The Projects Of Prototype This
From BruCON 2016
Designing and building projects is hard. Designing and building projects of things that have never been done before is harder. Designing and building projects of things that have never been done before with the financial and time constraints of TV is ridiculous.
For 18 months, noted hackers Joe "Kingpin" Grand and Zoz were co-hosts of the show Prototype This on the Discovery Channel International, an engineering entertainment program that followed the real-life design process of a unique prototype every episode. Comprised of an electrical engineer (Joe), a roboticist (Zoz), a material scientist, and special effects guy, we had the major bases covered. A total of thirteen episodes were produced, each with their share of challenges and drama. Sometimes the prototypes worked, sometimes they didn't, but they all involved interesting hacks and behind-the-scenes stories. Joe and Zoz have never talked about these projects in Europe before...
In this very visual presentation, we'll go through design details and show never-before-seen pictures and videos related to some of our favorite episodes, including the Traffic Busting Truck, Fire Fighter PyroPack, Virtual Sea Adventure, Waterslide Simulator, Flying Lifeguard, and as many more as we have time for. Speaking of time... each of these had to be designed and built in a matter of weeks!