Zachary Roy, a student at the E. C. Goodwin Technical High School in New Britain, Connecticut, has won the 2011-2012 Innovator of the Future (IOF) competition.
Created by Mastercam developer CNC Software (Tolland, Connecticut), the competition is designed to introduce students to real-world manufacturing by challenging them to put their own creative twist on a specific part to be judged by a special guest from the manufacturing industry. This year, students developed a guitar bridge to be judged by senior designers from guitar manufacturer Taylor Guitars. As the winner, Mr. Roy received a $1,000 scholarship and a trip to Taylor Guitars’ El Cajon, California factory, which produces more than 500 guitars each day.
“In the end, it comes down to how elegantly any given design interacts as a component of the guitar ‘package,’” says Larry Breedlove, chief engineer of product development at Taylor Guitars. “Zack’s entry was an obvious winner for us in that it is a simply handsome bridge that we can easily see as that component.”
