Vote for the cool new invention that you'd most like to own!
Allergy-proof cats? Paper-thin lights? Drinkable water from thin air? Not too long ago, these concepts might have sounded dreamlike - even a little crazy. But this year, they are as real as can be. Inventors came up with these and other ingenious ways to improve life as we know it, and to bring more fun to our world. Check out their work on these pages. What will they think of next?
Waterpowered Toy
Carmakers have yet to develop an environmentally friendly passenger
vehicle that runs on hydrogen fuel. But this toy car does just that. The
six-inch-long H-racer is designed by Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies,
based in Shanghai, in China. The car uses hydrogen from plain tap water
as fuel. The little speedster is available now and travels more than 300
feet in a single fuel-up. Go, H-racer, go!
Easy Rider
This scrappy guy weighs just 11 pounds and stands only 20 inches tall.
But Murata Boy does something that no other robot can do. He rides a
bike. Sensors in his body and a camera in his head help keep him upright
and riding in a straight line. Murata Boy is not yet for sale.
Talking Head
Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's that knocking at my door? The Magic
Message Mirror will not turn your life into a fairy tale. But it will
tell you when a car pulls into the driveway. For $19,995, this mirror
ought to tell you that you're the fairest one of all!
ONE SMART VEHICLE
This smart car is a cross between a motorcycle, a compact car, and a
spaceship. But the aluminum-framed Clever doesn't just look cool. It's
Earth-friendly too. The three-wheeled vehicle, which seats two, runs on
compressed natural gas. When natural gas is burned, it releases fewer
harmful gases than regular fuel does. The Clever can travel up to 108
miles on one gallon of fuel and cruise at speeds up to 80 miles per hour.
FLAT LIGHT
CeeLite's paper-thin, flexible lights can turn almost anything into a
light source. The super-thin panels can be wrapped around a pillar or
spread on the floor. They can also dim, fade or flash.
DIVING DOLPHIN
The Innespace Sea Breacher can jump, dive, roll and swim underwater. The
vehicle travels at speeds up to 30 miles per hour. This version is 16
feet long and seats two. Joystick controllers work the mechanical fins,
while foot pedals operate the tail.
DINO BOT
It's alive! Well, not quite, but sometimes it's hard to tell. Pleo is a
lifelike robot dinosaur. It is modeled after a baby camarasaurus. The
toy growls when it is hungry, cries when it is scared and even gets sad
when it is ignored. Pleo goes on sale next spring for $250.
HOSPITAL HELPER
Someday, robots could replace humans as nurse's aides. Japan's Ri-Man is
a good candidate for the job. The bot can lift an 80-pound person, and
researchers hope to strengthen the motors in its arms. Ri-Man uses
sensors to see, smell and hear its environment. It has 320 pressure
points on its arms and chest to help it sense the position of whatever
it holds.
NO SNEEZING!
Say bye-bye to cat allergies. Allerca, a company in California, is
breeding naturally hypoallergenic cats. These cats produce less of the
protein that can trigger allergic reactions in humans. The purr-fect
pals will not be available until next year. The sniffle-proof kitties
cost $3,950 each!
WATERWORKS
Presto, change-o: Turn air into water! The Aqua Sciences machine (hidden
inside the blue container) can pull up to 500 gallons of drinkable water
from thin air in a day. The machine mimics the way salt absorbs moisture
from the air. That's what makes salt clump in saltshakers. The
waterworks costs $300,000.
CATCH THE DRIFT
Snow is nice to look at and fun to jump around in. But clearing it away
takes a lot of hard work. Enter the Wovel, a new kind of shovel built on
a 36-inch wheel. The Wovel works like a seesaw. Just push down on the
handle to raise the blade. Without much effort, you can send scoops of
snow flying!