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When I participated in the Local Motors LITECAR challenge I believe a good 50% of the entries said "USE GRAPHENE!" as a premise for their entries. Sure, graphen

When I participated in the Local Motors LITECAR challenge I believe a good 50% of the entries said "USE GRAPHENE!" as a premise for their entries. Sure, graphene shows merit in a lab in perfect conditions, but when I suggested using organic based composites to rival aluminum for chassis &/or body panels / components I got jumped on for being impractical. Yes, I'll admit I'm still sore about the whole thing.

quantumhobbit 10y ago
Sometimes those competitions (hackathons, science fairs, and grant proposals too) are more about picking the most popular buzzwords than they are about actual science and engineering. Next time just let a Markov chain write your submission for you.
- 6stringmerc 10y ago
  Oh I feel you, I really put a lot of time and effort into watching and participating in all the Q&A sessions and what was claimed were not defining factors ended up being totally shot when the results came in. Places and prizes went, suspiciously IMO, to college teams and questionable rubric evaluations. I mentioned the body panels of my submission but it was 1 of 3 innovative approaches to make a holistic concept...as they required... To wit: They said "just replacing the panels / bodywork for a vehicle is not innovative in the way we are evaluating things" and then one of the top 3 prize winners was just that - a type of sandwich material that was only beneficial if it replaced panels and bodywork. I'm still sore because I hate being lied to especially when there's money at stake. In hindsight the whole process was flawed but that don't change what was said versus what was done. They might try to argue but I studied their TOC & shit so extensively that when they already had a fully developed winner announcement video that debuted on the date they said they would notify winners, I smelled something rotten. I can't prove anything but if I had forensic level access to their communications I certainly wouldn't hesitate to invest my time in finding out what the fuck actually happened.
ayuvar 10y ago
I have also wondered why Duroplast (stamped panels made up of leftover cotton and resin) never made it outside of the Trabant to the wider automotive world. If anything, the bodies lasted too long.
- 6stringmerc 10y ago
  Whoa, I'd never even heard of that! This kind of learning is why I keep coming back and talking honest. Thanks for mentioning that. There's something to be said for understanding manufacturer profit objectives, but in the context of the contest reaching for something "iffy" like what won didn't make sense when a reasonable alternative could show statistically significant benefits. Basically I pointed out we could "grow our own" panels with further research and the judges picked an unproven but Uni backed submission instead. Made me feel like Galileo for a hot minute there.

quantumhobbit 10y ago

Sometimes those competitions (hackathons, science fairs, and grant proposals too) are more about picking the most popular buzzwords than they are about actual science and engineering. Next time just let a Markov chain write your submission for you.

6stringmerc 10y ago
Oh I feel you, I really put a lot of time and effort into watching and participating in all the Q&A sessions and what was claimed were not defining factors ended up being totally shot when the results came in. Places and prizes went, suspiciously IMO, to college teams and questionable rubric evaluations. I mentioned the body panels of my submission but it was 1 of 3 innovative approaches to make a holistic concept...as they required... To wit: They said "just replacing the panels / bodywork for a vehicle is not innovative in the way we are evaluating things" and then one of the top 3 prize winners was just that - a type of sandwich material that was only beneficial if it replaced panels and bodywork. I'm still sore because I hate being lied to especially when there's money at stake. In hindsight the whole process was flawed but that don't change what was said versus what was done. They might try to argue but I studied their TOC & shit so extensively that when they already had a fully developed winner announcement video that debuted on the date they said they would notify winners, I smelled something rotten. I can't prove anything but if I had forensic level access to their communications I certainly wouldn't hesitate to invest my time in finding out what the fuck actually happened.

ayuvar 10y ago

I have also wondered why Duroplast (stamped panels made up of leftover cotton and resin) never made it outside of the Trabant to the wider automotive world. If anything, the bodies lasted too long.

6stringmerc 10y ago
Whoa, I'd never even heard of that! This kind of learning is why I keep coming back and talking honest. Thanks for mentioning that. There's something to be said for understanding manufacturer profit objectives, but in the context of the contest reaching for something "iffy" like what won didn't make sense when a reasonable alternative could show statistically significant benefits. Basically I pointed out we could "grow our own" panels with further research and the judges picked an unproven but Uni backed submission instead. Made me feel like Galileo for a hot minute there.