Engineering to inspire

Create 2011 Help Files: How do I know if my ideas are good?

It’s easy to know if we made it in school. Our report cards have A’s, B’s, C’s on them. Problem is: it gets thorny outside of school where standards (e.g. 90 marks = A) become somewhat fuzzy and arbitrary.

That includes the Create2011 Engineering Challenge.

We’re looking for “a brilliant idea related to the theme of Future Mobility, one which can improve the way we play, think, live and connect.”

But how do we know if our ideas are “brilliant”?

The judges will tell us…if we make it to the finals. But we’ll need some way of deciding before then; to see if we’re “on track” or not.

So for this instalment of the Create2011 Help Files, the Creators of Tomorrow tell us what they think makes a brilliant idea.

Note: These are some ways to help you judge if your ideas are good. Tell us what you think about them in the comments…

Featured Video: Sport Science Hardest Kick

We love this TV series that’s all about how athletes do what they do. It measures their performance levels in terms of time, speed and force. For example, this one on Muay Thai demonstrates how hard they can kick – up to 1,000 lbs of force!

Now that’s impressive!

Melchor Menor shows how powerful a muay thai low kick can be. Sports Science shows how shinbone is broken down to become as hard as rock.

Take the Create2011 engineering challenge and tell us your vision of Future Mobility to win the grand prize of: A Nokia Experiential Journey in Beijing and Singapore! Check out our Facebook fanpage for exciting contests & giveaways!

We interrupt this program…

…to tell you about Create2011 prizes!

"When we talk about the "future of mobility", what comes to mind?"
Answer this question and the top 10 answers win a pair of movie tickets each!

Submit your ideas to us before 30 June 2010, you could walk away with one of three Nokia handphones we’re giving away to reward the early birds.

First 100 to submit their ideas will be entitled to a Nokia retail voucher’ to ‘Each member of the first 40 teams to submit their ideas will be entitled to Nokia retail vouchers.

The 5 Finalist teams from each category will receive SGD$1000 per team. The school of each finalist teams will be given SGD$1000 to help their students further develop their idea.

For the team who wins the once-in-a-lifetime Nokia Experiential Journey Grand Prize, which includes a 4-day (meals, economy airfare, reasonable accommodation) experiential journey to the Nokia Campus in Beijing, including tours to the Design Centre, and state-of-the-art Nokia manufacturing facility in China, as well as an exclusive visit to Nokia’s regional headquarters in Singapore to meet the people behind Nokia’s business and innovation.

World Cup: Soccer Technologies

“Everyone’s watching it. Young ‘uns, old ones, not-so-old ones. Are you?”

It’s a shameless rip-off on Glee’s TVC spot. But it’s true, ain’t it?

Everyone’s watching the World Cup 2010 now; even though it’s shown during ungodly hours (2.30am, and bleary eyes anyone?).

We understand why...

After all, football (or “soccer” as the Yanks call it) grips us: a sigh of relief as defenders tackle the ball away from their goalmouth; midfielders lob balls into the opposing half where attackers latch onto it, run and volley into GOOOOAALLLLL!!!!

Now that’s football action for you.

And like other sports, technology has changed the beautiful game.

The balls fly faster, straighter (or in some cases, curve more), boots that supposedly grip the pitch better, lasers to determine if there’s a goal, and, for those who can’t make it to South Africa, watching the entire action in 3D.

Featured Video: Science of Soccer

Since it’s the World Cup, we thought we’d showcase the science behind soccer. How players bend the ball’s flight, how to turn it into a rocket-like object… y’know the kinds of things that make life difficult for goalkeepers.

Science and science fiction writer Edward Willett talks about the science of soccer on CBC Newsworld.

Featured Video: Tap Water = Electricity?

Found this video on how tap water can be turned into electricity from Last year’s Consumer Electronics Show. Apparently it can power a laptop. While it’s certainly green and clean, does it mean that we’ll be paying for water now?

Watch as Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies shows off a handful of devices at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show that turn ordinary tap water into electricity, which can then be used to supply power to a range of devices - from notebook computers to mobile phones. TechWebTV's David Berlind interviews the company's co-founder Taras Wankewycz to find out how the Singapore-based startup has managed this bit of magic.

Create 2011 Ideas: Getting Started

Create 2011: Getting started

Last week we’ve gotten Yap Choon Seng’s thoughts on ideas, starting up, working with teammates and competition winners. From this week onwards, we’ll be taking a closer look at his suggestions within the context of Create2011.

Let’s start from the very beginning at Getting Started.

He suggested:

Start by looking for similar things that my predecessors have done. Often we do projects that aren’t ground-breaking, never-seen-before stuff. There would have been prior examples.

As this year is about Future Mobility at Create2011, let’s have a look at what’s Future Mobility first.

According to the website, “[Future Mobility is] one which can improve the way we play, think, live and connect. We want ideas that aren't tied down to a desk or a power socket, ideas that truly improve ‘the quality of moving freely’."

With that in mind, let’s think of ideas that were considered as Future Mobility back in their days.

Would the steam engine rank highly on your list? Perhaps as well, because it let us cover vast distances in less time than riding a horse.

Or would charging Nokia phones with bicycles be considered Future Mobility? Perhaps, because we can charge our phones by bringing it with us; instead of leaving it at home.

Or hologram baseball cards that use Augmented Reality games? Combining the real world with virtual world was a stroke of genius. (PS: have a look at our AR page).

History are full of examples where the best projects are built upon other people’s works. Check out what people have done, over at:

Do you think that history’s the only way to get started? Tell us in the comments.