Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

Popular Mechanics 2008 Breakthrough Awards

by Andrew McKinnon on November 1, 2008 at 01:16 PM



Popular Mechanics put on a great show Wednesday for their 2008 Breakthrough Awards
featuring products and inventions from synthesized diesel to powerful solar panels to
small packets that make dirty water drinkable. The Awards honor the innovators,
visionaries and product designers whose engineering talents and creations stimulate the
moral imagination by aspiring to do more with less in the service of the greater good. 

The Leadership Award, the top honor, went to Amy Smith from MIT's D-Lab, an incubator
which introduces students to the technical, social and economic problems of the third
world. The Editors have come up with a clever device, an "equation", to help the layman
understand each engineer's contribution. Amy Smith's prize-winning equation: "brilliant 
design + broad experience in developing countries + passion = a movement to tackle 
complex problems with simple technology."

Amy Smith is a worthy successor to Buckminster Fuller, except that she succeeds in 
areas where Fuller failed. She, like Bucky, asks the big questions but she meets the challenges with 
products and solutions that are simple, efficient and empowering. One big question is: 
"What is the number one cause of death for children under five?" Quick, think. Is it HIV,
malnutrition, land mines? The number one cause of death is acute respiratory failure 
brought on by indoor cooking fires.  

Ms. Smith met this challenge by developing a charcoal briquette maker that converts
carbonized corn cobs into a clean burning fuel. The machine was on display on the third 
floor atrium of the Hearst Building along with the Mars Phoenix lander,a motion capture 
system developed by Organic Motion, and a car-shaped test tube containing renewable diesel
 
A car, the Aptera Typ-1e, was parked in front of the Hearst Building on 57th and 8th Avenue, 
drawing a huge crowd. Steve Fambro the CEO and co-founder of Aptera Motors could not have 
dreamed of better placement for his ultra-high-mileage, 120-150 miles per charge car which 
also appeared on the front cover of Popular Mechanics' November Issue. It was the most 
charismatic of the products on Breakthrough Awards red carpet, addressing the sins of us
gas guzzlers. Aptera's equation: "aerodymanic design + lightweight composite-fiber body +
real-world experience = a new, ultraefficient automotive category". The Typ-1e will be 
available by the end of 2008 and will be priced at $30,000. 

Will Wright of Sims fame was awarded a Breakthrough award for his Spore, a game where players guide 
the development of the game itself. Will sat down with Popular Mechanics senior technology
editor Glenn Derene to discuss his development as the Game Master and the future of game media. 
The interview along with extensive coverage of the event are available on the Popular Mechanics
website.
 
From Popular Mechanics 2008 Breakthrough Awards






HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular