Category Archives: Inventions

TBMMF Application Deadline Extended to Feb. 22!

Posted on February 1, 2012 | Leave a comment

The variety of Maker applications rolling in has inspired us to extend our application deadline to February 22. Why? Because we’re curious, and curiosity is good. And because we still have a little room left, and we want to see what other wonderful stuff you can help us fill our space with!

In addition to our fantastic Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire Truck Rally, some remarkable commercial Makers (to be announced soon!), our community Makers include:

The West Central Florida Section of the National Association for Amateur Radio is joining us – “Amateur radio operators (hams) were the original Makers and Hackers,” they tell us. “Using new, used and scavenged parts to make transmitters, receivers, and antennas capable of communication with other hams anywhere on Earth. From microchips and robotics to time and space itself, the Makers within the Amateur Radio ranks build and explore new way to play with the radio spectrum. The Core Purpose of the ARRL: To promote and advance the art, science and enjoyment of Amateur Radio. ”   They’ll have some gear you can try your hand at!

The Tampa Bay Inventors Council is a 28 year old group in Tampa Bay that supports “the inventive spirit in us all”. They help educate new inventors about inventing and spread the innovation concept. Look for some innovative things at their exhibit!

The University of South Florida Robotics Interest Group , who will have on hand a variety of their robots, including four fighting robots from 3lbs all the way up to 220lbs, and an autonomous balance bot.

Our Young Makers with their NetBot invention – “ a generic open robot platform designed to be simple to modify to do whatever you want it to do. The goal of the robot is to be a cost efficient way for you to play with bigger robots. The main feature of the robot is the processor, which can be pretty much any kind of netbook or laptop you happen to have laying around the house.”  They hope to be able to drive it around our Mini Maker Faire .

Plus cars, arts, and more!  Don’t see something you do here – then join us and share what you Make with Tampa Bay!

 

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Posted in Craftspeople, DIY, DIY Fun, Florida Inventors, Hobbysts, Inventions, Make, Makers, Mini Maker Faire, Tampa Bay inventors, Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire, Young Makers

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Musician Makes Kitchen Music

Posted on January 30, 2012 | Leave a comment

Musician Stephen Anderson, described as “by far the most amazingly talented composer to have ever lived,” by no less an authority than his mother, had a little time on his hands one Sunday afternoon, and turned his entire kitchen into a synthesizer, demonstrating that he’s more than just a Maker of music!

A couple of our Young Makers shared this great piece with us.  Want to show the world what you’ve made? Apply to be part of the Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire March 31!  Got a cool video?  Send it along!

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Posted in DIY, DIY Fun, Inventions, Makers, Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire

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“Today Everybody Can Be a Tinkerer” -Rolf Hut at TEDxDelft

Posted on January 27, 2012 | Leave a comment

In celebration of tinkering!

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Posted in Craftspeople, DIY, DIY Fun, Entrepreneurs, Hobbysts, Inventions, Makers

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“Get on the Shelf” at Walmart

Posted on January 26, 2012 | 4 Comments

Less shark tank and more koi pond, Walmart’s new inventor’s contest, Get on the Shelf, invites anyone in the U.S. to submit a video of a self-developed product between now and February 22 for a chance to “Get on the Shelf” , at Walmart – at least an online shelf , and in some select stores. Winners will be chosen by popular vote  at the website starting March 7.

According  to the Huffington Post, “The initiative is headed by @WalmartLabs, the company’s e-commerce and social development platform. “We know there are some great undiscovered products that have not yet reached our shelves,” Venky Harinarayan, senior VP of global e-commerce and co-head of @WalmartLabs, said in a statement. “We are removing these barriers by giving anyone a chance to launch their product at Walmart and reach millions of shoppers nationwide.”"

