From SiliconValley.com:
Researchers have developed new search engines that can mine catalogs of three-dimensional objects such as airplane parts or architectural features.
For example, Purdue University professor Karthik Ramani created a system that can find computer-designed industrial parts, and Caterpillar Inc. engineer Rick Jeff says of Ramani’s technology: “If you’ve got to design a new elbow for an oil line, more often than not, we have a plethora of elbows”; Jeff says the problem has been that each has to be examined separately — a tedious task “that isn’t even performed that often, because it isn’t feasible or practical… It seems like there’s ever-greater demands for speed in product development, and it’s those kinds of breakthroughs that are needed to keep up. This would really just add to the efficiency.”
Professor Ramani says happily: “I think this is the beginning of the information age.”
