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I'm have a Masters in Aeroacoustics (acoustics + fluid dynamics) and work mostly on numerical simulations, so while I can see that for someone outside the field
by gusmd 11y ago
I'm have a Masters in Aeroacoustics (acoustics + fluid dynamics) and work mostly on numerical simulations, so while I can see that for someone outside the field this can look like black magic, I am certainly not impressed.
I mean, what he did is he used a commercial CFD (computational fluid dynamics) software, created a model of the cabin and iterated through different air outlet geometries until he found one that improved the situation. It's a brute-force approach, which could be done even by someone without Masters/PhD level CFD knowledge (we have 1st year undergrad students working on that kind of thing in the university...).
It's cool that he used that for a problem that apparently is not getting the deserved attention, and he is 17 (!) but, at least in my opinion, other inventions competing for the price look much more impacting/life-changing. For instance:
> Two runners-up each received $50,000. They included Wang’s fellow Canadian, Nicole Ticea, 16, who developed an inexpensive, disposable and electricity-free HIV-testing device for use in low-income communities.
- panarky 11y agoMany innovations seem simple or obvious in hindsight. But if it solves a real problem and the engineers and Airbus and Boeing didn't think of it, then it must tell us something.
- dbbolton 11y agoWho is to say that just because it hasn't been implemented, it was never thought of?
- TheGRS 11y agoThere isn't, but the losers don't get to write the history books.
- nomel 11y agoWhen I read the title, I immediately guessed the method he used. Usually this means I can find some sort of evidence from the 1800's. I'm guessing this is standard practice in hospitals, so an old idea applied to a new container, which is the norm with ideas.
- jhong 11y agothe point is that he did it. just because you or 1st year undergrads could have done it is irrelevant because guess what, none of you did.
- talmand 11y agoMaybe the reason no one has done it is because it was already determined to not be worth the resources required to research, develop, and implement? EDIT: I'm just asking an honest question here.
- wrsh07 11y agoExtremely unlikely. No one did it because no one thought of it. His solution is cheap and reasonably effective.
- TheGRS 11y agoPretty much the equivalent of those cardboard holders you get with a cup of Starbucks coffee. Extremely simple idea, some guy just happened to think of it and run with it. Just a reminder that there is plenty of room left in the world for simple inventions and solutions to common problems.
- gusmd 11y agoI got a lot of criticism for my comment because I said I was not very impressed by this (mostly because my field of research is very close to what he did). Just like some people think that formatting a PC is black magic, simply because they have no idea how any of that works, but we here now that it is pretty straight-forward. As an analogy closer to developers, would you be impressed if a 17 years old built a simplistic CRUD phone number agenda app? I'm sure some of you here were accomplishing much greater things by that age. It does not impress you because you know the complexity is not very high, even though the kid is 17 years old. So while I think we should always encourage science and research at younger ages, I keep my opinion that this is not as impressive as some might believe. ps.: as per your comment, well, no one can solve all the problems in the world. They lack time to absorb knowledge to understand everything that is out there, and that's why we have specialized education. These people you are mentioning (and me, since you directed it to me) have other problems to solve.
- cma 11y agoDid you look into the HIV device to the same extent the judges did? It was "just" a modification of an existing one to create more turbulence and mix the reagents better, a more optimal geometry being found through computational fluid dynamics software... (Just kidding, but seriously, it wasn't necessarily just that his problem was under-researched, and it was a competition by Intel, maybe everything had a computational modeling component as a requirement for entry. You're not impressed because you know how to use the software to do what he did, but the innovative step was thinking to use the software to do what he did. Certain strains of flu can be a huge killer, HIV moreso, but neither person cured either disease--you would need a lot more epidemiological details to know which one deserved the prize by your utilitarian standard. This is one of the most petty things I've ever read here.)
- noamyoungerm 11y agoThe competition is basically a huge science fair, and there are no direct constrains on the projects you can submit, but there are several things to take into account. First of all, research has to be conducted entirely in a twelve month period, so already even the best participants can't do work equivalent to a masters degree. During the judging process, the real world impact is given much importance. This contrasts with an emphasis on basic science and theoretocal research - both approaches are fine, but this is a conscious choice. Finally, the judges generally don't actually read a long manuscript but rather rely on a poster and a quick 15 minute interview/pitch where you broadly overview your project - meaning that the competition wants to emphasize scientific speaking (this also is a boon to international participants who wrote their work in another language). Because the scope of research one can complete in a year is so limited (and has to be balanced with school), and the amount of experience everyone has is small, the scope of the work can't really compete with academia. Source: participated
- minthd 11y agoI wonder: how much of the work done by those who reached the national level, will be used in some way in real products ? How does this compare to real scientists/engineers success rate ? Just out of curiosity - and of course i know it's not the goal here - but education/inspiration is .
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- melling 11y ago8 million people fly daily. I'd say his invention has a big impact.
- rebootthesystem 11y agoWhy didn't you use your impressive Masters in Aeroacoustical Engineering and obviously superior intellect and knowledge to solve the fucking problem years ago? You had to piss on the kid's effort and interest in solving a problem. I have to tell you, as a mentor to a great FIRST Robotics team, this is precisely the kind of attitude that can utterly destroy a kid. Unbelievable.
- venomsnake 11y agoBecause it is not a problem? Also not solved. If you see the video the air still overlaps and you have no way of circulating individual passenger air. A sneeze is quite forceful and will convert the laminated airflow into turbulent. And personal AC zones is nothing new - been in the luxury car industry for a decade or so. Now I am a simple programmer but what I would do is create system with 2 circles - outlets that suck air above each passenger and only one pump that pumps air into the cabin. Will either irradiate the air in transit.
- vlasev 11y agoWell, why don't you do it then? Make it happen. Submit an article, etc. If you CAN do it better you SHOULD!
- venomsnake 11y agoWhy bother? Airplanes are complicated enough to make them even more complicated, so we can solve non existing problem to calm the germophobia of people. Of course you could have provided arguments to show why my criticism of his invention were not valid ... and actually have discussion. But whatever ...
- nomel 11y agoPlus, most germs are spread by contact. It would be more beneficial to wipe down the armrests.
- rebootthesystem 11y agoWho cares? It's a KID experiencing a moment of discovery after hard work. This deserves nothing but praise and support.
- asanagi 11y ago> "which could be done even by someone without Masters/PhD level CFD knowledge" Uh yeah, that's kind of the point here?
- kyleblarson 11y ago"{airbnb | uber | whatsapp | etc} is such a simple idea. I could have done that." "F*ck you, you didn't."
- hkon 11y agoYes, the problem with "you guys" is that you don't seem to want to solve problems like this. It's just too trivial. Otherwise one of you would have done it.
- sesquipedalian 11y agoWhy does it matter what approach he took to solve the problem? What relevance does it have that someone else without domain expertise or post-graduate education is capable of solving this? I'm not an expert in this field, nor do I think this is "black magic", but it does seem like this kid applied a good amount of ingenuity in attacking this problem.
- leot 11y agoSee also: http://3.design-milk.com/images/2010/11/modern-art-craig-damrauer.jpg http://3.design-milk.com/images/2010/11/modern-art-craig-dam... Just because you understand something semi-esoteric doesn't mean someone else's understanding of it is worth less.
- gusmd 11y agoI never said that his understanding is less important than mine. Simply that I was not impressed by his work, because I have seen much better by same-aged undergrad students. I wasn't comparing him to me, but to other people with similar domain knowledge/experience.