Ingenious Inventions That Should Be Implemented Everywhere
April 20, 2023
•15 min read
These are truly ingenious inventions that should be implemented everywhere!
Us humans are an inventive bunch. When we see a problem, we fix the problem; it’s a dance as old as time. While some of our greatest achievements might’ve been total accidents, others are exceptionally engineered to fix problems you never thought existed. Here are some ingenious inventions that should be implemented everywhere!
Self-Flying Umbrella
Magicians can come up with some creative inventions. Like French magician, Moulla, who’s crafted an umbrella that floats above your head! This isn’t magic though; it’s got a fricking drone on it!
Electric Chopsticks
You might have tried every diet under the sun: Atkins, Keto, Paleo. But maybe weight loss has nothing to do with diet, or exercise, and instead, the utensils you're eating with. There are electric chopsticks, and if you’re wondering what exactly they electrify, it’s you. More specifically, it’s your tongue.
Before you panic, they’re shockingly smart. The chopsticks attach to a small wearable computer via a wire. This computer emits a tiny electrical impulse through the chopsticks that mimics the salty taste in food.
BioBus Powered By Human Waste
Nowadays, we’re all trying to do a bit more for the environment. Whether you’re buying less plastic or taking public transport to work, every little helps. For that reason, commuters in Bristol, England, have found their morning journey to work has gotten a whole lot crappier: their bus is powered by poop and pee!
The Bio Bus has people going number two printed on the side. Instead of running on fossil fuels and releasing harmful fumes into the environment, they use biomethane. Both fossil fuels and biomethane are made from decomposing organic waste, but fossil fuels take millions of years to break down underground, whereas biomethane comes from fresh organic waste. By heating up sewage and food waste at a custom fuel plant just outside the city, they release the methane and do a load of clever stuff to turn it into fuel. The natural waste releases methane gas as it decomposes anyways, and that’s bad for the environment. So, by using it as fuel, you’re offsetting the damage and putting it towards something good!
Sneakers With A Built-In Tent
Australian design studio, Sibling, have created a super stylish pair of sneakers that double as an even more stylish tent! The so-called “Walking Shelter” allows the wearer to unfurl a tent from their ankles and pull it up over their head while looking like a fashion icon the whole time. Two waterproof sheets unfurl from each shoe and attach together with Velcro.
Most regular tents need poles to support them, which are cumbersome and heavy. But pop this contraption over your head and you are the poles! It’s even got little loops to peg yourself to the ground in case it’s windy.
BMW iX Flow Featuring E Ink
Anyone who’s bought a new car knows that the hardest decision isn’t what’s under the hood, or the trunk space. It’s what color you get it. Whether you drive a Hummer or a Hyundai, we all want to look sleek and sexy. To solve that problem, a sweet new ride by BMW, the iX Flow, can change colors with just the press of a button.
The body of the car is covered in something called electrophoretic film, which sounds super scientific, but it’s really quite simple. By sending an electric current through the film, thousands of tiny capsules are stimulated, each the diameter of a single human hair.Traffic Light Countdown
So, you’ve bought your swanky new car but now all you seem to do is sit in traffic. That’s annoying. However, Serbian designer Damjan Stanković has made sitting in traffic just that little bit more tolerable: he’s modified a stoplight with a countdown timer!
An outer ring with 32 segments ticks on, letting you know exactly how much longer you’ll be held on red for. But it’s not just good for drivers! Pedestrians can also see how long they’ve got to cross safely.
Solar Roadways
What if instead of asphalt roads, we built solar powered ones? Our cities are filled with roads, sidewalks, and driveways. By modifying these with solar panels, we could create loads of renewable energy, while conserving a lot of the land that’s currently being set aside for these projects.
Though still in its early stages, tests of the technology are underway in China and elsewhere, so we could be seeing these roads sooner rather than later! You could even engineer them to be self-heating to melt snow and ice.
Guitar Pee Urinal
A bathroom in Sao Paolo might’ve found the most musical way to take a leak ever. They’ve transformed a urinal into a fully working guitar. By aiming your stream at the buttons in the bowl, an amplifier overhead plays corresponding notes. So, while your guitar gently seeps in wee, you can create a master-pees.
