Greetings all!

I am working on a project for school and in need of a technological innovative ideas. We were thinking of doing a biometric timeclock for organizations. We also had the idea of doing like a safe charge device so that you dont run the risk of overcharging your battery on your technology devices. It cuts of the transfer of electricity to your device until you remove it from the charger.

So in a nut shell I was wondering if any fellow BOTL's had any ideas of technologies they would like to see to make their lifes easier or products that would be innovative. Any and all ideas will be welcomed!

Thanks in advance!
[Reply]

Are you creating ideas or actually creating the project? If it's the latter, what are you capable of in terms of engineering design?
[Reply]

a cigar cutter that tells u how meny cuts it has left till it needs sharpening
[Reply]

We are creating ideas and then a make shift prototype. Really just a lot of market research and a prototype to display how the product will operate.
[Reply]

Interesting. Some members in my group were thinking of something for cigars. They initially wanting to do an electronic table top cutter but I know I prefer to cut my cigars manually. Let me run this cutter idea by them. For the amount of cuts left we would just use an average?
[Reply]

Which perspective is this class from? Business Marketing or Engineering?

Cus I can tell you the biometric timeclock wouldn't be an incredibly complex device. Probably 4 to 5 IC chips, a microcontroller core, small graphic CoG LCD, a PCB, case and the kicker of the entire deal.. finding a thumb scanner that can take that kind of abuse, accurately and sustainably.

As for your current/voltage limiting charger, that would entirely depend on the type of battery the device in question is using as there exists different charging methods & circuits for different battery types. Either way it wouldn't be practical as you'd be proposing a design change for every proprietary charger on the market.. or a universal charger for every proprietary device on the market. Either way..... meh

If you want something cool, checkout RFID. There's a lot of cool innovation being done in that field.. some with some ethical questionability, but the technology has a lot of room to both grow and make life more convenient. Think RFID credit cards :-) Albeit not entirely practical.. the idea of waving your hand across a scanner for payment is kind of a cool thought.
[Reply]

How about a light switch that electrocutes the people who don't shut their lights off?
I'm not sure how you'd make that work, therein lies the challenge. :-)
[Reply]

Shilala funny you should mention light switches. We came across this earlier...

Image

A mousetrap to that smacks you when you turn on the lights so that you remember to turn them off
[Reply]

How about something that automatically says "Really?" or "You don't say?" and "uh huh" whenever the significant other pauses for more than a split second?
[Reply]

Its for a Technology & Innovation class. Its a Business Management class. As far as the RFID idea thats a good place to look. I know that Wal-Mart is using this for there products right not and because of the shear size of Wal-Mart they are going to control the specific type of RFID that will be used throughout the field. But I will definitely give this some research. Thanks!
[Reply]

My kid would have that wore out if it turns the lights off every time she turns them on. :-)
[Reply]

yeh a average would be best
[Reply]

There is one out already, I'll have to find the link in the morning, basically the cable itself is magnetically attatched to the base of the actual wall plug, and once the item is fully charged, the cable detatches.
[Reply]

I'll throw you a couple of bones...

1. An insulated wine glass wine bottle with a temperature tab on the label. Must hold 750 ml and be the same size as a regular bottle.

2. I also like the idea of a flexible insulated sports bottle that be squeezed.
______________

We deal with inventors all the time and make prototypes or specific parts for their inventions in Switzerland. I've seen some real cool ideas, but can't talk about them.
[Reply]