OneBreath portable ventilator system with inventor Matthew Callaghan
Four years ago, when Matthew Callaghan was a surgery intern at the University of California at San Francisco, the medical world was buzzing over the prospect of a global flu pandemic. One of the biggest potential problems was logistical: Because 95 percent of the ventilators in the U.S.—which keep critically ill patients breathing when their respiratory system is unable to function—are already in use, thousands of patients would die for lack of available life support. Ventilators cost hospitals from $3,000 up to $40,000 for state-of-the-art models, making it impractical for most hospitals and clinics to stockpile them for emergencies.
Inspired by the need to help more patients in a crisis situation, such as a pandemic, postdoc fellow at Stanford University, Matthey Callaghan developed a no-frills ventilator that runs on a 12 volt battery that works for up to 12 hours and can be easily transported.
2. KOR-fx: Ultra Sensation Gaming Device
KOR-fx shown by inventor Shahriar S. Afshar
The KOR-fx is a device that connects to gaming consoles, PCs, or music players. It sits around the shoulders, and the two transducers that lie on one's chest translate stereo sound into stereo vibrations. That way, gamers can feel complete immersion in their games without involving others who are not playing. “We can induce the sensation of rain, wind, weight shift, even G-forces,” he said. His company, Immerz, is in talks with several studios to add these effects to films.
3. SmartSight: A Third Eye For Assault Rifles
SmartSight outfitted rifle, inventor Matthew Hagerty
It consists of a wireless video camera mounted to the rail of an M4 or .308 SOCOM carbine, a small computer worn on a military vest, and a thumbnail-size color head-up display affixed to a pair of protective glasses. In effect, SmartSight turns the muzzle of an assault rifle into a third eye—a soldier can crouch behind a blockade, stick his weapon over his head, and shoot his target with the same accuracy as if he were taking aim normally. “No other weapons sight can do that,” Hagerty says. “What you see is what you get.”
After 10 years and many prototypes, inventor (and perfectionist) Matthew Hagerty finally is close to what he wanted his invention, the SmartSight, to be: a third eye for soldiers that enable them to see around corners and even behind their backs without putting themselves in the line of fire. SmartSight's latest design includes a 1.5 pound video camera positioned under the end of an assault rifle, a tiny computer that receives the video transmission attached to a soldier's vest, and a tiny display monitor worn on a soldier's protective glasses that receives video images in real time from the computer.
4. EverTune: Guitar Tuning Revolutionized
EverTune, inventors Cosmos Lyles and Paul Dowd
Guitar players and their audiences are in for a shock. Cosmos Lyles and Paul Dowd have invented a guitar tuner you only tune once. Right. Not in the middle of a song, not between songs, not between sets. Just once. EverTune, the pair's invention, is a bridge that keeps your strings in place by the action of six springs and levers that keep the strings' tension, even if your tuning pegs loosen or tighten accidentally. For guitarists, here's a video that explains the EverTune far better than I can!
5. SoundBite: Non-Surgical Bone Conduction Hearing Aid For One-Sided Deafness
SoundBite invented by Amir Abolfathi
In clinical trials, typical reports from patients in tests if the device were that the SoundBite restored 80 to 100 percent of their hearing.
Knowing that teeth are excellent sound conductors to bone, he thought why not create a bone conduction aid from the mouth. With the help of an otolaryngologist, Abolfathi developed the SoundBite, an acrylic tooth insertwith a receiver that picks up sound from an in-ear microphone and then transmits the sound from the teeth to the bone up the jawline to the cochlea.
6. Groasis Waterboxx: A Biomimetic Planter
Groasis Waterboxx, inventor Pieter Hoff
The Groasis Waterboxx is designed as a plant incubator, which cools faster than the night air, allowing water to condense and flow into it along with rainwater to keep the plant and its roots hydrated and protected. Hoff's tests of the Waterboxx in the Sahara have been quite successful; after one year of growing saplings in the desert, 88 percent of the trees he planted had green leaves, while 90 percent of those planted in the local method died from the scorching sun. Check out groasis.com and help test these Waterboxxes!
7. Zoggles: Anti-Fog Device
Zoggle inventors Don A Skomsky and Valerie Palfy
The pair created a device with a humidity sensor and a temperature sensor that would stay colder than, say, a windshield, so they would sense when fog was coming and would turn on an automobile's defroster.
But Skomsky was able to use an obscure formula to predict when fog would form based on the temperature and humidity, so that the bulky controls could all fit on a chip. The Zoggles now operate with that chip, which calculates when the lens needs to be heated and activates a heater that shuts off when it is no longer needed. Palfy and Skomsky are planning to license their technology to manufacturers of motorcycle helmets, windshields, scuba masks, and military gear.
8. Mini Infuser: Foolproof Programmable, Disposable Infusion Drug Pump
Mini Infuser invented by Mark Banister
The Mini Infuser is the only disposable drug pump that can be programmed to dispense drugs continuously. Taped to the patient's chest, a microprocessor inside the pump sends dosage information to the polymer that Bannister developed to deliver the correct dosages. Upon receipt of dosage information, this special polymer will expand and displace the proper dosage from the reservoir within the pump where the drugs are stored.
9. ECO-Auger: Fish-Saving Tidal Energy Turbine
ECO-Auger, invented by W. Scott Andersonm
Though Anderson had made several small prototypes of the ECO-auger to test function and safety around fish, he has hand-crafted his first large prototype that has a two-foot diameter and a polyurethane/ fiberglass auger. In a test, Anderson said it captured 14 percent of the water's energy, which is not as much as the windmill turbines, but Anderson says the percentage will go up as the diameter of the augers increase. He is sure that ultimately the ECO-Auger will be more cost effective and just as productive as the windmill turbine.
10. RAD Technology: A Drag-Ready Snowmobile
RAD Technology, invented by Shawn Watling
Since Frankenstein, Watling's rear-drive prototypes have been numerous, but five years later he has made corrections in everything that slows a snowmobile down, and his RAD (rear-axle-drive) Technology has also produced a safer snowmobile that's more fuel efficient.
The 'Frankenstein' was fast, and a dynamometer test revealed that 85 percent of its engine power was delivered to the ground, while a typical snowmobile only hit about 55 percent. This result led him to discover that it was the rear suspension on front drive manufactured snowmobiles that increased rolling resistance and prevented adequate track tension.
Posted in: Inventions Awards.,Top 10 Invention,Top 10 Inventions Of 2010