Self-Building Houses
Every fancy home trend has had its 15 minutes of internet fame. We’ve had tiny homes and van homes, but have you ever seen a transformer home?
Sensory Exploration At Harrods
The world’s full of wonderful, and not so wonderful, smells. British department store, Harrods, has a brilliant ‘smell before we sell’ set-up for wines and spirits. Customers can use their superb schnozzes to sniff out a good purchase before they commit to anything they aren’t going to like.
Peeling Apples With A Power Drill
One health-conscious hero in New South Wales, Australia shared a hasty hack for peeling apples. All you need is a vegetable peeler, a steady hand, and a power drill. The skin will come off in about 3 seconds, however you’ll also have apple skin confetti strewn across your kitchen.
"One-A-Day Bananas" Genius Packaging
Our local grocery stores could learn a thing or two from South Korea. They sell bananas in one a day packs, with the leftmost fruit being the ripest, to the rightmost being the greenest. By the time you get to ‘nana number 6, it’ll be as ripe as number 1 was! Honestly, this is humanity’s greatest achievement right here.
Elevators With Foot Pedals Instead Of Buttons
Elevators aren’t exactly a ground-breaking piece of technology, but we’re constantly finding new ways to adapt them for our needs. Like, have you ever thought about how many grubby little fingers touch those buttons every day? Thinking about it makes me feel queasy!
The pedals of a foot-operated elevator at Seacon Square shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand
Uplifting Shoe Elevator
Here’s something else that’s really going to lift your spirits! Ever been in a sneaker store and had to ask the attendant for your size, only for them to leave you standing there in your socks for 20 minutes?
Well, one store in London’s notorious Oxford Street has made this a thing of the past. They’ve created a shoe elevator that brings the goods straight from the stock room to the floor!
LifeStraw
A quarter of the world’s population drinks contaminated water; shockingly, that’s two billion people. Without a reliable source of clean drinking water, their risk of ingesting parasites or sickness-causing bacteria is insanely high.
However, Swedish company Vestergaard have created what they call the LifeStraw, a remarkable method of filtering out almost all the bad stuff from water. So, you can enjoy all that wonderful H2O hydration, no matter how dirty the water looks!Mud Release Shovel With Holes
Have you ever seen a weird tool like the one below and wondered what it’s for? Sadly, it’s not for draining giant pans of gold. This is a mud release shovel.
If you are someone who digs a lot of holes, you might be aware that mud always sticks to your shovel head and stops it from working properly. But with a mud release shovel, the dirt hasn’t got anything to stick onto; it slips right through!
Stair Climbing Wheelchair
With traditional wheelchairs, many important places just aren’t accessible. But there’s a new wheelchair on the horizon. Instead of using a single wheel, designers are now trying to utilize something called cluster wheels.
Floating Billboard
Advertisers in Miami have found a way to make their message reach more people, by putting billboards in the middle of the ocean! Miami’s beaches get a lot of human traffic. So, float a billboard in front of them, and everyone on the beach is going to see it.
Escalator Handrail Cleaning System
As we've explored earlier in the article, elevators can have grimy little buttons. Well, have you ever considered how grimy escalator handrails could be? Thousands of people touch them every day, but you never see anyone cleaning them.
That’s where this next clever invention comes in. Little boxes shine ultraviolet light onto the handrails as the rails move past, killing any germs dead!Sustainable Trashcans In Norway
The image below shows a trashcan in Norway. These holders are there for a very noble reason, encouraging recycling and helping the poor all at the same time.
The country encourages recycling by taxing plastic bottles and offering the money back if the used bottles are brought to a recycling machine. Some people still toss their plastic in the trash though, and less fortunate people have taken to taking these tossed bottles to a machine to claim the money for themselves. To save those people rooting around in trashcans, this one has some handy slots on it for recyclable junk. Isn’t that wholesome! Sometimes the simplest inventions have the biggest impact!
Genius Inventions That Make Laundry Easier
Doing chores sucks, especially laundry. You got to get all the clothes, wash them, dry them, and iron them. It just takes so long! But there are a few trusted inventions that’ll make laundry day a breeze.
Clothes racks are a real eyesore, and they take up space. So, why not get one that lowers from the ceiling? This one from Foxydry can heat up so your clothes don’t take forever to dry!