Want to be the next hot Walmart item? Get your “must have” creation on video and head over to http://www.getontheshelf.com/

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Posted in Contests, Entrepreneurs, Inventions, Makers, New technology

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Florida Inventor Launches Doctor Door Stop

Posted on January 25, 2012 | Leave a comment

Artstarkraft, Inc, a Sarasota company, just announced the launch of a new household safety device called “Doctor Door Stop,” developed by local inventor John Doyle, after his own 7 year old daughter was injured  when a door slammed on her fingers.

“My daughter was screaming, I was crying, and so were the ER nurses. Her injury required nine painful stitches and weeks of recovery,” said Doyle, in a recent PRWeb news release about his product.

Billed as ”the only automatic door holder you just set and forget,” the device requires no installation.  It’s simply placed anywhere on top of a door frame and “the safety arm automatically drops into place, holding the door open to your desired width. When you want the door closed, simply pull the cord and raise the arm. Re-open the door and the arm drops back into place. “

According to Doctor Door Stop, over 300,000 door related injuries require emergency room visits annually.   This simple solution could potentially lower those numbers significantly.

 

 

 

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Posted in Entrepreneurs, Florida Inventors, Inventions

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Call for Makers Open through January 31!

Posted on January 23, 2012 | Leave a comment

Want to be a Maker at the Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire?  If you’re just demoing, it’s free!  We welcome crafts, engineering, music, robots, workshop digital fabrication, energy, demonstrations, performances, projects and anything home made, innovative, instructive, artistic and interesting!

Our  Tampa Bay Mini Maker application is now live, and we’ll accept applications through the end of January!

Applying

The first step to participating in our Mini Maker Faire is to submit an entry that tells us about yourself and your project. Entries can be submitted from individuals as well as from groups such as hobbyist clubs and schools. We’ll want a short description of what you make and what you will actually bring to Maker Faire, along with links to photographs or videos of what you make. We particularly encourage exhibits that are interactive and that highlight the process of making things.   Here’s some of what we’re looking for:

  •  Student Projects
  • Music Performance and Participation
  • 3D Printers and CNC Mill
  • Textile Arts and Crafts
  • Home Energy Monitoring
  • RC Toys
  • Sustainability
  • Green Tech
  • Radios, Vintage Computers and Game Systems
  • Electronics
  • Electric Vehicles
  • Biology/Biotech and Chemistry Projects
  • Food and Beverage Makers
  • Robotics
  • Puppets
  • Kites
  • Bicycles
  • Shelter (Tents, Domes, etc.)
  • Unusual Tools or Machines
  • How to Fix Things or Take them Apart (Vacuums, Clocks, Washing Machines, etc.)

Types of Makers

Makers: Individuals, groups, schools and organizations that would like to demonstrate what they make and/or how it works in an interactive environment. For Maker groups, schools & organizations, we ask that you have one point person to coordinate your group efforts. Makers do not pay a fee to exhibit at Maker Faire for non-commercial exhibits.

Commercial Makers: Individuals who would like to sell products along with demonstrating what they make at their Mini-Maker exhibit. If you are a Maker with a product that you would like to sell at Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire, please let us know us that you are a Commercial Maker on your application.  There is a $75 fee for commercial makers.

Please note, companies or commercial entities do not qualify as Commercial Makers. If you are a company or commercial entity, please see our Sponsor page.

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Posted in DIY, DIY Fun, Entrepreneurs, Florida Inventors, Hobbysts, Inventions, Mini Maker Faire, Tampa Bay inventors, Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire, Young Makers

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Potato Grower Grows Inventive with E-Sorter

Posted on January 20, 2012 | Leave a comment

Agsort founder and veteran potato farmer Greg Jones, of St. Augustine, at one time laid claim to being the largest, daily-volume, chip potato shipper in North America,  harvesting, washing, sorting, and loading as many as 4,600,000 pounds of potatoes per day, enough to fill 92  tractor-trailer loads.

These days he’s shipping out high-tech farming equipment, principally his potato sorting invention called the E-sorter, which he debuted at the 2012 Potato Expo in Orlando earlier this month (yes, farmers have expos, too!)

