Category Archives: Florida Inventors

TBMMF Sponsor, Gabotronics, Launches Xprotolab Portable Oscilloscope on Kick-Starter

Gabotronics, owned and operated by Gabriel Anzziani, of Sarasota, who was a sponsor participant at inaugural Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire in March as a commercial Maker,  has just launched his Xprotolab Portable Oscilloscope on kickstarter in a bid to bring his creation to market.

The Xprotolab is a portable combination of three electronics instruments: an oscilloscope, a waveform generator and a protocol sniffer.  The Xprotolab was awarded as one of the 100 Hot Products of 2011, by the EDN magazine. The Xprotolab has been featured in several other online magazines, such as Hack a Day and Elektor.

You can see specs at Gabotronics Kick-Starter page , where you can also pledge your support.

Clearwater’s Grumpy Owl Gamery Launches Keep System

Robert Groller, of Clearwater, is the mind behind Grumpy Owl Gamery‘s Keep System – a method for organizing and mobilizing  hobby games. According to the recently launched Kick-Starter campaign for the project, “ The Keep is a custom messenger style bag that carries a set of special game organizers. It can carry numerous games, even the hard to handle expandable games, in an organized and labeled manner.”

Wired’s Geek Dad gave Groller’s effort a little press this week, and in just three days, he’s raised over $30K!

Way to go, Grumpy Owl Gamery! Visit Groller’s Kick-Starter page for details and to help out a fellow Maker.

Mentagy: The App

Local educator Allyn Kahn, of New Port Richey, FL, is well known as a math, statistics, philosophy and critical thinking instructor, as well as a popular chess coach.  He’s also an award winning game inventor, whose signature puzzle game, Mentagy, has been awarded multiple awards, from Creative Child’s Puzzle of the Year Award to the Brain Child Award from Tillywig.

Now Mentagy Puzzle eBooks have been released as part of an Apple iOS app launched by the Puzzazz eBookStore for iPhone and iPad. It will soon be available for Kindle and Android devices, as well.

Kudos to another great Tampa Bay inventor!

All in Knots? Try Super Rope Cinch!

Timothy Bourke, of Estero, FL, is the inventor of the Super Rope Cinch, a device that locks rope in place without the need for knots.

Super Rope Cinch just got a super boost from Walmart, which plans to roll it out soon, according to Naples News.  HomeDepot.com and more than 70 Do-it-Best Hardware stores in the U.S. carry the product, and both  Lowe’s and Home Depot will begin carrying it in stores soon.  In tests, the product lifted more than 750 lbs.  , truly making rope tying – a cinch!

“This is the new bungee cord, Bourke told the Naples News. ” No more bungee cords.”

Chalk one up for another Florida inventor!

Dade City Inventor Takes on Federal Patent Law

MadStad Engineering, Inc. , of Dade City, was started in 2006 by Mark Stadnyk, a biker who loved to ride but “hated having his head beat to death by turbulence, air pressure and wind noise.”

After abundant research, he eventually came to the conclusion that “the problem isn’t the windshield, it’s the way the windshield is positioned” and he developed the MadStad adjustable windshield system, which reconfigures the angle of the windshield to make it more aerodynamic, eliminate any vacuum, and adjust the height to better direct airflow.

Today, MadStad employs eight people, including Mr. Stadnyk and his wife, Patty and his windshield system is sold throughout the world and used on dozens of makes and models of motorcycles, with annual sales of more than $500,000.

He also holds three patents, and is making headlines taking issue with a relatively new federal patent law called the  Leahy-Smith America Invents Act of 2011 (AIA) .

In a federal court in Florida, Stadnyk and his counsel charge that “the legislation is a triumph of corporate lobbying power over the founders’ wishes, and that it threatens America’s stature as the world’s leading innovator.”

As recently as yesterday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office moved to dismiss Stadnyk’s lawsuit , but it’s unlikely Stadnyk will stand down easily.  We’ll keep you posted!

Read the full story at the NY Times.

