La Curiosidad NO mato al gato...

... pero envez de eso, logró poner los sueños y esperanzas de muchas personas demasiado lejos, en el espacio, en Marte. Ahora resulta que el viejo dicho del pobre gato no es del todo cierto. Generalmente trata de advertir a la gente sobre las consecuencias (normalmente negativas) de ser curioso. Ahora, los ingenieros y científicos de la NASA/JPL, miles de colaboradores de todo el mundo y una niña curiosa han demostrado lo contrario.

Ahora son casi 3 meses desde que el Laboratorio de Ciencia en Marte (MSL por sus siglas en inglés), el Curiosity amartizo o toco la superficie de Marte de manera segura. Ha conducido maniobras y experimentos con rocas y arena marciana, sin mencionar la gran colección de fotografías de alta resolución que ha enviado, y la primera canción en la historia transmitida desde el planeta rojo. Gracias al compositor Will.i.am por esta inspiradora pieza musical, la puedes escuchar aquí.

Mencioné algo sobre una niña curiosa, bueno si... y de ella se trata esta entrada en mi blog. Como podrás imaginar, estos proyectos científicos tan grandes toman años en volverse realidad, y fue hasta el años 2009 cuando Clara Ma, una niña de 12 años de Kansas, USA ganó el concurso de ensayo para nombrar al MLS. El nombre ganador fué Curiosity. Aqui el ensayo original y la versión traducida:

Curiosity is an everlasting flame that burns in everyone's mind. It makes me get out of bed in the morning and wonder what surprises life will throw at me that day. Curiosity is such a powerful force. Without it, we wouldn't be who we are today. When I was younger, I wondered, 'Why is the sky blue?', 'Why do the stars twinkle?', 'Why am I me?', and I still do. I had so many questions, and America is the place where I want to find my answers. Curiosity is the passion that drives us through our everyday lives. We have become explorers and scientists with our need to ask questions and to wonder. Sure, there are many risks and dangers, but despite that, we still continue to wonder and dream and create and hope. We have discovered so much about the world, but still so little. We will never know everything there is to know, but with our burning curiosity, we have learned so much.

La Curiosidad es una flama permanente que quema la mente de todos. Me hace levantarme de mi cama en la mañana y esperar ansiosamente que sorpresas me lanzará la vida ese día. La Curiosidad es una fuerza muy poderosa. Sin ella, no seríamos lo que somos hoy. Cuando era mas joven, me preguntaba, "¿por que el cielo es azul?, ¿por que brillan las estrellas?, ¿por que soy yo?" y aún lo hago. Tuve tantas preguntas, y América (Estados Unidos) es el lugar donde quiero encontrar mis respuestas. La Curiosidad es la pasión que nos conduce diariamente por nuestra vida. Nos hemos convertido en exploradores y científicos con nuestra necesidad de hacer preguntas y de imaginar. Seguro, hay muchos riesgos y peligros, pero a pesar de eso, aún seguimos imaginando y soñando y creando y esperando. Hemos descubierto tanto acerca del mundo, pero aún eso es muy poco. Nunca sabremos todo lo que hay por sber, pero con nuestra curiosidad que nos quema, hemos aprendido demasiado.

Sorprendente, no lo crees. Felicidades Clara!

La noche de la llegada del Curiosity (agosto 5) la gente del JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) en Caltech hervían en una olla de nervios tan caliente, que para cuando el Curiosity tocó la superficie de Marte todos explotaron en un grito simultaneo de emoción y felicidad (verlo para creerlo). Los famosos 7 minutos de terror de no saber nada sobre el MSL fueron el preámbulo del inicio de una nueva historia de éxito en la exploración espacial. Esa noche, otra sopa de mensajes y comentarios se cocinaban en Twitter. Y fué en ese momento cuando tuve la oportunidad de "conocer" a Clara Ma y decirle la gran oportunidad y el gran momento en la vida que estaba atestiguando, el como su Curiosidad llegó mas allá de la Tierra y descendió en Marte.
  

Siete Minutos de Terror

Despues de estas primeras semanas de emoción y excitación, seguí escribiéndole mensajes a Clara Ma y finalmente me atreví a entrevistarla via email. Debo decir que Clara es una persona maravillosa y tuvo la amabilidad de responder mis preguntas desde el fondo de su corazón. Ahora me gustaría compartir fragmentos del correo que le escribí y la entrevista completa que le hice a una celebridad de la ciencia.

