[cash68]

Hey guys, I need your input. I'm a senior in Industrial Design... I have a solid portfolio, I have 4 products in production, I have user-interface, tools, ecofriendly designs, cool car designs... I've worked with a lot of big name companies... and now it's my last semester. Unsure of what to do. Then I thought... of something.. totally ridiculous. I want your opinion.

First, watch this:

YouTube - Heres to the crazy ones

Alright you know how mountains used to kill people? And now we play on them with skis? And deserts used to kill people? And now we have dune buggies? And waves used to kill people? And now surfboards?

I was trying to think of an environment that wasn't conquered by man yet, and try to design a vehicle/product to turn it into an extreme sport, so out there that it goes way past anything reasonable and straight into the 'completely insane' category...

So then I thought of an acrobatic stunt submarine designed to be dropped into hurricane environments.... very dangerous... hence why the vehicle would have to have an isolated cockpit to protect it's occupant....with shocks on all sides to suspend it from impact. My teacher called it mental masterbation. It was definitely a controversial idea... 50% of my class thought it was cool, 50% hated it, 100% thought it was ridiculous.

So what's your take?

 

[Taikero]

I have only two questions:

Who's insuring the guy dumb enough to give it a test dive?

Where's Tony Stark when you need him?

Novel idea, but I think it'd be a lot more fun to design an underwater machine/environment that fulfills Michael Crichton's Sphere, or at least allows people to be under the water some 2-3+ miles.

 

[cash68]

It wouldn't be an actual product. Just more of a conceptual thing. I'd try to design around the problems created in such an environment, but it wouldn't be a real world vehicle. More of an excercise in creative problem creative solution type dealie.

 

[panda]

sign me up for test pilot, that is friggin rad man!
should have built in camera sending a live feed to the net for profit purposes!

 

[Uncle Erik]

That's been done, more or less: Niagara Falls Daredevils.

 

[iareConfusE]

Personally, I think the idea is just awesome. But I'm sure college professors will probably look at it and think you're some kind of sadist or just a thrill seeker with no real regard for your life, lol.

 

[amphead]

You know how the commercial goes...............are you jellin? Well my take on it would be lightweight carbon fiber surrounding a jelly elastomer that has an appropriate durometer rating. You get my drift?
Edit: comin at ya from my experience in Intel's problem solving engineering group. We were constantly trying to find the best o-rings to seal vacuum chambers from atmospheric pressure. Most semicondutor manufacturing was done under vacuum for best adhesion at the atomic/molecular level.

http://www.trexlerrubber.com/durometer.htm

 

[apatN]

There is already something like that in the shape of a dolphin:

+ YouTube Video​

ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.

Don't make something for people that make them go in a storm please. :X

 

[cash68]

Quote:

Originally Posted by apatN /img/forum/go_quote.gif There is already something like that in the shape of a dolphin: 2GSQ73wJqM8 Don't make something for people that make them go in a storm please. :X

Yeah, I've seen that...but its' slow. doesn't really have much of an airsupply, and ... welll... it's not really that acrobatic. It just sorta planes on the surface.

Why? It would be a conceptual vehicle. Not a real one. Nobody is going to die over it.

 

[apatN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cash68 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Why? It would be a conceptual vehicle. Not a real one. Nobody is going to die over it.

Sure but do you think there will be a market for such a vehicle?

 

[Dr Evil Dan]

Make a surfboard, but for lava. Or a shark suit so you can hand-to-hand fight sharks. Ditto for gorillas.

 

[cash68]

Hrm... harnessing the power of a shark is pretty intriguing. Again, lava is completley unrealistic. I realize the hurricane stunt thing is pretty far fetched, but lava is sticky, and is molten rock. You cannot put a material on it that won't be consumed.

 

[apatN]

That might actually be a good idea. Maybe you can invent a small device aimed at surfers that scares off sharks. Could be in the form of noise, odour or coloring fluid so the shark becomes disoriented.