AbsolutelyNew Blog

Innovation at the Vancouver Olympics

The Winter Olympic Games will commence on Friday in Vancouver.  Companies have been innovating like crazy since the last Olympics to enhance the performance of Olympic athletes.  From a newly designed high-speed bobsled to downhill ski equipment, innovation will be on everyone’s mind at the games.  In addition to improvements in athletic equipment, the Vancouver Olympics will showcase a lot of environmental innovation.  Here are a few things to watch out for:

 

Eco-friendly venues:  The organizers of the Vancouver Olympics have had sustainability on their minds since the planning first began.  Many of the Olympic venues include state of the art eco-friendly designs that conserve energy and protect the environment.  The Convention Centre boasts a living green roof, on-site water treatment, and a fish habitat built into the foundation, while the Olympic Centre captures rainwater and siphons it into the building to flush toilets and urinals.

 

Carbon-neutral partners: Twenty-five partners of the Olympic Games have joined forces to help make the Games carbon-neutral.  Corporate sponsors, governments and broadcasters have all volunteered to offset some of their own carbon emissions related to the Games by investing in a portfolio of clean energy technology projects.  Coca-Cola will also be going completely green for the games, aiming to have a net-zero carbon footprint and net-zero waste at the Games.

 

Olympic medals made from electronic scraps:  The medals that the Olympic champions will proudly wear around their necks will be made of precious metals reclaimed from old electronics.  Gold, silver, and bronze have been extracted from electronics that would otherwise end up in landfills to make the coveted medals.  It would take more than 17 tons of gold ore to net the same amount of gold reclaimed from the circuit boards of a single junk PC.

The Golden Age for Inventors?

An article published today on CNN.com asks if the ‘golden age for inventors’ is at hand?  While no one can predict the future, especially in this economy, several industry experts believe good news is on the way for many inventors.  If you are interested in launching your invention in what some promise will be a “golden age,” here are a few tips from experts about being a successful inventor:

Take action. One of the most important steps is simply to act, says Todd Greene, inventor of the HeadBlade.  "I know some people who are perfectionists. They never get their company off of the ground because they're not happy with what they have and they're afraid to go to the next phase."

Don’t try to do everything alone, accept your limitations.  "You have to be able to say, 'What are the skills that I lack and what's the experience I don't have, and how can I find somebody that can complement those skills?'" says Andrea Belz, a management consultant who specializes in technology commercialization for companies.

Know how to market your ideas or get the attention of a larger company.  "Just because your product is amazing and life-changing doesn't mean that people are going to hear it," invention expert Alan Tratner says. "The hard part isn't coming up with an idea. The hard part is taking it to the market."

To see the full article from CNN visit http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/01/12/invent/index.html

The running shoe… reinvented for its users

We recently tried out new Zoot running shoes, and just had to talk about them with you.

Ever heard of Zoot? Maybe not, since it’s a company that focuses entirely on gear for triathletes. But there's an interesting invention angle in these $110+ shoes.

You see, the people at Zoot Sports completely reinvented running shoes for their users. They triathletes' very precise needs and biomechanics, and then developed running shoes from the ground up to serve them.

Among those special needs they IDed: being able to slip on fast for a speedy transition, being comfortable without socks, channeling water out so the shoes stay dry and light even when a hot athlete is pouring water over his or her body, and providing more mid-foot support because triathletes run differently than other runners when their muscles are fatigued from the swim and cycling legs that precede the running leg of a “tri.”

Zoot running shoes have now won several awards, and athletes wearing them have won several major triathlons. They’ve also won our kudos.

Two key lessons for you and your invention:

1. Identify your bulls-eye target. Zoot branched into running shoes but never branched away from its focus on a narrow consumer target: triathletes willing to pay high prices for high performance gear. By knowing this target well, it’s able to serve this target well. Very well, in fact. It’s also able to grow its business faster because it is going deeper with a group that already knows the brand well and appreciates its track-record.

