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Foam-Spraying Quadcopter Becomes a Flying 3D Printer

Posted by Soulskill on from the because-we-definitely-need-one-of-those dept.

Zothecula writes "The swiftlet may not look much different than other little birds, but it has one unique ability – it builds its nest out of its own saliva. Inspired by the swiftlet, scientists at Imperial College London's Aerial Robotics Lab have created a robotic quadcopter that can extrude polyurethane foam while in flight. By targeting where that foam goes, it can build up simple structures, essentially becoming a flying 3D printer."

1 of 34 comments (clear)

  1. 3D Printing? by ByTor-2112 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Why do we continue to call all of this shit "3D Printing"? Why not fabrication? And squirting foam from a drone is a long way from a "printer".

    If it doesn't put ink on a piece of paper, it's NOT a printer.