PTpeddler

cindy yonover was a killer athlete before she got MS and she loved to work out. about 5 years ago, she wondered if she could still work out after she spotted an electric peddling machine that did the peddling for you. after alerting me (robert yonover) to it’s existence, i  was on it. i bought a machine and proceeded to my research and development facility (read WalMart) and got a camping chair which i sawed the legs down to put her at more of a reclining angle. i rolled up towels (and later elastic belts) to tie her thighs to the camping chair and then used some “croc” shoes to lock her feet into the straps on the peddling machine. 5 years later, she is still “peddling” away! cindy puts in about 6 hours of continuous peddling per day and it has absolutely changed her life, e.g., lessening the risk of muscle atrophy, increased circulation, improved digestion, firm thighs (good for me), and of course the psychological benefits are off the chart as she watches her paralyzed legs rotate continuously as she “peddles” away! we call the system the PTpeddler (Physical Therapy Peddler) and it will be featured this weekend (Saturday/Sunday, July 31, 2010 and August 1, 2010) on Extra TV as part of their LIFECHANGERS segment (with a possible RescueStreamer cameo) . a true HARDCORE INVENTING team effort!  aloha, rob

Find a Problem

A good way to come up with an idea for an invention is to find a problem. Keep a close watch on the world around you. Talk to people. Listen to problems. Collect information and facts—what exactly is the mess that needs fixing? What you could invent to fix it?

I invented the RescueStreamer emergency signaling device to solve a tricky problem I hope I never experience—surviving a plane crash at sea. This is how it happened:

Success Story–RescueStreamer

I was in a small airplane flying over the vast Pacific Ocean. Way out in the ocean, a volcano was sending up clouds of smelly gas and as I am a volcanologist, I was heading out there to check it out.  The pilot was my friend and I trusted him, but I didn’t trust the plane as it was rented and rusty. Suddenly the engine began spluttering and making horrible noises.

Thoughts of doom ran through my head. What if the pilot had to ditch in the ocean below? The plane would sink quickly. Sure, we could get out of the cabin and swim, but humans are tiny specks in the big ocean and they can’t be seen.

Survivors of plane crashes at sea say that rescue planes flew right over them again and again. How could I somehow signal the search planes that would, hopefully, be looking for us? I brainstormed, but couldn’t solve the problem. We finally landed successfully, in spite of the weird engine noises. But the problem of visibility in the ocean still rattled round and round in my head.

((Illustration: guy in ocean. Shark caption: “That looks yummy.” Plane caption, “Can’t see him anywhere.”))

A few weeks later, flying on a jet to Miami, I spotted a strange sight in the ocean below. An artist had wrapped small islands near the coast with bright pink plastic. The plastic was very visible. That was it, the solution to my problem. If I used a piece of that pink plastic I could be visible in an open ocean and also in snowfields and the desert.

It took years to figure out how to make the invention work. The pink plastic had to be compact when not in use, but extend and float until search parties saw it.

I started looking at things in nature that could stay outstretched like the human spine, centipedes, and palm trees. They were made up of segments. I put dividers on the piece of plastic to make it look like a centipede and that was the magic touch!

Making a model streamer took months of trial and error. Then I took my RescueStreamer out on my fishing boat. When that streamer hit the water, it bunched up. I thought, Oh no. It doesn’t work! Then suddenly it straightened out like a spinning spiral. It was the most beautiful thing I’d even seen in the ocean! My invention worked!

Finding the problem you’d like to solve is the first step to inventing (Hardcore Inventing).

Find a Solution: Brainstorming

Once you’ve thought of a problem, brainstorm to find a solution. Focus on what you’re trying to do. Think of possibilities. Compare and contrast ideas. Try changing the question—start with who, what, where, when, why, and how?

Remember the acronym K.I.S.S.—Keep it Simple Stupid. Simpler is better. Ideal inventions have no moving parts and preferably hardly any parts at all. That way, there are less things to break or fail. The RescueStreamer falls into this category. So does the wheel, one of the greatest inventions.

To get your creative juices going—pretend you’re in a survival situation, e.g. stuck on a desert island or lost in the woods. You’re out of power/batteries and have no computer, cell phone, ipod etc. You have only your brain and the natural objects on the island or woods to help you solve problems. What can you eat? How can you build shelter? Will you be able to catch fish? Will you be able to trap animals? Can you make a fire? How can you protect yourself from all the hungry bugs?

Make a list of what you might find on a desert island—rocks, shells, coconuts, sticks, leaves, etc. and try to solve a problem using those materials. Use a pen and paper to sketch your ideas and write a description of your ideas with the sketch. Show how to build your invention with the materials at hand. ((Illustration:  Guy sitting in front of palm frond hut. Fire in front. Trap at side pile of coconuts. Fish in rock pool. Milk in coconut etc))

Who would you choose to be with you on your desert island? A survey of how Americans feel about inventing and innovating found that teens recognize how important inventors are when survival is at stake. Using the example of being stranded on a desert island, the survey found that 46 percent of all teens questioned would choose the company of an inventor over that of a famous musician (19 percent), actor (13 percent) president of the United States (9 percent), athlete (6 percent). This indicates that inventors, although mostly not celebrities, hold a vital place in the minds of many American teens. (The Lemelson-MIT Invention Index annual survey, MIT Tech Talk January 10, 2001; see more on Lemelson in Hardcore Inventing)

Using this brainstorming exercise, you’ll find that you are able to come up with a lot of survival ideas, and it will free the flow of your creative brain juice to attack problems. The good news is that after you do this a few times, the next time you go to a Home Depot or Wal-Mart, the materials available to you will seem endless and you will have the mindset to combine materials to make other things, e.g. you may buy a toy and cut it up to get one piece of material to help you build your invention.

Getting the first idea for an invention is like an engine getting a spark to start.  The inventor then has to think about the best way to make the invention work.  One way to do this is brainstorming.