Hola Clara,

Muchas gracias por responder mis twits. Mi nombre es Javier Hidalgo y apenas compartimos algunos twits la noche del domingo pasado (5 de agosto 2012) durante el evento de amartizaje del Curiosity. Como podrás imaginar, yo también soy un fanático de la NASA y de todas las cosas alrededor de esta institución. Realmente creo que han logrado cosas sorprendentes a lo largo de la historia. Soy un Ingeniero Electromecánico de México y soy apasionado de todo lo que tiene que ver con la ciencia y tecnología. Pero aparte de eso, realmente pienso que tu contribución a la ciencia y a la historia es muy valiosa y es muy importante hacerle saber a la gente como se hacen estas cosas y que tipo de gente esta involucrada. Quisiera aprovechar esta oportunidad para felicitarte y expresarte que tu ahora eres un modelo a seguir para mi así como los son los ingenieros y científicos de la NASA.

Hola Javier,Estoy muy, muy apenada de tardarme tanto en responder. Es absolutamente inaceptable de mi parte. He estado extremadamente ocupada este ultimo mes con la escuela, las tareas y exámenes de admisión a la preparatoria. Espero que no sea muy tarde! Gracias por tu apoyo e interés en lo que tengo que decir! :)

J. ¿Como describes tu vida antes y despues del Curiosity (dese tu ensayo hasta hoy en día)?
C. Mi vida ha cambiado inmensamente desde que gané el concurso del ensayo para nombrar al Curiosity. Pero realmente no lo veo como un antes y un después, mas bién lo veo como un evento mayor en mi vida del cual tuve la gran fortuna de poder experimentar. Haber podido conocer a toda la gente que he conocido y ver las cosas que he visto han formado la persona que soy y que continuan formando mis metas, esperanzas, aspiraciones y sueños.

J. ¿Te consideras una niña de ciencia?, ¿te gustan las matemáticas en la escuela?, ¿has pensado lo que quieres ser cuando crezcas? (profesionalmente hablando)
C. Me encantan las ciencias y las matemáticas, pero también me encantan, las artes lingüísticas y la historia, así como los estudios sociales y los idiomas (especialmente español y frances). Aún no se lo que seré cuando crezca, pero si pudiera de alguna manera estar involucrada en esas cosas, sería muy feliz!
 

J. How was your experience at JPL/NASA the days or hours before Curiosity’s landing, the D-day and days after?
C.

J. ¿Cual fue el segundo momento mas excitante de toda esta aventura después del exitoso amartizaje del Curiosity?
C. El segundo momento mas importante de esta aventura... mmm... No podría señalar un momento exacto ya que hubo demasiados! La parte mas significativa de esta experiencia para mi ha sido conocer a todos los científicos, ingenieros, administradores, gente valiosa, etc. quienes están detras de la misión del MSL. Los adimiro por ser tan amables y apasionados, inteligentes y trababajadores, pero al mismo tiempo increíblemente humildes. Ellos me inspiran grandemente.
 

J. ¿Cual consideras que es el consejo mas valioso que hayas recibido de parte del equipo del a NASA?
C. El consejo mas valioso: haz lo que quieras hacer y haz lo que te haga feliz. No trates de vivir lo que otras personas esperan de ti, fija tus propias metas. - de un miembro de la misión.
Otros consejos valiosos: (este es de una cita que leí en la oficina del Dr. Fuk Li, Director del programa MLS en el JPL) "No te dirijas a donde el camio te pueda llevar, envez de eso ve donde no hay camino y deja tu rastro". de Ralph Waldo Emerson.
 

J. ¿Alguna vez pensaste ser parte de tan importante evento? (supongo que no, pero ahora...) ¿que crees que te podría suceder para superar esta experiencia?
C. Nunca en un millón de años pensé que algo tan sorprendente podría pasarme a mi. Algunas veces sigo sin poder creerlo.

J. ¿Realmente crees que algún día la humanidad podrá habitar Marte?
C. Yo creo que cualquier cosa es posible.


J. ¿Que mensaje le darías a los niños sobre sus sueños, fantasías y deseos?
C. Mi mensaje a los niños: Nunca dejen de hacer preguntas. Sean curiosos y tengan una mente abierta. Sueñen cosas grandes pero también trabajen duro para conseguirlas.
 

