[bryanlarsen]

I don't think this is totally on the media. The story is sufficiently weasel worded -- the motor "could" "pave the way". Anybody with any experience reads "could" as "probably not" and "pave the way" as "a tiny little step in a long process".

Most 6 year olds have figured out that "maybe" means "probably not". Many adults have forgotten that lesson.

[picture]

Hey, as someone who's participated in the same competition, you got it right on the money. It's a well known joke amongst science fair students that "could pave the way to this and that" really means its kinda useless. Some of our school's projects from two years ago worked on quantum computing but didn't achieve the goals they'd hope for so our instructor just told them to sprinkle some paved the ways in their paper

[alex_young]

Most of the major inventions of the last 2 centuries were the product of many incremental steps. The automobile, the airplane, the computer, the internet, etc.

I think it's worth celebrating even minor contributions toward a potentially world changing future personally.

[petre]

They (Tesla) now design materials with ML. So it's more optimization than innovation. I think ML combined with FEMM analysis can also be used to optimize motors. It might turn out a model that it too costly to manufacture but why not try it?

Anyway, I hope Robert Samsone uses FEMM analysis to design his motor. It will definity help him build less prototypes.