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Engineers Design a Bulletproof Origami Shield to Protect Law Enforcement

posted by Fnord666 on Saturday February 18 2017, @12:47AM   Printer-friendly
from the not-made-of-paper dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

BYU engineering professors have created an origami-inspired, lightweight bulletproof shield that can protect law enforcement from gunfire.

The new barrier can be folded compactly when not in use, making it easier to transport and deploy. When expanded—which takes only five seconds—it can provide cover for officers and stop bullets from several types of handguns.
...
In working with law enforcement, BYU researchers learned much of what is currently used hasn't evolved much from medieval times: shields that are mostly flat, awkward plates that cover only one person. Current barriers are so heavy and cumbersome they make it difficult for officers to move into position.

The barrier Howell and his colleagues designed is made of 12 layers of bulletproof Kevlar and weighs only 55 pounds (many of the steel-based barriers in current use approach 100 pounds). The BYU-built barrier uses a Yoshimura origami crease pattern to expand around an officer, providing protection on the side in addition to protecting them in the front.

Aren't police using exploding robots in that kind of situation now?

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 18 2017, @09:27AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 18 2017, @09:27AM (#468540)

    Same AC here, my mistake. Of course, in any rifle or musket of less than .70 caliber, one should use triple F powder fro the main charge, whether in a percussion or a flint/wheel/match-lock weapon. I truly regret the error. (But in my defense, with a longer barrel and more complete combustion rates, sometimes the courser blackpowder does produce higher velocities for a given projectile weight, thereby producing more force at a given range. Those little paper cranes on you chest do not stand a chance! You coward! Why are you afraid of guns! Here, let me show you! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTGmTrQXrwg [youtube.com] Of course, there is the apology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEuBXWujeYQ [youtube.com] He respects the gun now, because the gun is smarter than he is, and he is a graduate of the James (Coward) Yeager (Mercenary) school of "I just fucking shot myself." My god, nothing is so stupid as a stupid with a gun.