PEORIA, Ill., Oct. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Caterpillar
Inc. (NYSE: CAT) announced today that it is working with Bechtel,
Brick and Mortar Ventures and Bradley
University to sponsor NASA's latest Centennial Challenge—the
3D-Printed Habitat Challenge. The competition is created to incent
America's most talented to come up with innovative ways to design
and print a habitat that could be used for deep space exploration,
including the agency's journey to Mars, as well as have
applications on Earth today.
For more than 90 years, Caterpillar has been building the
world's infrastructure, and we plan to develop the world's
infrastructure for the next 90 years—whether that's in a great
city, a developing village or even beyond our planet.
"As technology evolves, so do our machines. The future of
construction will look very different than it does today," said
Justin Speichinger, advanced
engineering manager for the Caterpillar Excavation Division. "By
expanding our horizons and engaging in progressive opportunities
like the Centennial Challenge, we are better equipped to develop
disruptive technologies to solve our customers' current challenges
as well as prepare for our mutual long-term success."
"There's no better way to solve big problems and come up with
the next breakthrough than by working together with our customers,
such as Bechtel, a true innovator in construction; a
forward-thinking, sector-specific venture capital firm such as
Brick & Mortar Ventures; our hometown University, Bradley, that is focused on innovation; and of
course, NASA," said Eric Reiners,
Caterpillar research program manager. "Caterpillar and NASA have
collaborated for years, and we are proud to work with NASA on this
next great challenge."
The competition is designed in three phases. The first phase,
the design competition, was completed in September 2015. The second phase, which just
opened, is the structural competition, which focuses on the
technologies needed to manufacture structural components from
readily available and recyclable materials. The third phase will be
the actual building of habitats.
"Innovation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics
drove the last 100 years and it will supercharge the next 100,"
said Bechtel Deputy Chief Innovation
Officer David Wilson. "That applies
to space exploration missions as well as the projects we build on
Earth. We're honored to partner with NASA, Bradley, Caterpillar and Brick and Mortar Ventures
in this competition, as we look forward to seeing the 3D printing
community discover new solutions for all
applications."
The competition will be open to teams from universities,
corporations and ordinary citizens—anyone with an idea and the
motivation to bring that idea to life. NASA will be offering
$1.1 million in prize money in phase
two of the competition.
"We are looking forward to seeing some creative solutions," said
Darren Bechtel, Founder and Managing
Director of Brick & Mortar Ventures. "Brick & Mortar
Ventures believes that solution scarcity has contributed to the
historic lack of productivity improvement in construction. By
collaborating with NASA, Caterpillar and Bechtel, the Brick &
Mortar team hopes to support the commercialization of technology
developed for construction on the next frontier."
The public will have the chance to follow the competition
through social media, and to attend the head-to-head competitions
live. In fall 2017, teams will test their structural components and
compete for the phase two award at the Caterpillar Edwards
Demonstration Center. The entire competition will culminate with
the third phase—the On-Site Habitat Competition—also held at
Caterpillar's Edwards Demonstration Center in fall 2018. Teams will
come together and demonstrate their ability to fabricate full-scale
habitats in front of judges and the public.
"This is an exciting opportunity to bring the best ideas in
technology to our students and the community," said Bradley University President Gary Roberts. "The challenge provides an
unparalleled opportunity for students and faculty to network,
create relationships with mentors and explore new ideas as they
partner in creating solutions for our world and beyond."
For more information about the competition, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/3DPHab
To register, and for the official rules and documents, visit:
http://bradley.edu/challenge
About Caterpillar
For 91 years, Caterpillar Inc. has been making sustainable
progress possible and driving positive change on every
continent. Customers turn to Caterpillar to help them develop
infrastructure, energy and natural resource assets. With 2015
sales and revenues of $47.011
billion, Caterpillar is the world's leading manufacturer of
construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines,
industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. The
company principally operates through its three product segments -
Construction Industries, Resource Industries and Energy &
Transportation - and also provides financing and related services
through its Financial Products segment. For more information,
visit caterpillar.com. To connect with us on social media,
visit caterpillar.com/social-media.
