Sometimes a significant amount of up-front engineering is required to get to a simple solution. Sometimes the solution is beautiful in itself, such as the safe completion of an automotive stunt. Sometimes the beauty comes from what the device can be used to achieve. In all cases though, the initial engineering requires both inspiration and talent. Happy reading.
How Did Jaguar Pull Off Its E-Pace Barrel Roll?
The short answer: with 756 hours of engineering simulation time. “Like any innovation or voyage of discovery, data is what you crave, to understand what’s going on.” For initial tests they had a robotic driver jump the vehicle into a big air mattress.
New Atlas, July 2017
Solar-Powered Aeration Boosts Developing World
A device with no moving parts that was engineered at the University of Toronto has simplicity as a virtue. The simulation was complex, but the end product is easy to use and maintain. A good engineer will consider the end user to ensure a design is fit-for-purpose.
ASME, July 2017
What If Companies Managed People as Carefully as They Manage Money?
“Today’s scarcest resource is… the time, talent and energy of your workforce.” “Difference-making talent is also scarce. The average company considers only about 15% of its employees to be difference makers.” “Inspired employees are three times more productive than dissatisfied employees, but they are rare.”
Harvard Business Review, May 2017
Sorting Cucumbers to Anti-Squirrel AI: Five of the Best Raspberry Pi Applications
The Raspberry Pi is an inexpensive single-board computer developed for computer education. It has been wildly popular and democratized access to computing. Here are some unexpected innovations it spurred by allowing dedicated computers for a wider range of tasks.
IMechE News, July 2017