U.S. Army Embraces 3D Printers | Singularity Hub
►http://singularityhub.com/2012/10/18/u-s-army-embraces-3d-printers-its-kind-of-a-magical-thing
“It’s allowed us to develop items for the warfighter quicker,” said Rapid Technologies Branch Chief Rick Moore, Edgewood Chemical Biological Center. “We’re able to come up with concepts and designs using our [computer-aided design] software, print them out and have them in an engineer’s hand the next day.”
The lab is an element of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, which has labs and research centers across the country. Army scientists, researchers and engineers reach out to the team as needed.
Three-dimensional objects are created with computer-aided design, or CAD, programs, but Moore and his team also use lasers to “read” an object to create a 3D file. This process allows them to reverse engineer practically anything.