Category: Possible inventions

When making a braided rope, a process akin to plaiting takes place which can be thought of as three strands at a time being linked together.

Rope and braids exhibit the emergent property that their load carrying capacity is greater than the sums of the capacities of the individual fibres. Braids tend to fail, however, when weaknesses in different fibres, which are randomly distributed along the length of each one, find themselves in alignment. To help reinforce such weaknesses, the fibres are woven regularly and tightly, but this limits flexibility.

In a 1-D cellular automaton (CA), the state of three adjacent cells specifies the state of the cell at the next level down in the pattern (See here). This is not unlike a process of braiding.

We can interpret whether a cell is black or white as meaning that the corresponding fibre in the braid is ‘over’ or ‘under’. (In this way, a conventional plait rule would look like 001-> 1, 100->1, etc…) The amazing thing about such CA systems is that they can generate something very like randomness, using only simple starting conditions and rules. Rule 30, as shown, is one such randomlike rule.

Today’s invention is therefore to use Rule 30, or similar ones, to form highly flexible braided ropes in a deterministic way.

(The sequence of fibres in the diagram starting at the top centre position and running vertically downwards would be something like …oouuouuuooouoouu… (with ‘o’ meaning over and ‘u’ meaning under) ie a continuous but almost random, and therefore highly flexible, weave).

I’m becoming increasingly frustrated by the quantities of dust I’ve been finding on all the optical kit to which I have access. Thinking about how best to remove or control the problem has led me to do some background research.

Then I started to think about whether this problem could be converted into some kind of benefit.

In fact, if you have a pattern of dust particles on a glass screen protecting a sensor in a camera or scanner, then that pattern could be used as a ‘watermark’ to help defend your Copyright in the resulting images (assuming you were the kind of unrelaxed type who cares about that kind of stuff more than taking great pictures). This is today’s invention.

No one wants visible particles in their images, but it might be possible to take a calibration image of a very uniform field and thus establish the distribution of even invisible dust particles. This could then be actively sought, using statistical techniques, in all subsequent images taken.

The calibration image would need to be captured through the lens system and might be achieved by taking an image of the inside of the lens cover by briefly firing the flash, within the camera body, every time it is opened. This would probably require storing coordinates of the biggest 20 particles present and associating these values with the images taken in the current shoot.

If relying on natural dust ingress is an unattractive option, then I’d propose that every sensor array be manufactured with a unique distribution of minute biases (or that natural biases be recorded). These would be invisible when the images were viewed by a person, but could be detected by statistical image analysis techniques if Copyright, or tampering, were later at issue.

Hairstyling is a matter of big emotional significance for surprisingly large numbers of people. Experienced coiffeurs can tell at a glance whether a particular style will suit any given individual, but for the customer it’s difficult to choose appropriate designs.

Sure, you can cut and paste a static haircut image onto your passport photo at a number of online venues, but somehow the effect is never that convincing -or reassuring.

Now that animation experts (eg at Pixar) have managed to solve the research question of how simulated hair moves, today’s invention is a way for people to use that information to plan their new hairstyle.

A webcam image would be taken of the customer’s crown, to indicate the basic layout of their hair growth pattern. This, together with some information about hair type (eg, wiry, greasy, etc) would be used as input to a program which would create a model of their current hairstyle.

Armed with this information, a stylist could simulate the process of cutting the hair into different shapes (recording the process for training purposes, perhaps) and then supply a customer with a range of fully animated options.

(In theory, it would then also be possible to have the haircut undertaken remotely. The customer could place their head inside a electrostatically-charged sphere, with radius larger than the longest hair, which would cause every hair to stand on end and be clipped to the length specified in the animation model. This would only be for intrepid and/or impatient types, though, since I’m informed that watching a hairstylist perform the cut is actually a valued part of the experience).

Walking boots are now available in a huge variety of colours, ‘technical’ materials, weights and prices. It always bugs me though that when I strap on my old Karrimors, the heavily-cleated soles quickly fill with mud and don’t provide me with any more grip than a pair of Italian loafers (not that I’d ever wear these, even if they came in my size).

It’s perhaps not quite that bad, but there’s certainly some kind of ongoing design compromise by manufacturers so as to provide a certain amount of traction, at a reasonable cost but without destroying the surfaces of woodland paths and rock formations all across the globe.

Today’s invention is a new approach to walking boot soles. Instead of fixed cleats, I’m proposing an array of retractable studs (resembling about fifty short golf tees per boot). These would be made of eg tungsten and free to move independently up into the 2cm-deep base of the sole, but each would be mounted on a small spring. This would allow the sole of the boots to conform more closely to the local shape of the ground surface and thus provide much better grip. They might also give a certain extra protection from damaging impacts when clambering over rock surfaces.

Walking on a smoother surface afterwards would force more of the studs upwards and allow any accumulated mud/debris to be sloughed off (without having to wait the usual week for it to form dry cakes and fall away).

For getting heavy vehicles (eg tanks) across rugged countryside, articulated tracks have been the ‘obvious’ solution since about 1916. Tracked vehicles tend, however, to have to be pretty slow, or they shed their links in a way which must be terrifying for occupants in a warzone.

Today’s invention is a way to allow very heavy vehicles to move across open country quickly and smoothly (perhaps to deliver food or medicines under inhospitable conditions).

