Grade 10 Student - Need an Idea for a Lego Innovation

[chekmanirov]

Hi, I'm a Grade 10 Advanced student with lots of experience in Lego. I need a project idea for an innovation that can improve some aspect of human life (on any scale).

It would be wonderful if anyone could assist me by giving tips or suggestions.

Thanks,
Kevin

[deleted-2574]

Hi Kevin,

Based on what I know of Lego blocks, you'll need to come with some product that improved human life first. Then you could that product in Lego blocks.

I may be mistaken here.

The usual products like microscopes, MRIs, etc. that improve human like could be built with Lego blocks. My suspicion in that you're looking for something else.

Another idea (which may be politically incorrect) is to post your question on a Lego bulletin board, such as http://messageboards.lego.com/default.aspx . Of course, you'll need to use the appropriate caution when posting to another board.

[chekmanirov]

Sorry, just to clarify:

I was looking for tips/suggestions/ideas that I could possibly use to invent a new device or improve an existing one. For example, last year I created an automatic toilet paper dispenser for my science fair project.
I have to make sure that whatever I decide to build must have a positive environmental, economical, (etc.) effect on society.

Thanks a lot!
Kevin

[deleted-2574]

Hi Kevin,

What you're asking is for suggestions for new patents (both new devices or significant enough changes to existing devices qualify). I'm afraid I can't help you here.

Innovations can be done by a wide scale of entities ranging from individuals to large corporations. Some corporations devote considerable resources to developing innovations to get new patents. The goal is to get new business and increase competitiveness within existing businesses. The large corporations often set up separate, semi-sheltered entities devoted to innovations such as parts of Bell Labs or IBM labs.

I assume you're asking more to the individual scale. How did Edison become Edison? Ah, if one only knew.

[bradleyshanrock-solberg]

Interesting.

Inventing is not generally considered science or even engineering- we might not be the right people to ask.

Science is about posing a question, making a hypothesis about the answer and testing the hypothesis with experiment and peer review.

Engineering is about building practical things in a repeatable way (it uses scientific concepts, and scientific method for troubleshooting, but you will not get a PHD in a scientific field for just building something)

Inventing is a kind of engineering where you are not trying to build something already imagined but instead are trying to imagine something new, either a new solution to an existing problem or something that changes the kinds of questions being asked.

This can be illustrated when thinking about a cart pulled by a horse, and a farmer complaining that it keeps getting stuck in the mud.

A scientist would present a theory on why the cart got stuck, and test the theory. He might theorize that the wheels are too narrow and run a test with fatter wheels. Or he might theorize that the horse is too weak and experiment with using oxen or a different horse breed instead. He might theorize that the horse and cart are fine but the road is bad, and test performance on a road with better drainage or surface.

An engineer would usually be presented with the situation. "I have XXX to spend, how do I fix this". He has learned from the scientist's research that wider wheels, stronger horses or better roads might improve the situation, so he compares the cost to the farmer of each and chooses the one that gives the best result for least cost. In the case of the road he might try to get multiple farmers to chip in, as they all use the road.

An inventor tends to change the paradigm entirely. He might instead build a sledge (cart without wheels or an attachment that replaces wheels on muddy days) that allows the horse to pull through mud, or he might invent a harness that lets the horse pull harder without being stronger. He might also invent a new service - perhaps he brings a string of mules around to all the farmers and charges them to transport the produce to market on days too muddy for the farmer's carts.

The point is invention is hard, especially when you are talking about building the invention out of legos. I remember a series of books from my childhood, Alvin Fernald - he invented things like a device that would automatically make his bed for him. (that one almost worked, I rigged it up in my own bedroom...) He was an inventer. I'm just an engineer

[chekmanirov]

Thanks a lot for the advice everyone!

Kevin