• Question: What is in your opinion the best achievement in engineering in the last 5 years?

    Asked by zanzielover to Amanda, Ben, Dan, Gary, Samer on 24 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Ben Drumm

      Ben Drumm answered on 24 Jun 2013:

      Crikey…

      In terms of Mechanical Engineering ‘additive manufacture’ (aka rapid prototyping, 3D printing – google it!) has come on a long way in the last 5 years (although the technique was invented some time before that). It’s a process by which detailed and intricate shapes are made by placing down layers of powdered plastic/metal and heating them to produce a solid shape which kind of ‘grows’ out of the machine.

      The processes need further refinement, but the technology has the potential to change the way we manufacture things forever!

    • Photo: Gary Boorman

      Gary Boorman answered on 24 Jun 2013:

      I think the International Space Station (ISS) is one of the best (it’s a little bit older than five years). It involves many different countries co-operating and sharing expertise, something that is not easy in engineering.

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