So you got a heavy load of hazardous cargo...

Some time ago I had some interesting time playing around with a fun problem that needed solving. That is, solving it was fun to me, but quite critical for customer.

In this problem, this company needs to transfer a very heavy load (something in excess 100 metric tons) through a sloped serpentine road. As the cargo is somewhat hazardous (so not just some raw ore), they obviously do not want to put any excessive strain on it or its attachment during the transit, where it is loaded onto a transport vehicle. In essence, they wanted to measure the front-back and sideways loads (strain) the cargo were to be subjected to during the transit and especially during turns.

If this sounds a bit vague, sorry about it - although I am not under any NDA, I do not wish to tell exactly about the application as a courtesy to customer's privacy.

As it turns out, I already had suitable hardware for this - our slope meter. It can measure acceleration over multiple axis, so I just had to work out suitable formulae to calculate the load - which I did, after some pondering (over pen and paper - but it also helped that I had already previously worked with similar problems, just in more limited circumstances). I did some preliminary testing and found out that my solution would nicely and with very nice accuracy over all the transit vehicle axis.

What I love about my situation is that I can actually work towards problems that do not necessarily pay out. I can do forward research - sometimes failing by not finding solution, sometimes finding a solution for specific problem but not getting any sales for it here and then.

This time, unfortunately for me, they chose a solution from another company, so I never got to see my finished solution in action. A pity, as it would have been very interesting.

So this problem falls to latter category. I did some work, but it didn't pay out. Nevertheless, I still did solve the problem at hand, and I never throw things like this away - it is still there, waiting for suitable client that needs something similar.

It is really surprising how often some research I did one time without reward suddenly finds a new client or even clientele, in a place I never expected. This specific one remains unsold, but I still have the solution in my tool kit.

One day a customer will come that desperately needs it. And then I can deliver just what they need.

Just like so many things sitting in the same proverbial took kit. Eventually, most of the research I do will pay out. Not all, mind you, but since you never know what will turn out profitable in the end, you just have to go by a hunch sometimes and take problems that might seem less than profitable at first.

But then again, sometimes it happens that I make things that never sell enough to make up the initial (monetary) investment. Such is life. Fortunately those things are in minority overall.