Father and Son Win $1 Million in Tank Design Contest

The spare-time online activities between a son, a father, and his friend resulted in a $1 million prize from the Pentagon's mad scientists from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)

The winners, Eric Nees, his father James Nees and his friend Brian Eckerly, worked together designing an amphibious tank for a DARPA challenge launched in January.

DARPA asked the public to design its next-generation amphibious armored vehicle for its FANG (Fast, Adaptable, Next-Generation Ground Vehicle) challenge, giving contestants the open-source software necessary to collaborate and design it. The Neeses and Eckerly, who nicknamed themselves "Team Ground Systems," beat more than 200 teams, composed by a total of 1,000 contestants, DARPA announced this week. Read more...