Autoblog

Linux is pretty good at harnessing processor speed, and Chastain Motorsports is hoping to snare some of that effect to propel their Panoz/Honda to victory. The distinctive Penguin logo, "Tux," has been affixed to the nose of the 200+ MPH car in anticipation of meeting a donation goal. The famously open-source OS is applying that philosophy to sponsorship. The Tux 500 is an effort to raise $350,000 in exchange for those high-speed chilled fowl on the race car. There are perks for large donation amounts, but there is no shame in collecting lots of $1 gifts, either. It is an interesting concept, and we will be looking for the distinctive blue car when the checkered flag drops at the Indy 500. As long as the effort secures $25,000, the decals will stay on the car. Currently, donations total $7,600, and the organizers are confident that they'll at least make it to that $25K figure.

[Source: Wired]

We need one of these for when we finally get that Autoblog project car. It's called Fab@Home, and it's an open-source, desktop size fabrication rig; essentially a 3-dimesional printer. What the system allows you to do is fabricate complex parts with a simple, low cost rig. All you need are the materials and the geometric information, and you're on your way to making that fancy AutoBlog belt buckle.

The practice of building up a part drip-by-drip is known in the industry as rapid prototyping. It allows one group of people to essentially send a part as an email. You could be working on a doorhandle in Detroit and email it to your OEM in China, where they "print" the design and evaluate it. Pretty slick. The Fab@Home project is an undertaking of Cornell University, with the goal of democratizing innovation. Just as the desktop computer revolution was driven by innovation from all quarters, the Fab@Home system is a low-cost system that should be easily customized as it gets used for different materials and functions. We'd love to see it retrofitted with a milling head. Imagine CNC machining your own combustion chambers in your garage, driven by your laptop. Sounds like that'd finally be a real use for that Dremel...

[Source: Fab@Home.org via autoexpress]