So I've noticed this tool has seen a little more popularity on YouTube and decided to watch a large amount of videos on it. Some innovations since this topic have been brilliant, others rehash, and lack of one in particular I find hilarious and a little disappointing.
First, the air balloon used to increase viability of the UDT as an entry tool is a great. This is much handier than using wedges or prying methods. Also, I've seen some takes on opening crash bar doors that seem better than the Jaclyn II as illustrated in the above MIT link (still available on the Wayback Machine). Using a softer, grippy material to open knobs was also brilliant.
Attacking over the door is also a great concept and worth its own topic.
But the real reason I'm necro'ing my post here is because I watched all the experts fail again and again at opening handles with flat handles and struggling hard with 45 degree handles. There were some really janky solutions they were using to get around this and all I could think of was a really obvious solution that I didn't see a single one of them use.
I can draw a diagram if anyone needs, but if you're familiar with UDTs you'll have noticed that the handle always ends up being stuck in the 45 to 90 degree crook near the tip of the tool. That angle is what ends up being pulled into the handle material as the string is pulled down, opening the door.
Instead of using weird hooks and shit, modify the tool so that there is a short, narrow channel that comes off of this angle... yeah I'm probably going to need to make a diagram for this... but that channel could have the inside rubber coated while keeping everything thin and then the coating is then siped (thin slices up and down it). This makes it so that when you operate the tool as normal, get the string around the handle and pull down, that channel is going to get pulled over the handle grabbing it hard and as you apply more tension the channel will grip all the harder. I'll bust out a drawing later making this more clear when I'm at a platform that will allow me to do so but I'm sure some of you get the idea until then.
Edit: Shit-tacular illustration
I think a bigger revamp of the tool can make it even more versatile and future-proof it against currently discussed countermeasures, but that's for another time.
Knowledge alone is not power, it is the potential for power. That potential can only be unlocked through applying that knowledge and realizing the skill.