Imagine a vehicle like a railway locomotive standing on a pair of parallel, joined rails, as usual. Instead of requiring that these rails run continuously for miles across country, this vehicle is supported by only one such section of rail, which is about 50% longer than the vehicle itself.

The vehicle also carries another joined pair of rails, identical to the one on wich it stands. As it approaches the end of its current ‘track’, it pushes the spare section forward onto the ground in front and drives onto it. The original section is then automatically lifted from behind and readied for the next movement cycle.

It would be necessary to design the ends of the rails so that driving from one to the next could not result in derailment (by having them link together temporarily, even over very rough terrain). Significant gradients would also require a rack and pinion drive system to operate between the train and the active track section.

This panjandrum would allow only very gradual changes of direction, but the rails could support very great loads moving rapidly and not be vulnerable to local damage (by eg landmines).

When a vehicle comes under fire (whether it’s a limousine or a personnel carrier), someone may have glimpsed the direction from which the muzzle flash came (assuming they avoided being hurt) but it’s hard to respond fast enough to mount an effective defence.

There are also systems which attempt to detect the origin of the firing by listening for the acoustic source of the weapon’s crack. This is a tough task, given that there is usually a lot of background noise and that many weapons may be in use simultaneously.

Today’s invention is an alternative which might make attackers think twice.

Vehicles would be covered with two layers of mesh, spaced apart by a few centimetres. Each of these would carry a network of wires which could be used to sense the location of any damage. A round from a firearm would easily hole both screens and knowledge of the locations of the penetrations would allow a very fast calculation of its incoming trajectory, by an on-board processor.

Fire could thus be returned automatically, possibly even before the arrival of the next shot.

I’ve always fancied having superhuman powers. I suspect this is part of the motivation behind much of the research into robotic exoskeletons.

Instead of helping the disabled or allowing stevedores to lift loaded pallets single-handed, today’s invention is a repurposing of this type of unit.

Athletes of every kind, from joggers to Olympians, could benefit from wearing such a system during training. Rather than using it to enhance performance, it would actually inhibit easy movement, in a highly controlled way, and thus provide a convenient source of resistance training.

Each joint could be programmed to allow a particular force/acceleration relation -which could be tailored to optimise performance during some subsequent competitive event.

Such a system could be worn and used throughout the day, so that the training might become ‘ambient’ -thus overcoming much of the mental resistance which can limit training effort. A computer could provide several high-inertia periods during which training would be explicit, but alternate with bouts of lower intensity drag.

The suit could also rapidly sense any sudden change in its wearer’s movements, which might indicate the onset of injury in time to protect against further damage.

Office buildings are usually equipped with double-glazed units: large numbers of them. Triple glazing would actually be only marginally more expensive (around 5% extra, if you believe the brochures).

Today’s invention is a way to use this technology to brighten up both working environments and city centres as well as cutting down on the glare which often requires expensive sunshades to be fitted to buildings, post commissioning.

Each window would have a triple-glazed window unit. Only one of the two voids would however ‘contain’ a partial vacuum. The other would be narrower than standard (say 1mm thick) and have a small inlet and outlet pipe attached to the space.

The narrow space would be used to hold a thin film of liquid. This liquid could have dye added to it to vary the translucency of the window during the course of a day and from season to season.

The colour of the dye might be used to enhance the mood of the occupants of the building. At any rate, they could all vote, using a picker tool in a browser, for their choice of colour, which would then drive the dye injection machinery.

A skyscraper might even be transformed in this way into a massive, coloured advertising image (or a cellular automaton, if you prefer).

It’s tough to learn any musical instrument. I’m always so frustrated by the long period of amusical plunking, when learning the guitar, that I tend to give up -no point ‘practising’ something that’s just so bad.

Part of my problem is that how I experience the music in my head is not related at all to where my hands have to be to make it happen. I certainly can’t deal with having someone tell me how to move my hands…too many translations between modalities for me to make sense of the tuition. It’s generally true also that even a small misplacement of a fingertip turns the noise produced from perfect to unrecognisably discordant: the whole thing demands precision and gives no positive feedback for attempts that are ‘nearly right’.

Today’s invention is a tool which can help move fingers into the right positions repeatedly until those movements get related mentally to the sounds and the process is absorbed into motor memory.

The fingers are inserted into ten plastic tubes. Each tube is attached to the end of one finger of a robotic hand. Such hands are now just about dextrous enough to position a human hand, riding piggyback, accurately relative to the fretboard. The robot hand could be ‘taught’ how to play each required piece by being worn by an expert guitarist whose movements would be stored in the controlling computer as a pattern of reverse emf’s.

The system could in principle be used to ‘teach’ any instrument and might even be ‘tuned’ so as to emit the correct note (electronically, from an electric guitar amp) even if the finger positions weren’t actually perfect…so that a pupil would be less demotivated by the instrument’s sensitivity.

Window shopping is currently a pretty unexciting business.

Today’s invention is a way for a shop’s window dressing to become much more interactive (This seems to have been picked up by Ralph Lauren).

People could press a simple, armoured button on the outside of the shop. Each press would cause a small light to illuminate near each item in the display, in sequence. Pressing the button would therefore illuminate the next item along the window. There would be one button and one screen for each section of the display.

A delay in which the button had not been pressed for say two seconds, would launch a multimedia infomercial about the currently-lit product on its adjacent screen.