincoln · 2013-09-29 06:24 · Score: 2
  
  What would you suggest calling it instead of a "laser rifle"? A "laser musket"? "Smoothbore laser long-gun"?
  
  --
  "...always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday." -Richard Feynman
9. Re: of course it isn't mobile by EdZ · 2013-09-29 06:47 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  With the scattering from the air blast, I propose "laser boomstick".
10. Re: of course it isn't mobile by fustakrakich · 2013-09-29 07:14 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I didn't see any light...
  I would advise not to look at it with the other eye then.
  
  --
  “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
11. Re:of course it isn't mobile by godrik · 2013-09-29 08:46 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Actually, how much power does it need to operate? There must be some energy cost per time unit. But I could not figure it out.
12. Re:of course it isn't mobile by Kelbear · 2013-09-30 02:21 · Score: 2
  
  I wonder how laser weapons would change the nature of smallarms combat. I've heard that most of the shots are fired to suppress the enemy so that you can maneuver. With a silent and invisible laser beam, the missed shots might not put the same fear of death into the enemy as the crack and zip of a bullet that almost took your life. If a squad can't intimidate the enemy into not shooting and getting back down into cover, wouldn't they just end up pinned down?
  I guess people have already talked death about all the limitations a laser rifle would have... so what is the long term vision for how a laser weapon would provide a benefit in small arms combat? Could it fire more accurately at longer ranges and still carry enough killing power? Or perhaps the lack of recoil would help it kill enemies more effectively while other bullet-based weapons provide covering fire?
13. Re:of course it isn't mobile by sumdumass · 2013-09-30 03:37 · Score: 2
  
  Lasers have traditionally been left out of battle as an arm because the way they melt to kill instead of killing. Imagine an enemy who first goes blind then has his skin melt off while his blood starts boiling and if he is lucky, finally death. Now with something like this, that migt happen quicker than it would take for a bullet to kill but that might have been spread over 5, 10 minutes or more
  But i think if it would be used that it still wouldn't be a killing device as much as a tool to destroy whatever the cover the enemy was hiding behind. Imagine an ambush, you are pinned down with the enemy well protected and you can cut that protection away making them retreat or being exposed. If they die in the process, well war is hell i guess.
  The damn spellcheck on this phone doesn't work in the sladhdot box
handheld rifle by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-29 04:59 · Score: 2, Informative

...but truck-sized power supply. Just in case the Space Patrol thinks this is Star Trek. Plus, the atmosphere is a great shield; a 1$ bullet has more lethal range...
1. Re:handheld rifle by binarylarry · 2013-09-29 05:13 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Yep, this article should have been titled "New Real Life Laser-Cutter Cuts Through Metal Like a Laser-Cutter"
  
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  Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
Pulse Rifle by Dexter+Herbivore · 2013-09-29 05:02 · Score: 4, Funny

"Phased-plasma pulse rifle in 40-watt range".
If only...
Safety at Work by CaptainOfSpray · 2013-09-29 05:02 · Score: 5, Insightful

"designed specifically with nuclear decommission in mind, specifically chopping up huge pieces of metal infrastructure into bite-sized bits", which it vaporizes and then throws all over the operator (photo in TFA).

Note to self: do not apply for that kind of work, no matter what the rate.

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1. Re:Safety at Work by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · 2013-09-29 05:19 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  I'm a trifle surprised that they'd be using some fancy laser apparatus in this situation:
  
  There are aspects of nuclear decommissioning (if memory serves, some lucky sucker got to deal with the 'eh, we don't know what this is, so we'll just weld it into barrels and leave it for the future' supply stored at Hanford, much of which was virulently radioactive, some, which one is always a surprise, also chemically unpleasant and/or explosive) where you can't get away with the heat, open flames, and vaporized-bits-getting everywhere that you see with lasers, various cutting torches, or high powered saws. For that sort of thing, you have somewhat exotic toys like liquid nitrogen cutting jets. If you are allowed to expose the sample to ridiculous temperatures and open flames, though, why expensive lasers rather than boring (and mature and relatively cheap) cutting torches or thermic lances?
2. Re:Safety at Work by girlintraining · 2013-09-29 06:13 · Score: 2
  
  If you are allowed to expose the sample to ridiculous temperatures and open flames, though, why expensive lasers rather than boring (and mature and relatively cheap) cutting torches or thermic lances?
  Possibly because focused light energy can't become radioactive with prolonged contact with radioactive substances, whereas everything else you mentioned... does. Everything you use to handle nuclear waste materials with, itself eventually becomes nuclear waste material. I'm sure slashdot of all places will recognize a recursion problem when it sees one. Even putting a few feet between the torch and the material extends its service life before it has to be thrown in with the other waste... root square law and all that.
  
