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Found this awhile ago when researching if there were any diesel wankel engines. Glad to see it's got some updates. On a related note, does anybody know of DARP

Found this awhile ago when researching if there were any diesel wankel engines. Glad to see it's got some updates. On a related note, does anybody know of DARPA-funded projects that eventually become consumer-grade? It seems that cool stuff like this never makes it out of the military due to the classified nature, which is sad.

ChuckMcM 6y ago
FWIW lots of DARPA stuff becomes commercial/consumer grade. Exhibit A is probably the entire Internet but close behind would be high bypass turbofan engines, LiDAR systems, laser range finders, "space" blankets, etc. There is a long line of these things.
- drjasonharrison 6y ago
  GPS
- hobby-coder-guy 6y ago
  “Close behind” Not really
- kirse 6y ago
  Exhibit A-1 would be Siri on every Apple phone, originally a DARPA AI project.
  - Tor3 6y ago
    Siri I never touch, internet I use all the time. The latter came way earlier too. So no.
- mattkrause 6y ago
  It's intentional too. Many programs start with basic research, but also have specific milestones related to commercialization. For example, a biomedical program might have specific timelines for filing patents, meeting with the FDA for Investigational New Drug/Device Exemptions and thence clinical trials. This is rather different from the NIH and NSF, which tend to want smaller, self-contained projects from individual labs rather than a consortium that'll take a single idea from end-to-end.
centimeter 6y ago
The filter in the MSR Guardian water filter was the result of a DARPA research contract iirc. It’s unique on account of being able to filter out viruses (traditional filters can’t go that small) and also has some benefits like being freeze-proof.
maxerickson 6y ago
Internet.
scaramanga 6y ago
Haha, this has to be the funniest thing I've read on the INTERNET today. Do you consider Google to be "consumer grade"? That's up for debate I suppose after recent outages :) On the serious side though. Research projects rarely make it to commercial success because they're risky, not because they're secret. And that's why the state funds most of it. Generally speaking the private-sector prefers the exploitation phase rather than the research phase, for obvious reasons, it's much more profitable!

ChuckMcM 6y ago

FWIW lots of DARPA stuff becomes commercial/consumer grade. Exhibit A is probably the entire Internet but close behind would be high bypass turbofan engines, LiDAR systems, laser range finders, "space" blankets, etc. There is a long line of these things.

drjasonharrison 6y ago
GPS
hobby-coder-guy 6y ago
“Close behind” Not really
kirse 6y ago
Exhibit A-1 would be Siri on every Apple phone, originally a DARPA AI project.
- Tor3 6y ago
  Siri I never touch, internet I use all the time. The latter came way earlier too. So no.
mattkrause 6y ago
It's intentional too. Many programs start with basic research, but also have specific milestones related to commercialization. For example, a biomedical program might have specific timelines for filing patents, meeting with the FDA for Investigational New Drug/Device Exemptions and thence clinical trials. This is rather different from the NIH and NSF, which tend to want smaller, self-contained projects from individual labs rather than a consortium that'll take a single idea from end-to-end.

centimeter 6y ago

The filter in the MSR Guardian water filter was the result of a DARPA research contract iirc. It’s unique on account of being able to filter out viruses (traditional filters can’t go that small) and also has some benefits like being freeze-proof.

maxerickson 6y ago

Internet.

scaramanga 6y ago

Haha, this has to be the funniest thing I've read on the INTERNET today. Do you consider Google to be "consumer grade"? That's up for debate I suppose after recent outages :) On the serious side though. Research projects rarely make it to commercial success because they're risky, not because they're secret. And that's why the state funds most of it. Generally speaking the private-sector prefers the exploitation phase rather than the research phase, for obvious reasons, it's much more profitable!