About Bechtel
Bechtel is one of the most respected global engineering,
construction, and project management companies. Together with our
customers, we deliver landmark projects that foster long-term
progress and economic growth. Since 1898, we've completed more than
25,000 extraordinary projects across 160 countries on all seven
continents. We operate through four global businesses:
Infrastructure; Nuclear, Security & Environmental; Oil, Gas
& Chemicals; and Mining & Metals. Our company and our
culture are built on more than a century of leadership and a
relentless adherence to our values, the core of which are safety,
quality, ethics, and integrity. These values are what we believe,
what we expect, what we deliver, and what we live. For more
information, visit www.bechtel.com.
About Brick and Mortar Ventures
Brick & Mortar Ventures is a San
Francisco-based seed and early stage venture capital fund
focused exclusively on disruptive technologies for the verticals of
Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Facilities Operations.
Founded in 2015 by Darren Bechtel,
Brick & Mortar Ventures has quickly established itself as one
of the premier venture firms enabling innovation and cost savings
across the global AEC market. For more information,
http://brickmortar.vc
About Bradley University
Bradley University is a top-ranked,
prestigious, private university in Peoria, Illinois, offering 5,400 undergraduate
and graduate students the opportunities, choices and resources of a
larger university and the personal attention and exceptional
learning experience of a smaller university. Bradley offers a comprehensive array of
undergraduate and graduate academic programs in business,
communications, education, engineering, fine arts, health sciences,
liberal arts and sciences, and technology. The University is
located on an 85-acre campus in the largest metropolitan area in
central Illinois.
Forward-looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release relate to future events
and expectations and are forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Words such as "believe," "estimate," "will be," "will," "would,"
"expect," "anticipate," "plan," "project," "intend," "could,"
"should" or other similar words or expressions often identify
forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of
historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, without
limitation, statements regarding our outlook, projections,
forecasts or trend descriptions. These statements do not guarantee
future performance, and we do not undertake to update our
forward-looking statements.
Caterpillar's actual results may differ materially from those
described or implied in our forward-looking statements based on a
number of factors, including, but not limited to: (i) global and
regional economic conditions and economic conditions in the
industries we serve; (ii) government monetary or fiscal policies
and infrastructure spending; (iii) commodity price changes,
component price increases, fluctuations in demand for our products
or significant shortages of component products; (iv) disruptions or
volatility in global financial markets limiting our sources of
liquidity or the liquidity of our customers, dealers and suppliers;
(v) political and economic risks, commercial instability and events
beyond our control in the countries in which we operate; (vi)
failure to maintain our credit ratings and potential resulting
increases to our cost of borrowing and adverse effects on our cost
of funds, liquidity, competitive position and access to capital
markets; (vii) our Financial Products segment's risks associated
with the financial services industry; (viii) changes in interest
rates or market liquidity conditions; (ix) an increase in
delinquencies, repossessions or net losses of Cat Financial's
customers; (x) new regulations or changes in financial services
regulations; (xi) a failure to realize, or a delay in realizing,
all of the anticipated benefits of our acquisitions, joint ventures
or divestitures; (xii) international trade policies and their
impact on demand for our products and our competitive position;
(xiii) our ability to develop, produce and market quality products
that meet our customers' needs; (xiv) the impact of the highly
competitive environment in which we operate on our sales and
pricing; (xv) failure to realize all of the anticipated benefits
from initiatives to increase our productivity, efficiency and cash
flow and to reduce costs; (xvi) additional restructuring costs or a
failure to realize anticipated savings or benefits from past or
future cost reduction actions; (xvii) inventory management
decisions and sourcing practices of our dealers and our OEM
customers; (xviii) compliance with environmental laws and
regulations; (xix) alleged or actual violations of trade or
anti-corruption laws and regulations; (xx) additional tax expense
or exposure; (xxi) currency fluctuations; (xxii) our or Cat
Financial's compliance with financial covenants; (xxiii) increased
pension plan funding obligations; (xxiv) union disputes or other
employee relations issues; (xxv) significant legal proceedings,
claims, lawsuits or government investigations; (xxvi) changes in
accounting standards; (xxvii) failure or breach of
IT security; (xxviii) adverse effects of unexpected events
including natural disasters; and (xxix) other factors described in
more detail under "Item 1A. Risk Factors" in our Form 10-K filed
with the SEC on February 16, 2016 for
the year ended December 31, 2015.
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SOURCE Caterpillar Inc.