2. Make your target your compass. Zoot knew triathletes, but it didn’t know precisely how they run until its scientists studied the biomechanics in great detail... and then designing accordingly. Doing this put them ahead of Nike, Adidas and all the other established makers when it comes to serving this particular consumer segment. We can never say this enough: study your target, and then design with them—not you—as your compass. For Zoot, doing this is now enabling them to win market share from much larger running shoe leaders. Who wouldn’t want to do likewise in their invention category?

The best inventions of 2009

What do you think are the best, most revolutionary new products of 2009?

We’ve got some picks of our own... but we’ll keep them to ourselves right now and wait to hear back from the editors are Popular Science – they’re gearing up to answer this question for the magazine’s annual “Best of What’s New” awards. PopSci’s now accepting applications for a range of categories including everything from Gadgets to Home Technology to Recreation.

If you’ve commercialized a truly revolutionary invention – PopSci doesn’t give out awards for evolutionary products, no matter how absolutely awesome they may be – definitely consider applying. Note: your invention must either be available for purchase by 9.30.2009 or a future sales date must be formally announced by 9.30.2009.

And if you’re not yet ready for this year’s competition, that’s OK too. The important thing is that you’re acting to advance your invention, to make it big next year. For inspiration, here’s a link to last year’s winners. Pictured above right is one of 2008’s picks: the sweet-looking, compact, and reportedly very easy-to-operate Icon A5 seaplane.

Mad science has a whole new manual

We just recently discovered Theo Gray’s Mad Science: Experiments You Can Do At Home - But Probably Shouldn't, and we couldn’t wait to share it.

Written by one of our fave Popular Science columnists (Theodore Gray), it’s a collection of pieces guiding you through experiments in which he’s mixed, launched and/or detonated all sorts of things—all in the name of science, of course. Very cool!

So whether you’re into serious chemistry or you simply fantasize about strapping on your safety goggles and joining the Mythbusters folks at work on various inventive creations, we suspect you’re sure to enjoy reading this one. But please, don’t try these at home!

New in robotics

 

Our loyal readers have come to know that we love robots. No, that’s an understatement—we really LOVE robots. But what kind? This is an emerging question as scientists invent different types (and looks) of robots to handle different roles… and learn all the more the nuances of how people respond to robots.

So, which of the two above suits you? Or is the robot below?

 

Perhaps a little more detail will help. The new issue of Proto has a cool feature story on the latest in robots. Highlights of note:

• We’re apparently not the only folks who already go gaga for robots. A Georgia Tech study of Roomba (the breakthrough robotic vacuum) owners in 2007 found many named and decorated their devices.

• New advances and new algorithms are now enabling the development of robots that are “socially assistive” or “socially interactive” in their ability to change their behavior based on what they sense in the people around them.

• Children take quickly to robots, whereas adults are often a little slower to embrace them. (Clearly, we weren’t in that study!). People often get comfortable with a robot faster if it mirrors their personality – ie: an extroverted person responds well to a fast-talking robot.

• There’s now a lot of research on how robots should look… and the new conventional wisdom is that a robot should look somewhat but not entirely human. One Japanese scientist even coined the term “uncanny valley” to describe it – because once a robot bears an uncanny resemblance to a human, the rapport with it drops from a peak to a valley.

Cool stuff! And since we’re only scratching the surface here, you might enjoy reading more of the details in Proto. Here’s a link!

Speed and your invention

In Top Gun, Tom Cruise’s character Maverick smiles and says, “I feel the need – the need, for speed.” Now scientists say he was on to something... and their conclusions could help you in your inventing.

Specifically, they’re talking about a study that found bursts of accelerated thinking can improve your mood. They drew this conclusion after sparking quick thinking in a variety of ways: asking research participants to brainstorm fast for 10 minutes, to read fast for short periods of time, even to watch I Love Lucy video fast (on fast-forward). The speedy activities led people to feel elated, creative, a touch more energetic.

The folks in lab coats at Harvard and Princeton don’t quite understand the Why here. But they do have some additional thoughts:

• The speedy behavior likely triggers dopamine, an adrenaline-like chemical our bodies produce.
• Some of the happiness is likely a self-fulfilling prophesy: you think speediness is a sign of being happy, so being speedy puts you in a happy place.
• This effect applies to the sprinter, not the marathoner – the researchers found fast and repetitive behaviors sparked anxiety instead of elation.

