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Real inventions coming to market #1: Plasma blade.
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Re: New Inventions #2
Here is another one
Incoming frosh numero 'uno' on invention list
May 14, 2008
Canadian teenager Ben Gulak got a bit of a head start on his training in mechanical engineering. As an incoming freshman in the MIT Class of 2012, he's already been featured on the cover of Popular Science magazine for having come up with one of the year's top 10 inventions.
In fact, his was number one.
Gulak, who is just 18, will also be a guest on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno later this month, demonstrating his unique electric unicycle-like vehicle. He has been working on the project for two years, initially as a science fair project that made it all the way to second place in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (where he also won a special award for the project with the most marketability).
Gulak first applied to MIT last year, but was waitlisted and decided to take a year off rather than settle for another school. So he spent the intervening year working on his invention--designed to be a practical commuting vehicle for dense urban areas--before applying again to MIT.
"The perspective that MIT brings to engineering is really unique," he says. "I really like the experience that MIT brings to engineering, especially the hands-on approach."
The inspiration for the cycle came when Gulak visited China in 2006 and was amazed at the overwhelming pollution that completely blocked the view of the surrounding country as his airplane came in for landing. He realized that much of that smog was coming from the thousands of motor scooters whizzing through the streets and figured that there had to be a better way.
The design he came up with has two wheels mounted side by side, very close together, and powered by electric motors. A computerized control system keeps the vehicle balanced, in a system similar to the Segway personal transporter. But unlike that vehicle, which is ridden in a standing position and is not considered a street vehicle, Gulak's "Uno" is ridden like a motorcycle and designed for ordinary roads.
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