I'll take some screenshots as its being broadcast, and post them asap on Monday.

(that is, if my dad still has his TV card software installed)

IT / The Wheelchair
 

:) Yeah, its definitly not the wheelchair. I also saw him, at the NYC regional, it was amazing! I think that its not going to be the scooter, because you would think that if the patent stuff was reveled he would have just said, thats it. Well it also probobly true that its going to be announced December 3, because I remember last year hearing that it was going to be a year before they release what it was! I cant wait !:D :p

Here's what i think.......
 

Ok first off i think IT is powered by Ginger.....(dont know if thats already been said) and i think Ginger is a sterling engine (i think of a lot of people think that) plus Small Parts has small sterling engines in their cataloges now....and i think IT will either be some sort of scooter/bike/or even the extreme of a car...


:D

Just some speculation.....
 

I'm wondering how much people think IT will cost. Dean's last invention seems to have had a limited market, making it quite costly. Just wondering what you all think about who will use IT and make a guess on how much it might cost to buy/use. I'm betting electric powered (so use is on your electric bill) and around $8,000. What do you think?

Are Sterling Engines compact high-powered magnetic brushless DC motors?

Its crazy, but you neve know
 

:confused: Speaking of having the futuristic motor, I wonder (now i hanvn't gone insane), if we will use the motor in our robot for the 2002 FRC. Hey, its a thought, maybe a crazy one, but you never know!:D

I guess we will just have to wait and see.

??
 

Isnt it an engine that runs off its own heat that it produces...

:confused: :confused:

(i see that they have mini sterling engines on the small parts site under the holiday cateloge that u can put on coffee cups to power them....)

hey clark,
i hadn't heard of them until you mentioned them...could you post a link so we can all be so informed? ;) Finally getting that engergy lost to heat into usable energy is pretty incredible if thats what it does.

Re: Just some speculation.....
 

I read somewhere on www.theitquestion.com that IT will cost about $2000.

Also

anyone up for some fun detective work?? go to www.theItAnswer.com - blank page right? wrong. View the source of this page. look at the comment in the html. it reads, "A I, s 13: courtyard - palace of LITE - AQUILAE"

A quick search on yahoo and we have Act one, Scene 13 of the rough draft of Star Wars. It reads as follows:

"13. COURTYARD - PALACE OF LITE - AQUILAE

A low, sleek "landspeeder," (an auto-like transport which travels a few feet
above the ground on a magnetic field), glides into the courtyard of the palace
of Aquilae. The planet is desert wilderness, but the palace is a sparkling
oasis, with low concrete walls and great turrets spilling over with foliage
from rooftop gardens. The speeder stops before an enormous shaded corridor.
Fountains line the beautiful and highly polished, tiled walkway. Two young
boys, Biggs (7) and Windom (5) are helped out of the speeder by Amber, a one-
armed bodyguard dressed in the flowing white robes of the Aquilaean military.
The two boys run through the long corridors, yelling and screaming, their
little footsteps echoing throughout the palace."


Interesting huh???

Tom

How?
 

Where did u get the idea to look for that?? That's crazy....(even though they probably did that on purpose)

:)

Is there a way to find out who owns that domain name? If its the same people as www.theitquestion.com , then its cool...but no big deal. Anyone else, esp. someone close to Dean who could be working on IT, and its, well i suppose just as cool, but with a little hope. ;)

Cost
 

I remember a while back that Steve Jobs was raving about IT. He said it should get a price tag of $1,000 for the standard version and $2,500 for the advanced version. And if IT is a scooter that would be about that same price as what other gas powered scooters cost. I think it could be even lower because there is a much bigger audiences that for the iBot. The iBot is designed for people who are handicap and have use of their arms, which are unfortunately not a lot of people. Most people in wheelchairs have none or very little motor control of their arms. But IT would definitely have a much better audience for Kaman's invention.

Now I'm all excited.....calming down.....
I know this is a stretch if its a scooter-type design (from the patent drawings), but I wonder if it will be street legal. At the moment, I'm looking for a car...and IT would definately be cheaper (even the 'advanced' version) and overall cooler than a car - because it is IT. I'm prolly just getting my hopes up though... guess i'll just have to wait and see

Sterling Engine
 

I believe the Sterling Engine is a hydrogen-powered engine that runs off of purified water - and does, in fact, run off of the heat it produces... I think so anyway. Does anyone know for sure?

- Katie

"Don't ever compromise what you believe!"

Stirling engines have been around for a long time (almost 300 years), lots of big companies have researched them but no one has made them practical.

They don't run off of any particular fuel source (which is good) they can run off of any heat source. The efficiency of the engine is actually based on the high and low temperatures; a big temperature differential is more efficient.

You'll probably get introduced to them in college physics or thermodynamics (ie they're not that mysterious or archaic.)

Dan