The word ‘nuclear’ has been a buzzword for far longer than ‘3D printing’ or ‘drones.’ But what about putting all three words together? Do we get a buzz catchphrase that could top any trending chart? Or do we get a genuine potential for solving one very pressing problem — what to do when nuclear power goes wrong and how to clear up the deadly mess nuclear power creates? The sound of buzzing drones with 3D printing capabilities may be heard around the nuclear sites of the future. And the first steps to bring this to fruition have already been taken.
As I write this, Mike’s article about 3D printing being used by Sellafield Ltd., at the United Kingdom’s famed nuclear power site, which is now undergoing an extremely costly decommission will be winging its way to your eyes and impressing upon the reader that 3D printing and nuclear power are already intertwined in existing applications. But 3D printing is, as the reader will know, a set of technologies that are extremely flexible in terms of applications. So how about flying 3D printers that can boldly go where no person safely can?
A team at the Imperial College London has developed the “3D printing Micro Aerial Vehicle” The 3DP MAV is a quadcopter (a drone with four rotors) that carries two chemicals that mix to create polyurethane foam, a substance which is extremely sticky. This allows for a very basic form of deposition thatstretches the definition of 3D printing somewhat. However, this method of ‘printing’ is very much just a forerunner of the 3DP MAV’s of the near future. In the video below you can garnerhow teams of drones can work together to remove hazardous objects from dangerous locations.
The robots are said to be inspired by swiftlets, birds that construct nests using their saliva. A hexacopter (a drone with six rotors) then takes the quadcopter’s place by landing on the hazardous object that the former deposited sticky polyurethane upon, waiting for the foam to set, then lifting the object away. According to the New Scientist, the quadcopter acts almost entirely autonomously and is guided by GPS.
Dr Mirko Kovac of the Department of Aeronautics at Imperial College said: “Swiftlets are like beautiful flying factories that can navigate often treacherous, dark environments to find a suitable place to build nests. Amazingly, they carry inside of them all the materials they need to build their own home. We have taken these traits and adapted them in robotics. Robots that mimic these birds could have enormous benefits, helping humans in construction and in hazardous situations.”
The hexacopter can carry 2.5 kilograms, but the team behind it suggest that scaled-up versions would be able to load-bare up to 40 kilograms. Today, the 3D printed MAV runs on a regular battery, but in the future Dr Kovac perceives a fuel cell that would allow the flying 3D printing robots to recharge by resting on a treetop and deploying solar panels. The team has also developed iterations that carry modded Kinect cameras to survey their environment, orientate and calculate optimal landing sites. Other potential applications include repairing damaged roofs and building bridges.
Thomas Creedy, an ecologist at the Natural History Museum in London who is working with Dr Kovac said that the ultimate aim is “extending the scope of scientific survey robots in challenging environments such as rainforests through the adaptable construction of recharging platforms or monitoring stations.”
Dr Kovac showed off the drones at the Imperial Festival in London on the 9th and 10th of May.
