Maybe the promotional video didn't show everything it was capable of, but that machine moved really, REALLY slowly.
It's the first model. The important point is that it works AT ALL. Look at how far automobiles came from the first prototypes to even the model T. Or compare the computers at Dreamworks, on your desk, in your phone, or even in your microwave oven to the ENIAC.
Speed will improve. Capabilities will improve, too. Now that the proof of concept is in place and paraplegics are moving around it's largely a matter of tuning and incremental design improvement.
Cost will come down, too. Right now we're seeing the early-adopter penalty, when the cost of design and business startup has to be covered.
Yeah, most definitely. This is definitely a huge leap in the right direction, and I am pretty excited about the future implications of such a device being developed. I would mod you up if I could; those are all definitely great examples of early devices that were all developed from infancy and became huge benefits and relatively inexpensive. Good post
Explain to the candidates what your requirements are then ask them to describe a piece of work they have completed which was comparable to that. Have them explain the issues involved, how they approached it what difficulties they had to overcome and what they would do differently in the future.
Since you're looking to recruit a number of people, I'd say that their ability to work together - personalities, maturity, compatibility are at least as important as skills and experience. So don't just pick the top X according to how they rank at interview, consider if you think they can work together as a team.
I like the second paragraph you had, making sure a team works well together is a huge part of it, but asking your candidates about a comparable project? I mean, on the one hand it is an amazing question because it forces the potential employee to relate and think, and their response will give you great insight into their thinking process, programming method, and give you the added bonus of seeing just how intimate they were in their previous projects.
On the otherhand, it smells like pump the potential for all the information you can get out of them before you decide whether you want to pay them -_- Which do you think it is more of, an assessment question or an pre-employee extraction question? And also, do you think that the person hiring will already be aware of the issues and approach-possibilities (thus allowing them to better gauge the person)?
A morsel of genuine history is a thing so rare as to be always valuable. -- Thomas Jefferson