The water-jet blade idea is innovative, but it's not revolutionary. Bomb defusing robots are often equipped with water-jets to disrupt/cut through bombs.
What is the purpose of using water rather than just some metal projectile? The US army brings so much equipment, I can't imagine it's the fact that water is particularly easier to come by than (say) a metal disk.
A cutting blade needs to be held against the device, either by a clamp or it's own heavy (expensive) weight.
A projectile will generally just bounce off.
So the current solution is to attach an explosive charge and disrupt the device ie. 'a controlled explosion' which is slow, specialized and noisy.
Or fire a shotgun at it which often doesn't do anything other than to move the suspect device a couple of feet and make it a lot more suspect.
And it's not "sticky silicone that's part Silly Putty, part duct tape". Robot f'n cars people! Ok, maybe it doesn't qualify for 2010, but in terms of quality of life impact, beats silly putty hands down.
I've had some for nearly a year now and although it has been extremely useful from reshaping handles to rebuilding unavailable replacement parts. It is close to being like duck tape... if only it hardened faster!
That being said, its not life changing and I wouldn't qualify it as most innovative product.
Not only can you not sell it in the developed half of the world because getting XXX approval would cost millions. You probably can't sell it if your company is registered in the developed half of the world! Even if you have no intention of selling it in the US, just tell your US corporate lawyers that you plan on selling medical equipment anywhere and they will have kittens.
You can sell it in the the 3rd world (sorry - human resource rich) countries but that means selling it either to a local government who will want a large payment of approval fees, - generally in cash. Or to a UN style inter-government aid agency which will want all the same sort of XXX approval as the FDA but also requires the same sort sort of cash 'consultancy fees' on the ground to actually get the stuff used.
I was involved in a similar project to make wheelchairs for mine victims - it's legally a lot simpler to build and import/export the mines than the wheelchairs.
The only way to get it used is to put the plans on the net and hope people build it for themselves.
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 34.6 ms ] threadSo the current solution is to attach an explosive charge and disrupt the device ie. 'a controlled explosion' which is slow, specialized and noisy.
Or fire a shotgun at it which often doesn't do anything other than to move the suspect device a couple of feet and make it a lot more suspect.
I've had some for nearly a year now and although it has been extremely useful from reshaping handles to rebuilding unavailable replacement parts. It is close to being like duck tape... if only it hardened faster!
That being said, its not life changing and I wouldn't qualify it as most innovative product.
Not only can you not sell it in the developed half of the world because getting XXX approval would cost millions. You probably can't sell it if your company is registered in the developed half of the world! Even if you have no intention of selling it in the US, just tell your US corporate lawyers that you plan on selling medical equipment anywhere and they will have kittens.
You can sell it in the the 3rd world (sorry - human resource rich) countries but that means selling it either to a local government who will want a large payment of approval fees, - generally in cash. Or to a UN style inter-government aid agency which will want all the same sort of XXX approval as the FDA but also requires the same sort sort of cash 'consultancy fees' on the ground to actually get the stuff used.
I was involved in a similar project to make wheelchairs for mine victims - it's legally a lot simpler to build and import/export the mines than the wheelchairs.
The only way to get it used is to put the plans on the net and hope people build it for themselves.