PlayStation Robots, Nuclear Reactors Head Top Student Inventions
What the hell did I accomplish in university? Well, although I'm proud of both my BA and subsequent MA, my most prolific achievements probably surrounded kicking the crap out of my friends at Halo. I certainly never invented anything useful (except perhaps excuses to skip 8:30am class). Thank heavens there are pupils like those listed in TechEBlog's Top 10 Student Inventions. These mini-MacGyvers have devised some pretty fantastic devices, from a console-controlled robot arm to a nuclear fusion reactor.
Granted, while the most impressive invention has to be high school student Thiago Olson's nuclear reactor (which he built in just two years), the award for commercial potential goes to University of Waterloo student William Lam. The Canadian's touchscreen "Smart Mirror" allows users to check the weather, stock updates, and news headlines while picking spinach out of their teeth.
Although it's unlikely the Mexican university students behind the PlayStation controlled robotic arm will be marketing their device to automotive companies any day soon, the invention – which is controlled with the Sony console's controller – definitely will land them some cushy engineering positions.
Other interesting (albeit questionably rational) devices include the LED hourglass, an automatic dishmaker, and robotic drummer.
Finally, on Olson's nuclear fusion reactor: although it takes more energy to run the device than it in turn generates, the invention can produce 200 million degree plasma, making it "several times hotter than the core of the sun."
Still, probably not nearly as hot as the Porsches these young geniuses will soon be driving.
The Arts? What the hell was I thinking?