Space Coast Maker Makes News at DNC

69 year old Cate Vincent made her way up to Charlotte to the DNC convention this week to showcase her DIY job creation spirit, with her iPad handle invention, reports WINK News.

Vincent told WINK her invention not only got the attention of Apple, but has created jobs.

“I live on the Space Coast in Florida where there are no jobs now, and we’ve already put 30 people to work,” Vincent said.

Let’s hear it for a DIY inspired economy!

10 Yr. Old Tarpon Springs Inventor Win’s Nickelodeon’s “Figure it Out”

10 year old Alanna Meyers, of Tarpon Springs,  the inventor of the “Pain Free Bandage Remover”  was recently awarded the grand prize on Nickelodeon’s Game Show, “Figure It Out”, after stumping the show’s celebrity judges about her invention.

A fifth grader at Safety Harbor Montessori Academy in Clearwater,  Alanna’s Pain Free Bandage Remover was inspired by her long time dislike of the bandage removal process.  At the grand old age of 8, she decided that enough was enough, and experimented with several different combinations of safe, organic ingredients until she hit upon the perfect formula.  Her focus group was her then 2nd grade classroom, where kids and parents alike were immediately sold.

Since then, her product has been featured on “The Doctors”, “Rachael Ray” and several local news programs.  Alanna has applied for a patent trademark hopes to go into full production soon, marketing to childrens hospitals, pharmacies, health food and natural food stores, assisted living and nursing homes, with plans to donate 1% of all sales to the Arts for children.

Way to go, Alanna!

PAL Improves Outcomes for Preemies

Some inventions are creations of convenience, like the Snap-a-Loop media device holder. Some are fun, like BrickStix. Some are useful in very specific ways, like SnapIt Screw eyeglass repair and the E-sort potato sorter.   And some have enormous social potential, like adjustable focus eyeglasses.

The Pacifier Activated Lullaby, or PAL, is a niche invention that falls into that last category, in a marvelous and touching way.  Developed by music professor Jayne Standley at Florida State University to help premature babies learn the proper muscle movements to be able to suck and feed.

According to  the PAL page at Florida State University,”More than 500,000 premature babies are born in the United States every year, each requiring significant medical treatment to ensure their survival and minimize life-long health challenges.”

Officially, the “Pacifier Activated Lullaby (PAL®) is an FDA-approved, patented system that utilizes music reinforcement therapy to stimulate non-nutritive sucking and the breathe-suck-swallow reflex in pre-term infants.” And results are already  producing shorter-term hospital stays with a commensurate reduction in hospitalization costs (on average saving $10,000 per infant) and a higher likelihood that premature babies will thrive once they leave the hospital.

IEEE-Spectrum gives some interesting technical details. “The pacifier is outfitted with proprietary piezo sensing technology that detects the baby’s sucking motion. Feedback algorithms determine when the motion is correct, and a signal is sent via wire to a speaker that plays a soothing song when the baby gets the breathe-suck-swallow reflex right. The system can be calibrated to each baby’s needs.”

Check PAL out at http://www.research.fsu.edu/pal/about.html

Tampa Bay Couple Invent Media Device Holder

Bryan and Rozana Karle of Tampa got tired of dropping their phones.

“It happens to everybody,” Rozana told WTSB 10 News recently.

So she and Bryan did some research to find out what might be available to help users hang onto their mobile devices and said there were surprised at the lack of helpful gadgets that fit the bill.

“I mean cell phones have been out for how long and people have been dropping their phones for years.  It’s just amazing that nothing else has come up,” Rozana told 10 News.

So, like the good makers they are, they came up with their own solution – and patented the Snap-a-Loop, and adhesive-backed loop that comes in various sizes and sticks to the back of a phone, iPad, Kindle, or iPod.

On the market for just a couple of weeks now, and retails for $10. The Karles say everything from the manufacturing to the packaging of their new product is done right here in Tampa.

 

Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire Video

Check out the great little video our student videographer, Ryder, made at this year’s Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire!