WEBVTT 00:00:01.522 --> 00:00:05.500 So, I'm going to start off with kind of the buzzkill a little bit. 00:00:05.500 --> 00:00:07.631 Forty-two million people 00:00:07.631 --> 00:00:10.741 were displaced by natural disasters in 2010. 00:00:10.741 --> 00:00:13.812 Now, there was nothing particularly special about 2010, 00:00:13.812 --> 00:00:17.108 because, on average, 31 and a half million people 00:00:17.108 --> 00:00:20.211 are displaced by natural disasters every single year. 00:00:20.211 --> 00:00:22.759 Now, usually when people hear statistics or stats like that, 00:00:22.759 --> 00:00:25.553 you start thinking about places like Haiti or other kind of 00:00:25.553 --> 00:00:28.973 exotic or maybe even impoverished areas, but it happens 00:00:28.973 --> 00:00:32.096 right here in the United States every single year. 00:00:32.096 --> 00:00:35.111 Last year alone, 99 federally declared disasters 00:00:35.111 --> 00:00:37.357 were on file with FEMA, 00:00:37.357 --> 00:00:40.548 from Joplin, Missouri, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 00:00:40.548 --> 00:00:44.939 to the Central Texas wildfires that just happened recently. 00:00:44.939 --> 00:00:47.004 Now, how does the most powerful country in the world 00:00:47.004 --> 00:00:49.103 handle these displaced people? 00:00:49.103 --> 00:00:51.532 They cram them onto cots, put all your personal belongings 00:00:51.532 --> 00:00:53.700 in a plastic garbage bag, stick it underneath, 00:00:53.700 --> 00:00:56.715 and put you on the floor of an entire sports arena, 00:00:56.715 --> 00:01:00.226 or a gymnasium. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:00.226 --> 00:01:03.288 So obviously there's a massive housing gap, 00:01:03.288 --> 00:01:06.196 and this really upset me, because academia tells you 00:01:06.196 --> 00:01:08.485 after a major disaster, there's typically about 00:01:08.485 --> 00:01:11.824 an 18-month time frame to -- we kinda recover, 00:01:11.824 --> 00:01:13.401 start the recovery process, 00:01:13.401 --> 00:01:15.766 but what most people don't realize is that on average 00:01:15.766 --> 00:01:18.830 it takes 45 to 60 days or more 00:01:18.830 --> 00:01:21.692 for the infamous FEMA trailers to even begin to show up. 00:01:21.692 --> 00:01:25.310 Before that time, people are left to their own devices. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:25.310 --> 00:01:28.686 So I became obsessed with trying to figure out a way 00:01:28.686 --> 00:01:30.836 to actually fill this gap. 00:01:30.836 --> 00:01:33.390 This actually became my creative obsession. 00:01:33.390 --> 00:01:36.095 I put aside all my freelance work after hours and started 00:01:36.095 --> 00:01:41.837 just focusing particularly on this problem. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:41.837 --> 00:01:43.196 So I started sketching. 00:01:43.196 --> 00:01:45.220 Two days after Katrina, I started sketching and sketching 00:01:45.220 --> 00:01:47.068 and trying to brainstorm up ideas or solutions for this, 00:01:47.068 --> 00:01:50.226 and as things started to congeal or ideas started to form, 00:01:50.226 --> 00:01:52.452 I started sketching digitally on the computer, 00:01:52.452 --> 00:01:55.921 but it was an obsession, so I couldn't just stop there. 00:01:55.921 --> 00:01:58.060 I started experimenting, making models, 00:01:58.060 --> 00:02:00.838 talking to experts in the field, taking their feedback, 00:02:00.838 --> 00:02:03.749 and refining, and I kept on refining and refining 00:02:03.749 --> 00:02:06.805 for nights and weekends for over five years. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:06.805 --> 00:02:10.290 Now, my obsession ended up driving me to create 00:02:10.290 --> 00:02:12.575 full-size prototypes in my own backyard — (Laughter) — 00:02:12.575 --> 00:02:14.941 and actually spending my own personal savings on 00:02:14.941 --> 00:02:17.190 everything from tooling to patents 00:02:17.190 --> 00:02:19.806 and a variety of other costs, 00:02:19.806 --> 00:02:22.670 but in the end I ended up with this modular housing system 00:02:22.670 --> 00:02:25.332 that can react to any situation or disaster. 