The Real “Real Geniuses”

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Everyone remembers the movie “Real Genius” where the smartest of the smart kids can use their brilliant minds to create things that are cool as shit– like the liquid nitrogen/dry ice coins for the vending machine, or freezing the dorm floors to go ice skating. Pacific Tech isn’t a real place, and nobody has invented a way to make a popcorn ball big enough to actually bust open a house, but there are real schools, with real geniuses who have notoriously used their smarty pants big brains to do cool shit. Here are some of the highlights.

    

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Harvard’s First Hamburger in Space (2012)

5 Harvard students decided to put their education to work by launching a hamburger into space. With the use of a weather balloon filled with helium, they were able to get the burger over 98,000 feet in the air. The most amazing part of the experiment was getting a local burger joint to put up $1000 to fund the project. It’s good to know if our astronauts ever need a burger, that these guys can send one right up.

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MIT East Campus: Reverse Cowgirl Roller Coaster (2010)


Too much brain power and too much extra lumber. That led to these Columbia University students building their own roller coaster. Riders get to enjoy being strapped in standing up and then being taken face down just about the ground as the “Crazy Cowgirl” propels them just by the use of gravity. This is the type of invention that usually leads to the college calling someone’s parents in the middle of the night to say there’s been an accident.

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Cornell White Board Eraser Robot (2012)

Don’t have a couple of seconds to erase your whiteboard after a meeting!? These Cornell students have created a robot that is basically a roomba for dry erase boards. The prototype is made up of legos, magnets and a lot of batteries. After seeing the Eraser Robot in action, you’ll wonder why you ever did it by hand.

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Berkeley Ridiculously Automated Dorm (2012)

It’s the “Berkeley Ridiculously Automated Dorm” or better known as “BRAD”. This Cal-Berkeley student wanted to create a fully automated dorm room. Through the use of remotes and voice commands, he can automatically change his room from everything like “sleep mode” to “study mode” by controlling the lighting, music and blinds. Skip ahead to the 3:15 mark to see his room go into “party mode”. It becomes a music and light show including a disco ball. No college kid will ever want to move back home after spending his college years with BRAD.

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Stanford Jedibot (2011)

A Stanford student his using the force and his tuition money to develop the “Jedibot”. It’s a robot arm that holds a light saber and duels with you. The Jedibot can go into defense mode and sense where the next strike should be coming. Now all this guy needs to do is invent an actual light saber to go along with it. Hopefully one day, all wars will be fought with Jedibots.

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MIT The Self Balancing Electric Unicycle (2012)

What’s the problem facing American unicycle riders every day!? Balance. That’s where this MIT student comes in with an electric powered unicycle that balances itself. As you can see in the demonstration, it’s perfect for getting up and down dorm hallways. And since our dreams of everyone riding Segways has faded, we can now put our self balancing transportation hopes on this unicycle.

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Utah State PVAC (2012)

Utah State answered a military challenge of how do you get soldiers over a wall without using any ropes. That’s easy, use vacuums. This is the “Personal Vacuum Assisted Climber” or PVAC. It uses strong vacuum suction to let climbers stick the wall as they ascend it. It turns the climber into a wall crawler like “Spider-Man” without the red and blue tights. Now we have to see if the Pentagon will fork over the money to arm our troops with really strong vacuum cleaners.

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University of Washington: Automatic Wireless Drink Mixer (2010)


What’s the use of being a college science genius if you can’t invent something to party with!? Students at the University of Washington built an automatic wireless drink mixer as a class project. It’s big and bulky and composed of touchscreens, sensors and servo motors. And it does a job that a human could do much faster, but where’s the fun in that!? It’s an automatic bartender that’s going to bring the party to their dorm room.

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Dundee University Dr. Who’s Sonic Screwdriver (2012)

It’s always cool when something from science fiction comes to life. Dundee University students have been able to replicate Dr. Who’s Sonic Screwdriver. The students have created their own device that uses ultrasound to lift objects and rotate them. It may not do medical scans or track alien life like Dr. Who’s, but we’re getting closer.

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MIT: The Dishmaker (2007)


Only a college student inventor would do so much work to build something to help be lazier. This MIT student has created a machine to avoid cleaning and putting away dishes. It’s “The Dishmaker”. The machine uses acrylic material to form and produce plates, cups and bowls. And when you’re done eating pop the dishes back in the machine and it recycles them into new ones. Instead of dishes taking up room in your cabinets, now you just store flat acrylic material. And in a hurry, the dishmaker can create dinnerware for a family of 4 in just 15 minutes.

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BYU: The Drivable Couch (2010)

If you’re a college student inventor, you know you’re on to something fantastic if your invention is immediately banned by the university. These BYU students have combined the worlds of dorm comfort and transportation by inventing the Drivable Couch. Basically, it’s a sofa attached to motor and wheels of a motorized wheelchair. The campus police banned all motorized furniture shortly after it’s debut. They must not have realized that the couch cushions could be used as an airbag in case of an accident.

The Editor
The Editor