Ryan Wheeler, engineer in materials and processes at Rockwell Collins, manipulates a Wii remote as he demonstrates a virtual reality exercise used to develop manufacturing and maintenance processes. The images projected behind him on the screen are the images he is seeing in his head-mounted display / Gazette photo by Mark Tade

By Maggie Mills
For Gazette Special Sections

Not everyone is lucky enough to be able to mix work and play in a productive and stimulating environment. For employees who work in the Advanced Manufacturing Simulation Lab at Rockwell Collins, innovative technology not only advances business – it also makes work a lot more fun.

Jack Harris, director of advanced manufacturing technology, describes the lab as one that uses virtual reality and a number of other types of simulations to create virtual product models and even simulate their use for testing.  The ability to do all of this in “virtual space” allows employees to develop, implement and debug projects before they are released, which can be a great advantage for the company.

The lab’s technology can certainly be described as futuristic, but according to Harris, the idea came about three years ago, when gaming technologies advanced to a point where using them for business just made sense.  The application of the technology, for Rockwell Collins, includes such techniques as having assembly operators use a Nintendo Wii remote control to navigate a virtual assembly of a product.

“We’re hoping to integrate less costly solutions, like the Wii controllers, to replace the existing more expensive equipment we have now so that we’re able to have cost effective multiple extensions of the lab throughout the company,” Harris said.

The more budget-friendly gaming technology, coupled with cutting-edge applications, is exactly what Harris believes will appeal to the next generation of professionals. “They’re a gaming generation. They play with this technology everyday and they can walk into our labs, pick up the equipment, and work with it right away,” he said. “This is such a familiar technology for them, so the skills are already there.”

Story courtesy: The Gazette, National Engineers Week Special Section, 2009

Cedar Rapids Rollergirl Andrea "Motley Cruel" Clay blocks Big Mouth Mickies' Carbomb Betty during a recent game at the US Cellular Center/ Gazette photo by Liz Martin.

 By Justin Braden
For Hoopla!

CEDAR RAPIDS – Walking up to the National Guard Armory, where the Cedar Rapids Roller Girls are holding their usual Tuesday practice, it seems entirely appropriate to hear Motley Cruel (aka Andi Clay) addressing her team like a drill sergeant. It also makes perfect sense that despite the rock music blaring from the radio in the corner, they all listen attentively to every word she says.

After being on three different teams in three years, Andi knows the ins and outs of this surging sport. It’s a tough game and the girls who play it are just as tough, whether they be pivots (scorers), jammers (guides) or blockers. Andi has experience at all positions, but usually takes the “brains” role of a pivot.

“I’ve had a broken hand, a fractured tailbone, a shoulder out of socket and three concussions. The one that hurt the most, though, was the fractured cheek bone,” Andi says. “In the first five minutes of a bout, a girl hit me so hard that when it was over, I needed a neck brace. I played on adrenaline the rest of the time anyway. There is nothing you can do about a broken face.”

Originally from Bloomington, Ind., Andi, 37,  played for the Bloomington Bleeding Heartland Flatliners. When her husband was transferred to Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, she began traveling to Des Moines to practice with the Mid-Iowa Rollers. Soon, she decided to start her own team. After hooking up with the like-minded AJ Renegade from Ely, the two made up fliers and began distributing them around town. Word of the team spread and they had to cap the number of girls at 30.

The team has become so popular that beginners now have to try out to join. The Cedar Rapids Rollergirls are now broken down into three sub-teams the Helldorados, Bombshell Cartel and Demon Dolls. They practice Sundays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Andi scouts for natural talent like footwork, quickness and of course, the ability to give and take a hit.

“Pack awareness is key,” Andi says. “If you don’t know how to fall, you’re going to hurt yourself.”

They held their first Cedar Rapids bout in October. Nearly 2,000 people filled the US Cellular Center. Another 900 came to the second in November. In March, all three Cedar Rapids teams are gearing up for a mixer with Des Moines, Clinton’s Big Mouth Mickies and the Quad City Rollers at the US Cellular Center. They’re also planning a scrimmage against the North Stars from Minnesota…

Andi has big designs for the future, including an all guys team. Now, the male skaters are used as referees. But a few are looking for a chance to battle.