J. Algún mensaje para la gente de Méxio...
C. Haber llevado un robot explorador a Marte es una tarea ardua y extremadamente dificil, y no podría haber sido posible sin el soporte y ayuda de varios paises alrededor del mundo. El Curisity representa un logro internacional, y es prueba que la ciencia realmente reune a la gente. Nunca permitan que las razas, las culturas o las etnias sean un obstáculo para ustedes. Cada ser humano tiene el potencial de lograr grandes cosas!. Yo amo la cultura y la historia mexicana y latina; es tan rica y profundamente convincente para mi. "Les quiero" :) (sic).

Nuevamente gracias!.

 

Realmente he disfrutado este post en mi blog así como lo hice al planearlo y escribirlo. Solo me queda agradecer enormemente a Clara Ma por su valiosa contribución a mi blog y a mi persona. Definitivamente admiro a la gente que ha contribuido a la humanidad desde lo produndo de su corazón.

Tambén quiero aprovechar este post para expresar mis sentimientos de tristeza por la pérdida del astronauta Neil Armstrong. Un homenaje a él y a todos los hombres y mujeres que han ido mas allá de la Tierra.

Finalmente, quisiera felicitar al piloto austriaco Felix Baumgartner por su extraordinaria hazaña al saltar de una altura de mas de 39,000 m y haber superado la velocidad del sonido en caída libre. Felicidadades a él y todo el equipo del proyecto Red Bull Stratos .

Hasta la próxima.

En el post anterior podrás leer la versión original de la entrevista en inglés.

Curiosity didn’t kill the Cat…

but instead, got so many people’s dreams and hopes so far away, in deep space, on Mars. Now turns out that the old saying about that poor cat isn´t really true. It tries to warn people about to be curios and its consequences (normally bad ones). Now NASA/JPL’s engineers, scientists, thousands of collaborators from many countries and a curios girl have demonstrated the opposite.

Now it’s been almost two months since the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity has safely landed on Mars surface, and conducting maneuvers and experiments with Mars rocks and soil, not to mention the big collection of amazing hi-res pictures, and the first ever song broadcasted from the red planet. Thanks to Will.i.am for that piece of inspiring song. You can hear the song here.

Did I mention something about a curios girl, well yes… and that’s what this blog entry is all about. As you may imagine, such big science project take years to come true, and it was until 2009 that 12 year old Clara Ma from Kansas won a NASA essay contest to name the MSL: Curiosity. Here is the complete essay:

Curiosity is an everlasting flame that burns in everyone's mind. It makes me get out of bed in the morning and wonder what surprises life will throw at me that day. Curiosity is such a powerful force. Without it, we wouldn't be who we are today. When I was younger, I wondered, 'Why is the sky blue?', 'Why do the stars twinkle?', 'Why am I me?', and I still do. I had so many questions, and America is the place where I want to find my answers. Curiosity is the passion that drives us through our everyday lives. We have become explorers and scientists with our need to ask questions and to wonder. Sure, there are many risks and dangers, but despite that, we still continue to wonder and dream and create and hope. We have discovered so much about the world, but still so little. We will never know everything there is to know, but with our burning curiosity, we have learned so much.

Awesome, don’t you think. Congratulations Clara!

The landing night of Curiosity (august 5^th) people at NASA JPL in Caltech were boiling in a nervous stove so hot, that by the time Curiosity touched down over Mars surface everybody just exploded in an unified shout of joy and happiness (watch this). The so called 7 minutes of terror of not knowing anything from the MSL were the preamble of the beginning of a new success history in space exploration. That night, another soup of messages and comments was cooking in Tweeter. And that was the moment I had the chance to “meet” Clara Ma and tell her the great opportunity and moment in life she was having witnessing how her Curiosity had gone beyond Earth and landed on Mars.
 

Seven Minutes of Terror

After the first weeks of big emotions and excitement, I kept on sending messages to Clara Ma and finally I dare to “interview” her by email. I have to say Clara is a wonderful person and was so kind to answer my questions from her deep heart. Now I want to share parts of my email and the complet interview to a science celebrity:

Hi Clara,

Thank you very much for tweeting me back. My name is Javier Hidalgo and we just shared a couple of tweets last Sunday night during the Curiosity’s landing event. Just as you might imagine, I’m also a very big fan of NASA and all things around this Institution. I really think they have achieved so many awesome things in history. I’m a Mexican Electromechanical Engineer and love everything that has to do with science and tech. But despite of that, I really think that your contribution to science and history is very valuable and is very important to let people know how things are done and what kind of people is involved. I want to take this opportunity to congratulate you and express you that you are now a raw model for me just as the engineers and scientists at NASA are.

