Leonardo da Vinci said, “The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.” But he was wrong — the greatest pleasure is successful collaboration to help others. We can perhaps forgive Leonardo this slip, as no doubt it was hard for him to find co-workers who could keep up with him; I have no such limitation. […]
The Joy of Collaboration Read More »
“Oyarsa”, by Robert L. Read I probably should not have taken up oil painting; I have always admired art done with pen-and-ink, which produces very thin, precise lines. It is possible to make thin lines with oil paint, but it is difficult. One must either have a terribly steady hand with a very fine brush,
Public Invention Project #40: A Wheel for Painting Very Thin Lines Read More »
The Glussbot, a Tetrobot invented by Public Invention. Public Invention is a non-profit whose mission is to “invent in the public, for the public”, and our first 43 projects can be found here. Our goal is to create humanitarian projects that conform to our mission, and to coach these projects to create inventions that make us all
43 Public Invention Projects That Need You Read More »
A hexagonal-centered toroidal 1.053-bounded regular tetrahedral simplex chain, discovered at the Mathathon by Nathan Gilbert. Two weekends ago, something rare happened. Thirteen people, sharing only a common interest in math, joined together from India, the Middle-East, England, Canada and the United States to solve real math problems. As might be expected, most of them dropped
The Story of a Public, Cooperative Mathathon Read More »
The Mission of Public Invention is to “Invent in the public, for the public.” We invent things that help all people. We empower inventors, technologists, and students to publish, find, and collaborate on invention ideas through direct coaching, team formation, curation of work, publication, co-working and learning events, and, in some cases, material support. We
Mission of Public Invention, 2.0 Read More »
Invent things that help humanity. Please see below for an explanation of why the mission statement is being published at this time. If this mission statement appeals to you and you would like to learn more about Public Invention, please contact me <read.robert@gmail.com>, — or, respond here so that others can benefit from your response.
Public Invention: Mission Statement, 2018 Read More »
A prototype of a flying machine, constructed by Václav Kadeřávek in Prague about 1860–1865 About twenty times in my career as a Computer Scientist and Public Inventor I have somehow informally presented an idea to someone or a group of people, only to hear them say, “That’s been done.” Sometimes they add some additional information
What to do when you hear about your idea: “That’s been done…” Read More »
Ferrofluid is a suspension of tiny iron nanoparticles in mineral oil that behaves like a moving liquid magnet when placed in a magnetic field. It can now be inexpensively purchased at magnet supply stores like Apex magnets. It has some fascinating and beautiful behavior. You can use it make a liquid piston with no moving parts,
Failed Experiments with Ferrofluid Read More »
Color is vivid. Throughout recorded history, it has been expensive to produce color compared to monochrome design. Writing systems, which have been constantly evolving since their invention initiated recorded history, have generally been monochrome. But now color is cheap or free, which raises questions: Is the next evolution in writing systems in the direction of
Project #7: Color-block Font for Writing Read More »
Lately there has been a lot of interest in soft robotics. These tend to use pneumatics or hydraulics in fluid-tight chambers which change shape based on pressure. It is not easy to 3D print with flexible air-tight material. I have done it by using Ninja Flex and then treating it heavily with Methyl Ethyl Ketone
Project #33: 3D Print Soft Robotics with PVA Molds filled with Silicone Read More »