“I would love to have a coed team,” Andi says. ”But at this point we can easily take the boys.”

DID YOU KNOW: Scores in roller derby are often in the hundreds and penalties are almost constant.

Story courtesy: HooplaNow.com

By Jan Clarke
For Gazette Special Sections

Budcat Art Director Matt Van Dinter reviews texture and wire frame models of Metalhead, a character exclusive to the Guitar Hero titles designed by the Iowa City gaming company / Photo by Jan Clarke

IOWA CITY – “Guitar Hero.” ” Madden.”  “Medal of Honor.”  ”The New York Times Crosswords.”  Some of the hottest titles in video games are being developed in southeastern Iowa.

Iowa City game designer Budcat Creations has developed about 20 of the hottest game titles, including Medal of Honor: Vanguard, several titles in the Madden sports series and several hugely popular Guitar Hero titles: Aerosmith, Legends of Rock and World Tour.

Genius works quickly at Budcat. Without any prior DS experience, the company was able to design, develop and ship Nacho Libre in four months. Without any prior Wii experience, Budcat was able to develop Medal of Honor for the Wii in less than three months. The company develops games for Nintendo DS, Playstation, Nintendo Wii, Gameboy Advance and Xbox.

When Budcat develops a game for different platforms, team members work on both games at the same time and share as much of the code and “art assets”-the 3D characters and environments-as possible, in order to reduce the workload. General Manager and co-founder Jeremy Andersen says it’s not unusual to have 20 people on a development team. The company now employs 62 people.

Isaac Burns, one of the managing partners of Budcat Creations, says hardware is definitely more advanced than when Budcat Creations was founded in 2000. As the scope of the projects for the next-generation consoles increases, game development requires more engineers, designers and artists.

Andersen agrees. “The newer systems have more room to fit more content on the disk,” he said.  Early games were only 16 or 32 colors, and the graphics were blocky and chunky. “Video games are looking more like TV shows now, and it’s a lot more work,” he says.

Currently, Budcat has three games in development: “Our House,” a compilation of homebuilding and remodeling-themed games for the Wii, and another (top secret) title for PlayStation 2 and Wii.

Who comes up with the game concept? It depends. When Majesco Entertainment wanted a game based on the movie “Nacho Libre,” the game idea and story came from Budcat.

“We made a concept pitch to Majesco, and then they took it to Paramount,” Andersen says.

A concept pitch is a two- or three-page document that lays out the game idea. When Budcat gets the go-ahead, preproduction starts: they detail a game design document; ensure that they have the proper staffing and tools for the job; and set out a timetable with milestones for deliverables.

“Once all that is worked out, the artists and engineers get to work,” Andersen says. The process is extremely collaborative.

When the Budcat staff isn’t under a crushing deadline, they hold a monthly “design day,” and divide into small groups to brainstorm ideas for new games.

After fleshing out several of the ideas, the staff whittles the list down to the concepts that fit Budcat’s development capabilities. They write a concept document, create a game design document, and design a prototype.

In the past, they would have pitched the concept to whichever publisher they thought would be the best prospect. In November, however, Budcat Creations was acquired by Activision Publishing, so now Budcat pitches exclusively to Activision.

The purchase allows Budcat to keep its roots in Iowa City, where co-founding brothers Jeremy and Jason Andersen grew up and where co-founder and managing partner Isaac Burns earned his BS in mechanical engineering at University of Iowa.

Casey Dague, a junior at Jefferson High School in Cedar Rapids, is at work in one of the school’s engineering labs on a breadboarded circuit. The circuit will spell “Jefferson” using a 7-second display.

By Alex Busbee
For Gazette Special Sections

Casey Dague is one of many students who take advantage of engineering programs offered in Eastern Iowa schools. Now a junior at Cedar Rapids Jefferson, Dague’s enrolled in a program called Project Lead The Way.

“The middle school programs (LEGO League and Future City) really got me interested in engineering so that’s why I decided to take these courses in high school,” he said.

Project Lead The Way, or PLTW, is a national program that uses hands-on activities based on real-world engineering projects.

“Last year we did a project from my biotechnical engineering course,” said Dague. “It was called the aquaponics project.  It’s a complex system where you’re using waste from fish and converting it to food for plants.”

Multiple skills, including managing resources and public speaking, are developed in PLTW. Another skill, teamwork, is one of the most important emphasized in the program.

Dague learned how team building is a critical skill during his internship last summer at Rockwell Collins.  There, they have team meetings twice a week to discuss deadlines and overall progress.

 ”That was pretty exciting,” he commented about his internship experience. “I think that would be a great place to work and they hire a lot of engineers, obviously, and it’s good to stay local.”

Dague also enjoys his time with PLTW and encourages his fellow students to take advantage of these classes.

“There’s a huge shortage of qualified engineers and I think this program is really good at getting more people involved in engineering,” said Dague. “I would (recommend it). Even if you’re not interested in engineering at the moment, you can still go in and find out what it is. I had no clue what engineering was until I had the chance to be like an engineer and design things. It’s pretty cool.”

Dague plans to attend Iowa or Iowa State and major in chemical or material science engineering.

Source: The Gazette, National Engineers Week section, 2009.

Horse shoer Rick Elsor working on a horse at the Miner farm near Ely, Iowa

Betty Johnston

This was taken at the Roller Dam in CR one early morning in Jan.

Jody Thompson

I was thinking of scene transitions for movies when I wrote this. Maybe a guy heading down the road in his convertible running away from a life he never wanted. Picture a desert at sunrise.

Matthew Manuel

Caleb Byersdorfer of Iowa City walks Mia and Zephyr through Hickory Hill Park in Iowa City. Byersdorfer started his dog walking business called the Mobile Pack /Brian Ray, The Gazette

By Alyssa Cashman
The Gazette

IOWA CITY — Mia is having a coughing fit, and Zephyr can barely contain his excitement.

But with a gentle tap to his hind leg, Zephyr calms down, and with a reassuring rub behind the ears, Mia stops coughing.

There’s no denying it, Caleb Byersdorfer has a way with his furry clients.

Byersdorfer is a dog walker. He just started a dog-walking business, The Mobile Pack, in August, and said it is his dream job.

“It’s all about how you interact with the dogs,” Byersdorfer said. “I put off a very a calm energy.”

And energy is what The Mobile Pack is all about.

Keeping the dogs calm and controlled is the key to good dog walking, Byersdorfer said.

But strapping a leash on the pups and walking for 45 minutes is only the beginning of what he does.

Connecting and getting to know each dog is a vital component of his business.

“I’m a naturalist and I believe in positive reinforcement,” Byersdorfer said.

Whenever he gets a new client, he takes the dog out individually before grouping the canine with others for walks. He uses different training techniques for different dogs but eventually tries to group them together for socializing.

Any dog can be trained to be submissive and calm, he said.

Zephyr is Byersdorfer’s American pit bull terrier. Although he’s excited today, with someone other than his owner around, it’s far easier to focus the pup after a walk, Byersdorfer said.

“Exercise is the most important thing” he said. Without regular walking, all that pent-up energy can result in hyperactivity and general naughtiness.

On the walks, which usually last about 45 minutes, Byersdorfer keeps the dogs on a short leash but also tries to keep the leash loose. He is controlling the pace, not the dogs.

Some days, he straps on his Rollerblades to take the dogs for a spin.

After the walk, he’ll let the dogs roam around a bit more as a reward for a calm, controlled walk.

Although he has only three clients, he knows there is a huge demand for pet care and hopes to continue to expand his business and gain employees.

He values consistency and said he has the advantage of an outside eye — meaning he can more easily see gradual changes in a dog, like health deterioration.

Will he ever give up walking for the sidelines of management?

“I’ll never be a hands-off manager,” Byersdorfer said. “It forces me to get exercise, too, and I enjoy it.”

As his business grows, Byersdorfer is working his way toward becoming a certified professional dog trainer. He continues to take courses and research new methods, which he said sets him apart from the competition.

His wife, Rosanna, is his business partner, and she keeps tabs on the inner workings of the organization.

Although his job is unconventional, Byersdorfer couldn’t be happier.

“I like proving to people that things aren’t always what they think they are,” he said. “And I couldn’t see myself in a cubicle for the rest of my life.”

