Are you a high school student with a head filled with invention ideas? You might not know what to do with all of these ideas or how to turn them into workable inventions. Look at the following tips that help.

【小题1】

You may have come up with a fantastic idea, but it’s possible that someone else has already thought of it. Do a quick search online to see if something similar has already been made. If your idea does exist, don’t be discouraged, which means that you came up with such a great solution.

Outline your idea

【小题2】 Label every component(部件) and make notes about how various pieces will go together. Don’t hesitate to make multiple sketches(草图)of the same design until you are satisfied with the result.

Gather materials to build a prototype and test it

A prototype is a working model of your idea. You don’t need to use the highest quality materials, 【小题3】 And then you can ask your classmates to test out the device and if they have any suggestions for improvements.

Draft a patent

In order to protect your invention and claim it as your own, you must patent it. A patent is a legal document stating that you came up with the idea and proves that you own the invention. 【小题4】

Reach out to investors.

If you want to mass produce your invention, you will likely need to raise some money. 【小题5】 In return, they will get some of the profits from the sales of product.

There is no lack of excellent flying builders-such as bees-in nature. To build a nest, these insects team up to collect the needed materials and follow the specification of a complex design that ends up being many times their size. This building process takes months, even longer than their average lifespan, during which the insects must adjust as they go.

Inspired by these insect building teams, Mirko Kovac, a roboticist, developed a way to improve 3D printing for the construction industry. A typical 3D printer is limited by the range of its nozzle (喷嘴), and can only make objects smaller than itself. Besides, 3D construction robotics currently focuses mostly on ground-based robots. And large-scale systems that need to be connected to a power supply are limited in places where they can be laid out.

Dr Kovac’s team has removed these limitations by giving the printer nozzle wings. Dr Kovac describes a system of flying robots that is composed of two types of drones: BuilDrones and ScanDrones.

First, a builder flies over its area of operation and begins to release a jet of the building material. Once the builder robot has sprayed a layer of material, the scanner robot flies over and inspects the progress. The scanner then calculates the next layer that the builder should make, while also correcting any errors that might have been discovered in what has already been built. At this point, people can also step in the process when necessary.

The researchers tested the system’s capabilities by building both a large cylinder (圆柱体) (72 layers and 2 meters tall) made of a lightweight material, and a small one (28 layers, 18cm) made of a high-density mixture. The tasks were not simple. Making circles on top of other circles would not have worked, because the perfect alignment (required would have been impractical to achieve. As a result, Dr Kovac’s robots passed the test with flying colors-the cylinders were built to within 5mm of the width and height of the planned structures, which is of sufficient quality, as far as British building requirements are concerned.

Because the flying robots can, in theory, operate anywhere, they could fix things in dangerous or otherwise inaccessible places.

Are you interested in robot-science? What do you think robots are capable of? Let’s have a review of world-leading technology gathered at the World Robot Conference (WRC) 2022.

Technology in agriculture

A fruit-picking robot attracted visitors’ attention. With the help of various sensors and an AI system, the robot can collect fruit according to its ripeness, quality and size. The robot first locates the fruit and then uses sensors to decide whether it is ripe, with a robotic arm picking the fruit gently. The fruit is then categorized, ending up in a basket according to its size. It is said that more robotic technology will be used in agriculture in the future, including robots for daily inspection and weeding.

Robots fighting Covid-19

Medical staff conducting nucleic acid tests often find their work toilsome, especially under the summer heat. A nucleic acid test robot developed by Tsinghua University and a Chinese biotech company was presented at the WRC. It looks like a vending machine, but the robot can collect throat swabs (拭子), process samples, as well as produce and upload the results within 45 minutes. The whole process will not require the involvement of humans or laboratories.

Inventions of the youth

Those visiting the exhibit also witnessed the intelligence of a new generation. Wang Zirun, a junior student at the school, designed a three-dimensional parking facility model. Since there are usually too few parking spaces in older residential areas, Wang’s work aims to fit more cars into current parking spots. The facility works like a sky wheel with six parking spots. When cars need to be picked up, the facility rotates steadily, placing the car on the ground.