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3. Re:Safety at Work by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-29 06:19 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Neither does a flame... Why are your posts always so wrong? Eagerly wrong too.
4. Re:Safety at Work by flimflammer · 2013-09-29 07:22 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  The robotic version was made for nuclear decommission. There is no operator in the vicinity in that situation. The video here is just demonstrating the same laser beam technology with a mounted pistol grip for manual use.
I don't need metal-cutting by overshoot · 2013-09-29 05:06 · Score: 2

I do need (semi) portability, as long as it's good for line-of-sight use on pigeons.

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more torch then rifle by Anonymous Coward · 2013-09-29 05:06 · Score: 5, Insightful

I find it hard to call this a "laser rifle." Aside fromt he fact that rifles are rifles because of the rifling in the barrel (grooves which cause the bullet to spin), Rifles have a medium to long range. This appears to have only a slightly greater effective range then my Oxy-Fuel torch (which is to say, less then a foot).
1. Re:more torch then rifle by wjh31 · 2013-09-29 05:48 · Score: 2
  
  If the light was circularly polarized, would that cover rifling for you?
Finally! by Arkiel · 2013-09-29 05:19 · Score: 2

A solution to deal with all those Sectoids infesting rural plots in middle America!
And what is the advantage over a plasma cutter? by Ellis+D.+Tripp · 2013-09-29 05:47 · Score: 4, Insightful

The only one I can see is that it works from a couple inches away, and doesn't need an electrical ground return connection to the workpiece.
Other than that, a plasma cutter is cheaper, less hazardous, and can cut thicker materials.

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1. Re:And what is the advantage over a plasma cutter? by ColdWetDog · 2013-09-29 08:01 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Sharks don't use plasma cutters.
  Just say'in.
  
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  Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Cool! by fustakrakich · 2013-09-29 05:48 · Score: 2

When can I print one?

--
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
"End war"? by sjbe · 2013-09-29 06:25 · Score: 4, Insightful

The reactor would have ended war.
Nonsense. People simply aren't that evolved. If we aren't fighting about energy we'll fight about something even more absurd like skin color or which imaginary invisible man in the sky we should all believe in.
1. Re:"End war"? by fustakrakich · 2013-09-29 07:10 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Wanna start a real fight? Tell her that dress makes her butt look big. That will surely start WWIII.
  
  --
  “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
2. Re:"End war"? by LunaticTippy · 2013-09-29 12:01 · Score: 2
  
  Humans have been faced with life threatening scarcity for all of history up to present day. I don't think anyone knows what will happen when literally everyone can trivially have plenty of food, clean water, and energy very cheaply. If and when it happens, there is no doubt that it will change many things.
  
  --
  Man, you really need that seminar!
3. Re:"End war"? by Kilo+Kilo · 2013-09-29 23:34 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I think you meant to say "I like big butts and I cannot lie."
Re:Fascinating... by Kiraxa · 2013-09-29 06:54 · Score: 2

Looks like it uses a gas stream as a laser waveguide... Perhaps a noble gas, like Argon. That would account why there appears to be a force upon the melted debris.
if you listen to the narrator he says exactly what the "gas stream" is. Air. Its just blowing air out to move the slag out of the way.

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That's an interesting definition of "rifle". by mpoulton · 2013-09-29 07:57 · Score: 4, Informative

Apparently I already have a plasma rifle in my garage! It shoots plasma and cuts metal with it - and just like this laser rifle, it requires compressed air and a remote power supply connected by an umbilical. I also have a MOLTEN METAL WELDING RIFLE! Similarly, it requires a power supply and umbilical assembly. Strangely, none of my actual rifles need cables or power supplies attached to them in order to operate.

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I am a geek attorney, but not your geek attorney unless you've already retained me. This is not legal advice.
Hand aimed by giorgist · 2013-09-29 09:50 · Score: 2

Hand aimed would be more accurate. The harness is bit of a giveaway. I wonder what that piping attaches to. Nice toy though