A toy brings good news, saves lives in Afghanistan

[henryclay]

A kid from Minnesota sent his brother in Afghanistan a radio controlled toy truck with a home made attachment for a wireless video camera. It is interesting to know what Yankee Ingenuity was applied to it's use. I guess the word is out. Somebody should send more radio controlled toy trucks.

today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44071800/ns/today-today_people/?GT1=43001

[henryclay]

I think they do have something like it, but larger and on an industrial sized frame. Probably, and I'll be conservative here, 20 or 30 thousand dollars a copy. I remember seeing one in use a few years ago on a news segment. It would never go under a vehicle, though, and as I recall it was controlled from a vehicle with a console. I won't even guess at what that sucker would cost, or how big the crew it needed just to keep it all in reliable operating shape.

[Deleted]

DH likes building and racing RC cars. He'll love this.

[BeenThere...DoneThat...]

>>> It is interesting to know what Yankee Ingenuity was applied to it's use. <<<

;D

[busymom]

What a great story! Let's hear it for American ingenuity!

[handyman2]

Neat story. By the way this is how businesses are started. A novel idea that is not super expensive but does a vital job. For those that may have forgotten, this is the garage type technology that became Micro-Soft. Now they just need to design one that is patent capable and they will make millions selling them to the government.

[busymom]

BeenThere, didn't see your post 'til I did mine. Brilliant minds think alike!

[kent]

Neat stuff and only $500......

[mmhmm]

Cool little gadget! Here's a site through which you can contribute to help get more of these trucks in the hands of those who can benefit from them:

truckstotroops.com/

[henryclay]

mmhmm your link to the story works fine, but they have a further link posted and it takes me to a "404 error" . Can you scope it out and get us a link that works?

Oops, I was trying the wrong link.

Thanks.

[mmhmm]

Sure, Henry. Seems like a good cause to me. I had no hesitation in donating. Heck, if it only saves a few lives it's darned well worth it, as I see it!

[henryclay]

mmhmm, maybe between all of us we can help savfe ONE life. Even one arm or leg, or better yet, prevent a single scar.

Thanks again for the link. I will be broadcasting it to everybody I know.

kent, where did you get the $500 figure? I can't afford a whole truck at that price, maybe just a couple of tires.

[mmhmm]

The $500.00 figure was mentioned in one of the articles I read, henry. Don't remember which one. Heck, I can spend $500.00 on a few pairs of jeans. One of these little trucks is a much better way to drop that money!

[kent]

Aug 9, 2011 20:35:13 GMT -5 henryclay said:

mmhmm, maybe between all of us we can help savfe ONE life. Even one arm or leg, or better yet, prevent a single scar.

Thanks again for the link. I will be broadcasting it to everybody I know.

kent, where did you get the $500 figure? I can't afford a whole truck at that price, maybe just a couple of tires.

Henry It was in the article

Birth of a notion

This bit of Yankee ingenuity began when Chris Fessenden was deployed to Iraq as a vehicle mechanic in 2007, in the midst of his second decade in the military. One of his duties was to check under trucks and military vehicles for anything suspicious or any possible bombs that may be attached. Ernie asked Chris what he used to perform these tasks, and the answer was decidedly low-tech.

“He said that either you get on your hands and knees and look under, or they used a mirror to look underneath,’’ Ernie said. “I said, ‘There's got to be a better way than that.’ I was thinking, ‘What can we do to help them so that my brother comes home safe?’ ’’

Ernie, a software engineer, initially investigated the use of ground-penetrating radar, but felt that was too complicated and expensive. He had always been fascinated with radio-controlled helicopters, but figured in this instance, a truck would work best when trying to inspect the underbelly of the military vehicles.

He turned to Guy, a former truck driver and the owner of Everything Hobby, a 6-year-old store that specializes in remote-control cars, trucks and planes. They came up with the idea to outfit a Traxxis Stampede with a video camera that had a monitor that Chris could put on his rifle, and they added infrared lighting around the sides for night vision.

All told, it cost about $500, including $200 for the truck.

“This was the only solution that was really easy to do,’’ Ernie said. “We thought, ‘If it works, great, and if not, we're only out a couple hundred bucks.’ ’’

[kent]

Aug 9, 2011 19:20:48 GMT -5 mmhmm said:

Cool little gadget! Here's a site through which you can contribute to help get more of these trucks in the hands of those who can benefit from them:

truckstotroops.com/

Job well done! Thanks for finding this link!

[BeenThere...DoneThat...]

Aug 9, 2011 19:08:50 GMT -5 busymom said:

BeenThere, didn't see your post 'til I did mine. Brilliant minds think alike!