At a Glance

• Caleb Byersdorfer
• Age: 24
• Home: Iowa City
• Job: Dog walker, owner of The Mobile Pack
• Education: Associate in arts from Kirkwood Community College
• Family: Wife, Rosanna; dog, Zephyr

Santos, a virtual human, assembles a car to test the ergonomics of an automotive assembly line. Santos was developed by the Virtual Soldier Research Program at University of Iowa/Photo courtesy of University of Iowa's VSR program.

By Jan Clarke
For Gazette Special Sections

IOWA CITY – “The first time we asked him to move a box, he automatically bent his knees to keep the torque on his joints as low as possible,” says Anith Mathai, engineering team lead for the Virtual Soldier Research (VSR) Program.

Mathai is talking about Santos, the digital human that is the brainchild of the VSR Program at the University of Iowa’s Center for Computer-Aided Design.

Most digital human models are data-driven, but Santos uses optimization methodology derived from civil engineering so he responds much like a human. According to Mathai, the hypothesis is that humans optimize the amount of energy they use to accomplish tasks.

Changing the parameters, or cost functions, of Santos’ movements tells him how to operate. For example, the engineers might tell Santos to cross a room as if he can’t move his head. Santos will then decide the best way to accomplish the task.

“(The action) has to look realistic,” says Mathai. “Since humans can’t fly or take gigantic jumps, those solutions don’t pop up.”

Santos is used as a tool to determine the effectiveness of product designs.

“There’s no way to have a (real) human interact with models without building a prototype,” says Mathai. Since Santos lives in the virtual world of a computer, he can interact directly with the designs.

The U.S. military uses Santos to analyze and test body armor. Santos can be configured to represent various sizes, weights, and strengths. This allows engineers to determine which designs are the most effective in providing protection while maximizing the soldiers’ agility and flexibility.

Commercially, Santos has been used to evaluate vehicles’ interior designs. Santos also has been used by the United States Council for Automotive Research to perform ergonomics analyses of work stations on vehicle assembly lines.

The VSR Program involves about 35 engineers, including students, from several engineering disciplines, including mechanical, civil, computer and electrical.

UI student Ross Johnson of North Liberty works with the VSR program. He helps research and program new methods and techniques to help Santos predict more human-like postures.

He also researches and programs Santos’ collision avoidance system.

“This is really cool,” Johnson says, “because this is the system responsible for making Santos aware of his environment, which prevents him from bumping into stuff.”

Johnson also worked on developing a hand model that can intelligently grasp objects, allowing Santos to grasp a spoon differently from a ball, for example.

What’s the next step? Mathai says the team is working on a cognitive model.

C Gazette Communications, 2009.

Workers with Construction Advantage of Shellsburg install the exterior insulated concrete forms on the Butch and Ruth Kampan home outside of Parkersburg /Photo courtesy of Construction Advantage

By Gloria Aleff

PARKERSBURG – When the EF-5 tornado devastated the Parkersburg community on May 25, 2008, Butch and Ruth Kampman were out of town. The couple lives just five miles outside of Parkersburg, but they weren’t worried about their home.

“Our house is built of concrete,” said Butch.

Sadly, the Parkersburg home of Butch’s grandmother was one of 288 destroyed by the tornado. Another 49 in that community were damaged.

When the Kampmans were ready to build a home on their acreage in 2007, they knew they didn’t want a conventional stick-built home. They decided on a concrete home that has exterior concrete walls constructed with insulated concrete forms that provide resistance to high winds and storms.

Ruth designed the 3,526-square-foot home and Construction Advantage of Shellsburg installed the insulated concrete forms.

Construction Advantage owner, Lonnie Speckner, concurs the exterior concrete wall system dramatically stands up to the fury of nature. Steve Mallicoat, regional services manager of Iowa Ready Mixed Concrete Association and Iowa Concrete Paving Association, describes a concrete home as “a safe generation home.”

The Kampmans have also been impressed with the energy-efficiency of their new house which stays cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. In December, their heating bill totaled $35.

The biggest myth about a concrete home is that the exterior looks like concrete, but the Kampmans’ home has a stone and vinyl exterior.

But it offers the couple much more. “It gives us peace of mind knowing that if storms, such as a tornado, do come our way, our home will be standing,” said Ruth.