00:02:25.332 --> 00:02:28.431 It can be put up in any environment, 00:02:28.431 --> 00:02:32.374 from an asphalt parking lot to pastures or fields, 00:02:32.374 --> 00:02:34.377 because it doesn't require any special setup 00:02:34.377 --> 00:02:36.559 or specialty tools. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:36.559 --> 00:02:38.279 Now, at the foundation and kind of the core 00:02:38.279 --> 00:02:41.213 of this whole system is the Exo Housing Unit, 00:02:41.213 --> 00:02:43.646 which is just the individual shelter module. 00:02:43.646 --> 00:02:45.378 And though it's light, light enough that you can actually 00:02:45.378 --> 00:02:47.534 lift it by hand and move it around, 00:02:47.534 --> 00:02:51.233 and it actually sleeps four people. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:51.237 --> 00:02:53.901 And you can arrange these things as kind of more 00:02:53.901 --> 00:02:56.676 for encampments and more of a city grid type layout, 00:02:56.676 --> 00:02:58.571 or you can circle the wagons, essentially, 00:02:58.571 --> 00:03:00.582 and form these circular pods out of them, 00:03:00.582 --> 00:03:03.038 which give you this semi-private communal area 00:03:03.038 --> 00:03:05.807 for people to actually spill out into so they're not actually 00:03:05.807 --> 00:03:07.906 trapped inside these units. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:07.906 --> 00:03:10.331 Now this fundamentally changes 00:03:10.331 --> 00:03:12.489 the way we respond to disasters, 00:03:12.489 --> 00:03:14.467 because gone are the horrid conditions 00:03:14.467 --> 00:03:17.192 inside a sports arena or a gymnasium, where people 00:03:17.192 --> 00:03:19.204 are crammed on these cots inside. 00:03:19.204 --> 00:03:24.791 Now we have instant neighborhoods outside. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:24.791 --> 00:03:27.766 So the Exo is designed to be simply, basically 00:03:27.766 --> 00:03:30.008 like a coffee cup. They can actually stack together 00:03:30.008 --> 00:03:32.933 so we get extremely efficient transportation 00:03:32.933 --> 00:03:35.184 and storage out of them. 00:03:35.184 --> 00:03:39.820 In fact, 15 Exos can fit on a single semi truck by itself. 00:03:39.820 --> 00:03:42.994 This means the Exo can actually be transported and set up 00:03:42.994 --> 00:03:47.978 faster than any other housing option available today. 00:03:47.978 --> 00:03:49.967 But I'm obsessive, so I couldn't just stop there, 00:03:49.967 --> 00:03:51.856 so I actually started modifying the bunks where you could 00:03:51.856 --> 00:03:54.164 actually slide out the bunks and slide in desks or shelving, 00:03:54.164 --> 00:03:55.676 so the same unit can now be used 00:03:55.676 --> 00:03:58.901 for an office or storage location. 00:03:58.901 --> 00:04:02.619 The doors can actually swap out, so you can actually put on 00:04:02.619 --> 00:04:05.488 a rigid panel with a window unit in it for climate control, 00:04:05.488 --> 00:04:07.954 or a connector module that would allow you to actually 00:04:07.954 --> 00:04:10.339 connect multiple units together, which gives you 00:04:10.339 --> 00:04:14.005 larger and kind of compartmentalized living spaces, 00:04:14.005 --> 00:04:16.317 so now this same kit of parts, this same unit 00:04:16.317 --> 00:04:20.960 can actually serve as a living room, bedroom or bathroom, 00:04:20.960 --> 00:04:27.067 or an office, a living space and secure storage. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:27.067 --> 00:04:30.134 Sounds like a great idea, but how do you make it real? 00:04:30.134 --> 00:04:32.138 So the first idea I had, initially, was just 00:04:32.138 --> 00:04:33.994 to go the federal and state governments and go, 00:04:33.994 --> 00:04:36.657 "Here, take it, for free." 00:04:36.657 --> 00:04:38.640 But I was quickly told that, "Boy, our government 00:04:38.640 --> 00:04:40.898 doesn't really work like that." (Laughter) 00:04:40.898 --> 00:04:44.883 Okay. Okay. So maybe I would start a nonprofit 00:04:44.883 --> 00:04:47.726 to kind of help consult and get this idea going 00:04:47.726 --> 00:04:49.829 along with the government, but then I was told, 00:04:49.829 --> 00:04:52.304 "Son, our government looks to private sector 00:04:52.304 --> 00:04:53.901 for things like this." 00:04:53.901 --> 00:04:56.891 Okay. So maybe I would take this whole idea and go 00:04:56.891 --> 00:04:59.311 to private corporations that would have this mutually shared 00:04:59.311 --> 00:05:02.214 benefit to it, but I was quickly told by some corporations 00:05:02.214 --> 00:05:06.495 that my personal passion project was not a brand fit 00:05:06.495 --> 00:05:09.073 because they didn't want their logos stamped 00:05:09.073 --> 00:05:11.497 across the ghettos of Haiti. