Glad to hear that the image shown is not the image they were planning to bring to market. There would be no way any one would carry around a device like that--far too big and scary looking.
I suppose that there's high utility in using a pepper spray gun correctly, but I guess I'm of mindset that we don't want to make it too easy. I could see one of these things whipping out on the soccer field as two over-the-top parents from opposing teams go at it. For me, the coolest thing about this innovation is the lessons it can bring in terms of mechatronics design. That's what is most important.
I see this as useful for litigation on both sides, as long as the video doesn't conveniently "disappear".
I think there needs to be a reevaluation of how many cell-connected devices one must carry though. If this device is going to call the police for you, one likely has four or more cell-service devices at close hand - the pepper spray can, a cell phone, a tablet such as i-pad, and the on-star service in a car.
I'd rather see this device be blue-tooth connected to my phone.
Communicating through Bluetooth is a good idea. Then you could have an app on the phone that communicates the way you want to. If it is the local police, then that is who is called. I guess that the "issue" is the storage of the video. Perhaps there could be a clooud service for storage of the video. Of course, if you have a service that is set up the way the designer has specified, then you do that. I
Neat use of technology, but if you just carry a gun, the attacker will be right where you left him! (In the order of fairness, I could have said her, too, but statistically, not very common)
I carry a gun simply because a cop is too heavy.
Ebay has some very small HD cameras, the size of a key chain in fact. $5... Low light performance is poor, but with some simple upgrades it shouldn't be hard to get that corrected.
Cost is an important consideration. Pepper spray is about $30. And once you use it, it has to be replaced. I'm sure that with GPS, rangefinder, microprocessor, etc, its cost will be way north of $30. Plus, how much is a refill?
So how much is your life worth? Some would say "Priceless", but I don't see many people with a dedicated bodyguard. So cost is an important consideration. Bullets cost pennies, but could be as high as $1.00 each time you shoot one. So even if I have to use 5 shots to bring down an attacker, it's still a pretty good bargain. Add $60 every 5 years to renew my carry permit and it's still a bargain. OK, so the gun cost a lot of money, but some guns are good investments. Pay $400 today and you might get $600 for it in 10 years or less (I have an SP101 I paid $199 for and now is worth $320+). If they can bring this to market for $100 or less with refills at $20 each, they might have something. Otherwise, it's just an Engineering exercise.
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PTC will offer a virtual desktop environment for its Creo product design applications, potentially freeing engineers to run them from remote desktops on a variety of operating systems and mobile devices.
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Now that solar and wind harvesting technologies are a thriving market, researchers are seeking other environmentally related energy sources for which they can create harvesting devices.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
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I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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