Prototype This, is a great new show on the Discovery Channel.  It continued to answer my dreams of a truely great prototyping / product development show.  Many of their tactics for quick prototyping are those that we employ throughout the entire development process.  They use existing technology, so no long term research and development is necessary (they only have a few weeks).  More importantly they outsource through an established network!  In the second episode featuring boxing robots they utilized the help of many area experts to get their prototype done.

• Golden Glove winner, Professional Boxer
• Motion Capture Company
• Robot Building Expert
• Welders

While the team may have been able to do this project with their internal team, they saved a ton of time using experts and got a better end product because of it.  The team knew how to weld, but needed extra hands.  The team could have learned to box, but that can take years of experience.  These days, especially in this business outsourcing has come to mean going overseas.  Although we do go to Asia for some of our advanced prototyping and manufacturing, the majority of our outsourcing is very similar to Prototype This.  I can’t wait for next weeks show!