The 3d printed part is near the end @ 03:28. If you’ve got a keen eye, you can pick it up in some of the earlier footage but they actually show a print shop at 03:28.
Oops, either you can’t post a link and a photo at once or I just screwed it up… the latter being more likely. Here’s the link to the Reuters report : www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1rQoNw9WZ4
Supposedly an extra helping hand (foot) for sappers so if they step on a mine that it’s not directly below their body… potentially reducing core/critical damage and lethality.
I’m not a scientist, but stepping on a mine sounds pretty bad whether it’s directly under your torso or 20cm in front of it. But, if it helps I support it. I’d be curious to see some future controlled tests on blast angles to see if this truly helps.
It also seems to have the benefit of displacing the pressure onto 4 points. Some mines are designed to be activated upon the weight of a man stepping on them. So if half that weight is a few inches away from the mine you might not trigger it.
From the study on the boots, they were way better at lowering the odds of needing an amputation after stepping on a mine than the alternatives. Even when tested against the larger mines (249g of explosive)
Check out figure 4 in the study. The competing alternatives were tested against 25g of explosive (first data point) and the measured acceleration on the test leg was 4000 -11,000 g’s. The spider boots tests registered about 700 g’s or less.
An alternate source to read the whole study on the spider boots:
The anti-personnel mines used in this study included the VS50 (43g RDX/TNT) and the PMA2 (100g TNT). For the Spider Boot, in all cases of detonation of the landmine under one of the pods, the limb was found to be salvageable (no amputation). In contrast, tests with conventional blast boots against the VS50 mine resulted in MTS scores requiring amputation, and contamination was observed. With the PMA2 mine (100g TNT), the foot was totally destroyed, resulting in a required amputation and severe contamination.
This could easily be the difference between your lower leg being blown one direction with you going another, and being blown away from a mine and sustaining injuries but remaining in one piece.
This at least shows the idea behind the design and the article it comes from has some test data. While somebody who ends up needing to use those blast protection features in a real-world environment will probably not be out dancing later that night, maybe they can keep a limb that would otherwise be lost.
Add comment