Hello Javier,

I am so, so, so sorry it took me this long to respond. It is absolutely unacceptable on my behalf. I have been extremely busy this past month with school and homework and tests and college entrance exams. I hope I am not too late! Thank you for your support and interest in what I have to say! :)

J. How do you describe your life before and after Curiosity (since your essay contest until nowadays)?

C. My life has changed immensely since I won the essay contest to name Curiosity. But I don't really see it as a before and after, instead I see it as a major event in my life that I was lucky enough to have been able to experience. Getting to meet all the people I've met and see the things I've seen has shaped the person I am and continues to shape my goals, hopes, aspirations, and dreams.

J. Are you a “science” girl?, like math at school? Have you ever thought on what to become when you grow adult? (Professionally speaking)

C. I love science and math, but I also love language arts and history and social studies and foreign languages (especially Spanish and French). I don't know exactly what I want to do when I grow up, but if it could somehow involve all of those things, I'd be so happy!

J. How was your experience at JPL/NASA the days or hours before Curiosity’s landing, the D-day and days after?

C.

J. What is the (second) most exciting moment of all this adventure besides from Curiosity´s safe touchdown?
C. The second most exciting moment of this adventure.. hmm.. I can't pinpoint an exact moment as there were just so many great ones! The most meaningful part of this experience for me has been meeting all of the scientists, engineers, administrators, outreach people, etc. who are behind this entire MSL mission. I admire them because they are so kind and passionate and intelligent and hard-working, but at the same time incredibly humble. They inspire me greatly.

J. What do you consider to be the most valuable piece of advice or tip that you have received from NASA’s crew?

C. Most valuable pieces of advice: do what you want to do and do what makes you happy. Don't try to live up to what other people expect of you-- set your own goals. - from an Mars outreach member of the mission.
Some more valuable advice: (this came from a quote I saw on the wall in Fuk Li's (director of Mars program at JPL) office) "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

J. Did you ever thought to be part of such an important event? (I guess not, but now…) what do you think that could happen to you to exceed this experience?

C. I never in a million years thought that something this amazing could happen to me. Sometimes I still can't believe it.

J. Do you really think there will be a time when mankind could inhabit Mars? Would you go there?

C. I believe anything is possible.

J. What message would you tell to all kids about their dreams, fantasies and wishes?

C. My message to kids: Never stop asking questions. Be curious and have an open mind. Dream big dreams but also work hard to achieve them.

J. Any message for the mexican people...
C. A message for Mexican people: Landing a rover on Mars is an incredibly arduous and difficult task, and it could not have happened without the support and aid of countries all over the world. Curiosity represents an international accomplishment, proof that science really does bring people together. Never ever let race or culture or ethnicity be an obstacle for you-- every single human being has the potential to accomplish great things! I love Mexican/Latino culture and history; it is rich and deeply compelling to me. Les quiero! (Haha, I hope that is appropriate to say :)

Thank you again!

I really have enjoyed this blog post just as I did planning and writing it. I just have to thank Clara Ma for her valuable contribution to my blog and to my person. I definitely admire people who contribute to humankind from their deep heart.

I also want to take the opportunity to express my feelings about Neil Armstrong’s dead and salute all the brave men and women who have gone beyond earth.

Finally, I would like to congratulate and wish the best of luck to Felix Baumgartner for his next big jump on October 8^th with the Red Bull Stratos Project.

Until next post.

One step further for Humankind (and designers, of course)

When I was about to finish my college years, I didn´t really knew what career to study and it took me about a year to decide about Electromechanics Engineering. Now, I’m pretty sure I’ve ever knew. I have to mention that my first Top ONE toy I’ve ever had was a Space Lego kit, and that was 31 years ago, my parents bought it to me precisely during our vacations in Orlando; the year the firs Space Shuttle Mission was launched (1981). Among other toys that I had, I must say that both Lego’s and, sometime later, the Fischertechnik that my father got from God knows where, have decided my destination. My five years at the university were really tough and I really suffered with all that mathematics and many other abstract theories I was though.

Since my youth years, I’ve been fascinated about NASA’s Space Shuttle Missions. I was 11 years old when the Space Shuttle Challenger had the terrible accident and that shocked me a lot.