You can read more at Scientific American. How can this learning help you with your inventing? Perhaps in one or more of the following ways:

1. Can’t figure something out? Try speeding up with very short problem solving sessions.
2. Feeling a little down because immediate invention success eludes you? Literally, take a quick break—spend a few minutes very quickly doing something else to kick-start the endorphins
3. Watch some I Love Lucy, even at normal speed, because it’s just plain funny. Our fave episode: Lucy and Ethel working at the chocolate factory.

How else might you apply these new learnings?

What inspires you?

One of the many cool things about invention is that you can find inspiration anywhere, any time, in just about any thing.

That’s why we enjoyed reading about a coffee-drinking doctor (of metallurgy) who looked at the oily film atop yesterday’s coffee and was inspired to develop a new form of biodiesel.

Really. Yesterday’s joe inspired the University of Nevada at Reno’s Dr. Manoranjan Misra, along with two colleagues, to ponder, then explore, and ultimately figure out how to convert used coffee grounds into fuel. Real fuel. To power real cars. And as if that weren’t cool enough, there’s more:

• This new fuel burns with a faint coffee scent (decaf coffee, we guess), compared to other biodiesels and regular gasoline that don’t always smell so nice.
• Whereas other plant-based biodiesel sources like soy use up land and the actual plant, the coffee biodiesel only uses the leftovers that would otherwise be thrown out.
• The coffee biodiesel performs well – no sacrificing on quality here – and would likely cost an estimated $1/gallon to make at a medium-sized processing facility.

Does this mean you'll be able to fill 'er up in more ways than one when you visit your local Starbucks? Only time will tell. We do know that the Starbucks folks in Reno were happy to give the docs used grounds for their research.

To learn more, click here to read The Economist coverage of this story.

Notes from the Consumer Electronics Shows

We’re back from the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. And let’s just say it was awesome – so many cool new technologies we can’t wait to get into our homes, our offices, and everywhere else.

PC World did a nice job highlighting some of top products, so rather than reinvent the wheel, here’s a link to check out what they wrote.
 
More broadly than any specific product, we were struck by the vast number of products and technology platforms that are built from the ground up for easy interaction and use the way we really live, without constraining “hardware.” Imagine using any surface as your keyboard, and using your finger as a mouse, a laser pointer, even a welder. It all makes yesteryear’s breakthrough devices like the Nintendo Wii controller seem downright primitive by comparison.

A couple other major trends, based on our observations and discussions with key players:

1. Managed content – like the ability to control precisely what programs even make it to your TV – is only in its infancy. Look for this to grow exponentially in the months ahead.

2. GPS technology is navigating its way into everything. And its stands to revolutionize everything from traffic patterns to fashion to global security.

To go a lot deeper, you can click here to check out CNET’s expansive coverage of all things CES.

The Anchor Gets Re-invented

Picture a ship anchor.  You know exactly what it looks like.  Or so you thought... as a group of ingenious scientists at MIT have completely re-invented the anchor to be far smaller, lighter and more effective than those clunky metal ones we have long known.

This newly invented anchor is called the RoboClam.  Pictured above right, it's inspired by and functions a lot like the razor clam (aka: Atlantic jackknife), pictured above left:

• It vibrates in a manner that turns the relatively solid sea bed to a quicksand-like, digging-friendly consistency.
• It then pushes down into the sea bed and expands its “shells” to lock in place.
• It then repeats this again and again... digging itself down to 15 inches with 80 pounds of force.

So cool.  And not just because it has Robo in the name!  The invention's apparently already strong enough to anchor a small sub, and there’s talk that, with tweaks and improvements, this thing could be strong enough to anchor even the largest of ships and off-shore oil platforms, and perhaps be modified for applications including drilling on dry land.

You’ve gotta love it when Mother Nature inspires great invention.  Once again we tip our hats to her... and to the folks who tinkered based on her inspiration.

For additional info, click here for MIT’s official take on the RoboClam.  Thanks also to MIT’s Donna Coveney for the photo.