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:11.497 --> 00:05:17.433 Now, I wasn't just obsessed. I was outraged. (Laughter.) 00:05:17.433 --> 00:05:21.850 So I decided, kind of told myself, 00:05:21.850 --> 00:05:27.725 "Oh yeah? Watch this. I'll do it myself." (Laughter) 00:05:27.725 --> 00:05:29.905 Now, this quickly, my day job sent me to work out of 00:05:29.905 --> 00:05:33.059 our Milan office for a few months, so I was like, 00:05:33.059 --> 00:05:35.796 what will I do? So I actually scheduled sleep on my calendar, 00:05:35.796 --> 00:05:38.996 and spent the 8-hour time difference on conference calls 00:05:38.996 --> 00:05:43.016 with material suppliers, manufacturers and potential customers. 00:05:43.016 --> 00:05:44.470 And we found through this whole process, we found 00:05:44.470 --> 00:05:46.844 this great little manufacturer in Virginia, 00:05:46.844 --> 00:05:48.997 and if his body language is any indication, 00:05:48.997 --> 00:05:51.076 that's the owner — (Laughter) — of what it's like 00:05:51.076 --> 00:05:53.169 for a manufacturer to work directly with a designer, 00:05:53.169 --> 00:05:56.372 you've got to see what happens here. (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:05:56.372 --> 00:05:58.628 But G.S. Industries was fantastic. 00:05:58.628 --> 00:06:03.008 They actually built three prototypes for us by hand. 00:06:03.008 --> 00:06:06.155 So now we have prototypes that can show that four people 00:06:06.155 --> 00:06:08.571 can actually sleep securely and much more comfortably 00:06:08.571 --> 00:06:13.068 than a tent could ever provide. 00:06:13.068 --> 00:06:14.818 And they actually shipped them here to Texas for us. 00:06:14.818 --> 00:06:16.271 Now, a funny thing started happening. 00:06:16.271 --> 00:06:18.739 Other people started to believe in what we were doing, 00:06:18.739 --> 00:06:20.656 and actually offered us hangar space, donated hangar 00:06:20.656 --> 00:06:22.940 space to us. And then the Georgetown Airport Authority 00:06:22.940 --> 00:06:27.046 was bent over backwards to help us with anything we needed. 00:06:27.046 --> 00:06:28.707 So now we had a hangar space to work in, 00:06:28.707 --> 00:06:31.789 and prototypes to demo with. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:31.789 --> 00:06:35.356 So in one year, we've negotiated manufacturing agreements, 00:06:35.356 --> 00:06:38.017 been awarded one patent, filed our second patent, 00:06:38.017 --> 00:06:40.700 talked to multiple people, demoed this to FEMA 00:06:40.700 --> 00:06:42.948 and its consultants to rave reviews, 00:06:42.948 --> 00:06:45.131 and then started talking to some other people who requested 00:06:45.131 --> 00:06:47.622 information, this little group called the United Nations. 00:06:47.622 --> 00:06:49.727 And on top of that, now we have 00:06:49.727 --> 00:06:52.371 a whole plethora of other individuals that have come up 00:06:52.371 --> 00:06:55.862 and started to talk to us from doing it for mining camps, 00:06:55.862 --> 00:06:58.294 mobile youth hostels, right down to the World Cup 00:06:58.294 --> 00:07:00.879 and the Olympics. 00:07:00.879 --> 00:07:07.971 So, in closing, on this whole thing here 00:07:07.971 --> 00:07:12.627 is hopefully very soon we will not have to 00:07:12.627 --> 00:07:14.548 respond to these painful phone calls that we get 00:07:14.548 --> 00:07:16.544 after disasters where we don't really have anything 00:07:16.544 --> 00:07:18.932 to sell or give you yet. 00:07:18.932 --> 00:07:21.364 Hopefully very soon we will be there, 00:07:21.364 --> 00:07:23.571 because we are destined, 00:07:23.571 --> 00:07:27.677 obsessed with making it real. 00:07:27.677 --> 00:07:30.018 Thank you. (Applause)