Technology Description | Patent Info | Inventor Bio | Moving Camera

Inventor Biography

* Thomas Harris was born in 1965 in a Philadelphia suburb and was given the nickname 'Tim' by his father, a fine arts sculptor highly skilled in the art of bronze casting, and his mother, a professionally trained commercial artist. This lineage is the genetic basis for Mr. Harris' technical intellect and creative diversity. He would never sit still in life, always striving to do what had not been done.

* Mr. Harris earned an FAA issued glider pilot's license at age 16, by riding his bike to a private Soaring club in the next county. His personal record soaring duration flight of over 4 hours was set shortly after that. He then earned his helicopter license at age 17 after soloing in under 5 hours of instruction (approx. one tenth of the average in that discipline), and advancing all the way to Certified Flight Instructor FAA rating in Rotorcraft Helicopter very quickly.

* Tim graduated in 1988 from Virginia Polytechnic Institute with a BS in Engineering Science and Mechanics. While at Va. Tech, he concentrated his studies in the areas of structural theory, mechanism dynamics and automated instrumentation. These were very important foundations for his later work.

* Mr. Harris is a former rocket scientist with employment history at GE Astro Space Division of Heightstown NJ, and Lockheed Martin of Valley Forge PA, and an accomplished R/C aircraft designer and pilot, inventing and developing the competition class of "Hand Launch Aerobatic" within the larger category of R/C glider.

* In his first job out of college, he modeled remote sensor fields of view for the payload instruments of NASA's Mars Observer planetary mapping spacecraft. Mr. Harris modeled solar array swept volume (two degrees of freedom at the end of a deployable arm), mapping instrument and irradiative cooler fields of view for Mars Observer. These efforts inspired Tim on a conceptual level, and added to his background in multi-degree-of-freedom mechanisms and dynamics. Two degree-of-freedom articulation and swept volume would consume him for decades after.

* During his days in spacecraft engineering, Mr. Harris has worked as a Program Management engineer, then as a Launch and Early Operations support engineer for the DSCS Navy communications satellite program, and also as an Orbit Analyst and (rocket) Propulsion engineer for that same spacecraft fleet program. This position gave Tim a unique understanding of complex engineering program management at a top level.

* After his spacecraft jobs, Tim worked as a flight test support engineer for Boeing Helicopter Division on the V-22 'Osprey' Tiltrotor aircraft as a Dynamicist (a very busy job for the V-22!), supporting ground vibration testing, first flight and envelope expansion on the Engineering Manufacturing and Development phase of V-22. In the late 1990's he left Boing and the V-22 to marry his skydiving sweetheart Sharon Locatell and start a family with her in New York City. Sharon and Tim quickly became partners on hand held remote camera technology development, as well as child rearing.

* Tim has spent a lifetime designing, building and flying model airplanes. His hand launch glider designs are among the most aerobatic in the world. Tim has relentlessly pursued higher performance and maneuverability in his designs, using both natural-based and aerospace composite materials, innovative construction methods, and detailed refinement of all related elements to achieve this level of system performance. Swept volume of multi-degree-of-freedom mechanical systems turns out to be a crucial concept to aerobatic aircraft tail design.

* Before having kids, he logged approximately 500 sport skydives and three dozen BASE parachute jumps. For all of his BASE jumps, ranging from 800 to 2850 feet in height, he rigged his own gear, including custom video camera gear for many of those jumps. During this time Mr. Harris gained valuable experience in the areas of reliability, human factors, human interface, human physiology, operational logistics, extreme point-of-view camera, and event videography. He also recorded a 19 second BASE freefall from a tall cliff, complete with safe and soft landing.

* Since having kids, Tim has no plans for parachuting in the foreseeable future. For exercise, he enjoys playing with his 3 young children, as well as 'trials' mountain biking, a highly technical and strenuous workout for which he builds up his own bikes. Between stay-at-home dad duties Mr. Harris now privately develops the emerging art, science and technology of operator supported remote camera positioning and control systems, for which he holds several domestic and international patents, with further patents still pending at the time of this writing. Sharon and Tim are completely committed to advancing state-of-the-art camera positioning, with 10+ years and substantial financing dedicated to the effort to date.

* Mr. Harris is results-oriented in his goals, and detail-oriented in his approach and preparation for all of his vehicle, aviation and aerospace endeavors. The hand held camera positioner 'vehicle' is no exception. His broad spectrum of hands-on experience including aerospace composites fabrication, conceptual design at both system and component level, and his skills as an operator make Mr. Harris uniquely and highly qualified for the operator supported remote camera positioner effort.

(Contact Thomas Harris directly.)