I hope SSG Winkowski and his cohorts get into Engineering in some fashion. Necessity may be the mother of invention, but it takes smart people to bring it to fruition. Good job to all involved!
Army basic training stress following order. They tell you exactly when to wake, eat, sleep. You have no autonomy. That is necessary for soldiers to keep marching in face of danger. If you are told to carry this ammo box 20 miles you do it. You don't ask isn't there a better way.
Film and art industry stress creativity above all else. Problem solving requires creativity. Interesting film industry came up with the idea first. Interesting parallel is the quality of workforce between US and China. Oversea workforce are rigid and follow order. Understandable in a totalitarian regime. We stress creativity and innovation. Out students are allowed to question the teacher.
As technology advance, and we are facing a constantly changing enemy, Army may have to change their approach from a rigid top down to more lean manufacturing like. Each soldier have to come up with innovative ways to solve problems on their own.
Good example is Katrina. Coast Guard was the one branch that did well in the disaster. They were taught to make decision on their own instead of depend on a rigid command structure.
I was impressed by the speed as well. Sometimes, when you're closer to the problem, an entrepreneurial approach takes over.
The fact that one of their own designed this is great. I'm sure the need and the idea were there before but the creativity and technology may not have been avalable through the bureaucracy.
This seems like a great idea - I find it hard to believe that know one thought of this before. More likely, numerous people had considered similar concepts but all the "planets" finally lined up just right for it to move forward.
On a side note: Being from Minnesota - it pains me to know that Jesse Ventura had any part of this.
I agree, Naperlou, the really amazing aspect of this is not so much that the users came up with it, but that someone above them was able to see the wisdom in it.
Beth, it is amazing what you can do when you are close to the problem. It is also amazing that the Army picked up on it so quickly. I just hope they can keep the acquisition process on a fast track.
While not an example of crowdsouring per say, this shows the power of letting everyday users put their heads together to take a product to the next level. Tapping into the collective wisdom of real people actually using real products can deliver insights into what works and what doesn't that just isn't possible by non-users even if they are engineers.
As energy efficiency becomes more and more a concern for makers of electronics devices, researchers are coming up with new ways to harvest energy from sound vibration, footsteps, and even electromagnetic fields in the air.
The government wants to study your brain, and DARPA wants to use similar information to give robots true autonomy beyond any artificial intelligence developed to date. Sound like science fiction? It's not.
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A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
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