Jones created the E-Sorter, he told the trade magazine, The Packer,  because he wanted to give growers a better option at a better price, noting that there many of the current high-tech sorting and grading machines are designed with the process in mind, but not the grower.

“If the growers can’t afford to buy the machine, it’s no good to anyone,” he told the Packer.

“I started working on this idea while I was still farming,” Jones said at his booth on the Potato Expo trade show floor. “I worked on it for three years then and another five after I got out of growing.”

According to the Agsorter website, “The core of the system is the scanner module. The sealed enclosure of this is approximately the size of a short file drawer and installs/uninstalls in the same way. Inside there is a clear plastic tube, fastened in a vertical position to the top and bottom of the enclosure, with matching holes to allowing the product to pass through, falling straight down from top to bottom. This is where the scanning takes place.”

The machine uses nearly 1,500  infra-red, red, green, and blue LEDs which flash on and off independently 100,000 times per second, enabling it to sort 8-9 potatoes per second per lane – about a large truckload every 30 minutes.

You can see the E-sorter in action in the rather mesmerizing video below.

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Posted in Entrepreneurs, Florida Inventors, Inventions, New technology

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Miami Inventor invites you to “Touch My Keys”

Posted on January 19, 2012 | Leave a comment

Miami inventor, Ruddy Ugarte, with his partner  Joaquin Antonio,  has added a new level of usefulness to the plastic screen protector used to cover iPhone and similar products – a raised keyboard.

His invention, called Touch My Keys is a screen protector for the iPhone 4S that doubles as a transparent keyboard, that allows users to feel real buttons.

”Its both, the lack of a physical keyboard and that God forsaken autocorrect that at times causes those embarrassing or awkward text messages.” said Mr. Ugarte in his press release.

Touch My Keys features precision laser cuts of the iPhone’s QWERTY keyboard  with just enough texture that users feel real buttons. Check it out in the video below.

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Posted in Entrepreneurs, Florida Inventors, Inventions

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Calling All Robots for the TBMMF Robot Makers Round Up!

Posted on January 10, 2012 | Leave a comment

The Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire is looking for robots! We’re going to have the NetBot  we reported on earlier, but we want to see more robots!

We know there are a lot of FIRST teams in the area, and we know our Mini Maker Faire is being held right after the Orlando FRC Regional , and the Florida FTC State Championship and the FLL State Championship . The Mini Maker Faire is just before the VEX State Championship in April.

But we’re inviting teams from FIRST and VEX and robotics hobbyists to join us for a special Robot Makers Round Up, at the Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire on March 31.

If you can join us, email us at info@learningis4everyone.org by the end of January, and let us know!  Robots ROCK! And there’s no better place than our Mini Maker Faire to show everyone why!

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Posted in Craftspeople, DIY, DIY Fun, Hobbysts, Inventions, Makers, Tampa Bay inventors, Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire, Young Makers

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Edison’s Great Grandson Says Edison Would Have Loved New Light Bulb Law

Posted on January 6, 2012 | 1 Comment

Starting January 1, a new  light-bulb law went into affect nationwide, setting new efficiency standards . The 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act requires 100-watt light bulbs to use 72 percent electricity to produce the same amount of light by Jan. 1, 2012, according to the government’s Energy Star website.

David Edward Edison Sloane, a professor of English at the University of New Haven and the great-grandson of the inventor Thomas A. Edison, who is writing a book titled “Edison’s Daughter,” about his grandmother, Madeleine Edison Sloane, tells CNN he thinks his great-grandfather would approve.

“My great grandfather’s 100-watt incandescent will be replaced with new energy-efficient versions, including CFLs, LEDs, and — yes — new and improved incandescent bulbs. When better lighting is fully implemented throughout our country, we’ll be saving $13 billion a year in electricity costs and we’ll eliminate the need for 30 large power plants, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group.

“And my great-grandfather wouldn’t have it any other way.”

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Posted in Florida Inventors, Inventions

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