Tribute to Space Shuttle Challenger and Columbia

I had the lucky to start my professional career working at an automotive part supplier for the big OEM’s in the Engineer Design Department. And so began all my love and passion for mechanical design and 3D modeling. As mentioned in my previous post, I started to use ProENGINEER CAD software to develop engine components and assemblies, and validate the manufacturability of those parts. After designing and developing many parts I became Project Leader and that was the time when all the revolution of PDM and PLM started to play a big role for many manufacturing companies. We dedicated almost two years to know, learn and benchmark the 10 big PLM suppliers at that time and well, the winner is not worth to mention (by me) but the experience of getting deep into this world full of terms, activities, workflows, etc., was pretty much exiting.

Then, suddenly another bad news. February 1st 2003 in the morning, The Space Shuttle Columbia was destroyed while re-entering the atmosphere after 16-day mission in space. I was then older and much more conscious about the accident but still in shock. I’ve been trying to follow up what NASA is been doing ever since, specially all Space Shuttle Missions with Atlantis, Discovery and Endeavour and of course the International Space Station (ISS). I do know how an airplane flies and still I can’t believe how a big metal can floats on air (especially when I’m in). Therefore, watching every time how a Spacecraft lifts off from ground is really unbelievable, or how they maneuver to dock with the ISS, do their work and come back to safe-land on earth is much more amazing.

When NASA Tehc Briefs named PTC’s CREO Parametric design software the “Product of the Month” and then “Product of the Year” in 2011, I really thought something special as two of my biggest passions could live together and depend one in each other. Last year on September 2011 I had the opportunity to visit Kennedy Space Center at Orlando, Fl. And despite there were not so much activity that day, I was thrilled when I saw the Assembly Vehicle Building and the Launch Pads. Not to mention the great exhibition halls and the Saturn V museum.

I’m pretty sure NASA’s design engineers works not only with CREO, but also with other CAD and analysis tools. But just trying to imagine how they put men on the moon before CAD tools first appear, wow!!! That I can’t believe. Now I’m a very big fan of NASA’s Mars Mission and Rovers exploration. I wish the best of landings to the Mars Space Lab named Curiosity in a few weeks from today. After a 9 months journey to its new home.

 

This post is dedicate to my wife and daughters who made this vacation trip possible. I Love you girls.

Spreading the word CAD

I would like to thank MCADCafe for the invitation to participate in their Blog section. I’m excited to write my first post for this new blog which I expect to generate a lot of interest among the CAD community. As stated in my brief Bio, I’m a Mexican CAD enthusiast by heart and an electromechanical engineer by profession. Most of my experience is based in the product design field within the automotive industry related to engine components and assemblies designs.

Since those times, I started my career using ProENGINEER v16 modeling parts and assemblies and making product drawings as well. My point is, I didn’t imagine the powerful tool I had in my hands. Everything seemed to be so easy and if anything couldn’t be designed, that was for sure due to human limitation or simple ignorance on how to use the software. I should be grateful that at least I still used big desks, paper and ink to learn Technical Drawing at school, back in 1993.

Now and from the last and a half year, I’ve been working as an Application Engineer and Trainer for a VAR Company for PTC MCAD products, getting the chance to know deeper the Mexican manufacturing industry and learning from them the level of use of CAD tools. Regarding that, I should say that there is a whole lot to learn about best practices and the correct use of the design software in relation to the different manufacturing processes that we have. Not to mention that Mexico is in majority a manufacturing country for big international companies. There is only a few small and mid-level companies who are in the way of a really engineer design process.

As I witnessed the evolution of ProE versions, from v20 through all Wildfire ones and finally with the arrive of Creo Parametric 2.0, I would say that development engineers at PTC have done a great job. I deliver Creo training for most of the modules and every time I still get impressed of what the software can do for us.

With all this experience and thoughts in my mind, I look to other countries and see the big advantage they have over engineer design in Mexico, my lovely country. Therefore, as an engineer, designer and most of all, as Mexican, I’m concern about the growth and development of our manufacturing market from the creative and invention point of view. There is a big urgency to develop good Mexican products which could be distributed worldwide that really have conceptualized, calculated, design and develop by Mexicans minds. Of course there are some, or few, or many, but for some reason, this beautiful country is indeed not yet recognized as a big country for developers. I hope not to harm some feelings, but we don’t really have an iconic technological (mechanical, electric/electronic, medical, just to mention some examples) product around the world, as many other countries do.

Now I’m sure we are on our way to develop big things. But the most important thing to develop in the first place, is our human potential and our creative abilities. So for that reason I would love to be read by all of my colleagues and thanks again for the great forum to post my blog at MCADCafe.

Dreaming on Desing at a nice place

Cathedral San Francisco de Asis

Trying to find some inspiration for my new post, I find myself at the main Plaza in the beautiful and historic city of Querétaro, México. Lots of people enjoying a nice afternoon and hearing the Cathedral bells calling for the next mass... Some raindrops are starting to fall over my phone but nobody seems to care about that.

Its a melancholic afternoon for me since I´ve missed PlanetPTC 2012 at Orlando, and because I find myself away from home and family due to a training CAD class I'm delivering outside my home city. Now I think I've found my imspiration...

Sitting here at the main Plaza I just wonder how people use to design things some decades ago without the use of CAD tools. Nowadays I tell and teach my students some engineering technics to take advantage of design and analisis software and some keep strugling to do things faster... faster?, what does that mean? one year, one month, one week, one day, one hour, one mouse click. It all depends at which era do you happend to born.

Mechanical CAD design is now a must for any engineering student which pretend to make things happend or who will to bring any new product to life.

Besides of engineering basics and some master degree at any specific topic, there should alwas be a CAD training in mind. Regardles the sofware, designers must follow a learning path in order to succed in the product design field. And this training path should be necesary followed in a specific sequence: basic > intermediate > advance.

There is a big problem trying to teach students in an advance training class when they barely know basic commands or, even worse, when they are not mechanical or industrial engineers. Some companies, at least in my lovely country, still doing such bad habit of sending principiants (maybe technicians, or drafters) to advanced training hoping they get back to work with new pro abilities and ready to bring solutions to daily problems. 

Desing is definitely not for anyone. It requires certain abilities of great creativity and imagination to foresee new things where already are and new posibilities to improve others. Engineering designs are meant to improve or help humandkind while Industrial desings are meant to make things look better. They are not apart one from the other, in fact they complement each other. Computer Assisted Design tools facilitate designers to achieve their goals as easily as possible, by doing nice concepts, functional designs, validation, digital prototyping, tooling and manufacturing preprocesses. Even though CAD software seems easy to use, there should always be a good designer (mechanical or industrial) behind the wheel who should put his/hers experience on the table to get what the market asks for.

Old fashion design and brand new techniques are not against each other. Take al look at this example of a very nice design of a public lamp in the middle of an historic colonial plaza. Its fascinating to find such things around us and learn they can get along and look good.

Lamp at Centro Histórico, Querétaro.

Hope you enjoyed this post and hope to receive some comments. See you!

jaVieR

Let's BLOG in english

This time I just thought writing in english would attract more visitors to my blog. So for those of you that haven´t read me yet, this is my CAD Engineer Blog. Its all about Mechanics Engineer, CAD & Desing and some other related themes such as Product Lifecylce Management... But this time I want to write about desing cool things and how to put them into market, not an easy task for many of us, but nice would be to see our own creations in stores and bought by million consumers, sounds great... don´t you think!.

There are mainly two types of ideas, the ones that we all propose about some personal need (maybe at home), and try to implement by doing some kind of prototype with all kind of old things we find at the garbage or attic. These ideas may or may not be useful or practical, most of them just last a couple of weeks due to its quality or materials, and suddenly, all of them are "dead". The second type of ideas, are those ideas people care about doing it the right way, that means, doing some research, skechtes and drawings, maybe 3D models, validation, a good marketing and of course... invest. At the end, its all about of belief and patience to bring something to real life.

I recently discovered a very nice website called Quirky.com. Its a community of designers and very creative people. Here one can upload ideas and the community will participate on selecting the best ones and improving some desing and manufacturing issues. Branding and marketing topics are covered here as well. Quirky is already partnered with very big and important companies in the US, which will help to retail winner ideas and cash back for the idea's author and the community.

Here I want to share my first posted idea at Quirky. I called it the HEXA-GRIP, and it is a confortable gripper to carry up to 6 big soda bottles at once. Although it didn't make it through the curation and evaluation process, it was very inspiring for me to keep working in developing more ideas.

There are plenty of good sources of desing ideas and concepts on the web. One of my favorites is Design-Milk.com. This site is more about Industrial & Artistic Design where authors show very nice ideas and concepts that really impact viewers and free our minds to think obout some surrealistic places and things we might live in or have.

So for all CAD Desingners or simply for all of you that like cool things and get impressed easily with simply and genius ideas, I invite you to open your mind and look forward to create something. It doesn't really matters if you get rich selling a nice product, what really matters is to use our creativity and search how to make our lives simple, easier and practical. A good idea should be shared and somehow it will become a mass product available for consumers. 

Do you really think this is a good product or just a cool idea:

Big step on the design process is to get through the manufacturing process. Modeling, protototyping, analisis, tooling and produce any piece of design, could really kill the a project. Therefore, planning this shoulb be major priority on avery design process. Without planning no production phase could ever be done, is that simple.

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is a state of the art strategy and solution to bring products to life. Managing all workflows, team members, departments, documents, and any other item involved on avery product and project process are already covered by PLM solutions, converting Collaboration in one of the biggest assets any company has.

Whenever people think about designing things, there should always be space for a good team of expers on each phase of the process in order to bring ideas into market.

Inventar y Descubrir

Inventar y descubrir son dos términos que suelen confundir a muchas personas, especialmente a los niños como cuando después de un buen día en la escuela, nos afirman categóricamente que Sir Isaac Newton inventó la gravedad o que Thomas Alva Edison descubrió la luz eléctrica. En fin, ejemplos como estos puede haber miles y la realidad  es que debemos entender y distinguir las diferencias entre ambas cosas y comprender que cada persona puede tener ciertas habilidades para una, para la otra o para ambas. Y tanto inventar como descubrir son acciones que pueden suceder de manera consciente o de manera inconsciente o accidental. De hecho, una gran cantidad de las cosas que ha desarrollado el hombre a lo largo de la historia, son producto de grandes descubrimientos y excelentes inventos que nos han permitido facilitar nuestra vida y nuestras acciones.

Descubrir se refiere a la acción de ser consciente de algún fenómeno natural que siempre ha estado “ahí” y ahora nos damos cuenta de su presencia, siendo esta de alta importancia o impacto para el presente y el futuro de la humanidad. Inventar es la acción constante de prueba y error para mejorar las cosas existentes y obtener una mejora sustancial o simplemente un artilugio nunca antes visto que permite al hombre facilitar su modo de vida.

Descubrir no excluye inventar así como inventar no excluye descubrir. Grandes descubrimientos realizados por el hombre han sido producto del intento por inventar algo nuevo, mientras que durante el desarrollo de grandes inventos se han descubierto nuevos fenómenos. Ejemplos de esto sobran a lo largo de la historia; basta con mencionar que para haber descubierto el universo y su comportamiento, se tuvieron que haber inventado aparatos de visión muy sofisticados, aún para su época. De la misma forma, al estar trabajando en algunos experimentos con ciertos inventos en los que se trataba de controlar la fluorescencia de algunos gases sometidos a descargas eléctricas dentro de tubos al vacío, el físico alemán Wilhelm Conrad Roetngen, descubrió los famosos Rayos X, que han sido de gran utilidad en la medicina y en la física de materiales. 

Pareciera que los grandes inventores y los más famosos descubridores de la historia, nacieron con ese don para serlo, y que Dios ha seleccionado a algunos afortunados quienes serán los encargados de seguir haciéndolo. Sin embargo esto es una gran mentira. Todos y cada uno de los seres humanos somos capaces de descubrir y/o inventar. De hecho lo hacemos constantemente desde que nacemos y hasta que morimos. En su gran mayoría descubrimos lo mismo que han descubierto otros antes y queremos inventar lo que ya existe, sólo que no lo sabíamos. La clave de todo esto, es estar consciente que cada uno de nosotros somos potencialmente grandes inventores o descubridores y que si abrimos nuestra mente y nuestros sentidos a cada aspecto de nuestra vida cotidiana, podríamos decirle al mundo como hacer mejor algunas cosas o como mejorar algunas actitudes del ser humano.

La tarea realmente difícil es ejercitar estas acciones de manera consciente y buscar la trascendencia de lo que podamos inventar o descubrir para hacerlo del conocimiento de todos. Claro que el proceso no es sencillo y a veces, nos enfrentaremos con obstáculos para lograrlo, pero este es el elemento más importante que nos diferencia de los grandes inventores y descubridores de la historia. Ellos lucharon y demostraron ante toda adversidad que tuvieron razón.

Finalmente debemos reconocer que ante nosotros existe una infinidad de cosas por descubrir y por inventar, y sin duda alguien lo va a hacer…