User talk:Pumpernicle

BEST INVENTIONS IN 2010

1. OneBreath: An Inexpensive Portable Ventilator

OneBreath portable ventilator system with inventor Matthew Callaghan

Inspired by the need to help more patients in a crisis situation, such as a pandemic, postdoc fellow at Stanford University, Matthey Callaghan developed a no-frills ventilator that runs on a 12 volt battery that works for up to 12 hours and can be easily transported.

Because hospital ventilators typically cost from $3,000 to $40,000, hospitals generally would not have enough ventilators for patients who need them in a pandemic. Callahan and a few fellow students took on the ventilator project so that hospitals would be prepared... just in case. Their device uses a $10 pressure sensor like one you would find in a blood pressure monitor. It pumps air into the chest through the mouth and a sensor monitors how much air is in the lungs. Sensor data is fed into a software program to calculate the data, letting the ventilator know when the patient needs air again.

2. KOR-fx: Ultra Sensation Gaming Device

A visiting physics professor at Rowan University, Shahriar S. Afshar is living in campus housing, which makes him subject to the bass vibrations from surrounding gamers' rooms. The interference made it pretty hard for Afshar to get his work done. An inventor since childhood, Afshar invented the KOR-fx as self protection.

The KOR-fx is a device that connects to gaming consoles, PCs, or music players. It sits around the shoulders, and the two transducers that lie on one's chest translate stereo sound into stereo vibrations. That way, gamers can feel complete immersion in their games without involving others who are not playing. “We can induce the sensation of rain, wind, weight shift, even G-forces,” he said. His company, Immerz, is in talks with several studios to add these effects to films.

3. SmartSight: A Third Eye For Assault Rifles

After 10 years and many prototypes, inventor (and perfectionist) Matthew Hagerty finally is close to what he wanted his invention, the SmartSight, to be: a third eye for soldiers that enable them to see around corners and even behind their backs without putting themselves in the line of fire. SmartSight's latest design includes a 1.5 pound video camera positioned under the end of an assault rifle, a tiny computer that receives the video transmission attached to a soldier's vest, and a tiny display monitor worn on a soldier's protective glasses that receives video images in real time from the computer.

The whole device weighs only three pounds, and though Hagerty says he would like to make the device even lighter, his SmartSight invention, as it is, can save thousands of soldiers' lives from ambushes. Just think about being able to point and shoot a weapon at a target without even physically facing it.