New Real Life Laser-Rifle Cuts Through Metal Like a Blowtorch 143
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."
handheld rifle (Score:2, Informative)
Re: of course it isn't mobile (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Safety at Work (Score:4, 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.
That's an interesting definition of "rifle". (Score:5, Informative)
Re:And what is the advantage over a plasma cutter? (Score:4, Informative)
Sharks don't use plasma cutters.
Just say'in.