Some days, it can seem that the best minds on earth are all preoccupied with projects
like developing robot soldiers, launching cryptocurrencies, and designing slot machines.
While those activities may (arguably) have some societal value, it’s hard to see their
primary mission as unambiguously beneficial.
But don’t lose all faith in humanity.
Below are 10 examples of inventions that may not make a ton of money and may not make their
creators famous, but do make the world a better place…
10.
Prosthetic dolphin tail
Winter the dolphin did not have an easy start in life.
At 3-months-old, she was found by a fisherman tangled in a crab trap line.
Winter, named after the season in which she was found, was cut from the line by the fisherman,
who then called in a rescue crew.
Despite the best efforts of the marine hospital where she was taken, the line had cut off
circulation to her tail fluke and it was lost, along with two vertabrae.
Normally, this is a fatal injury for a dolphin, but, in her new aquarium home, Winter learned
to swim using a sharklike side-to-side motion (instead of the usual up-and-down motion dolphins
usually employ with their tails) and using her flippers for momentum.
While this provided a temporary solution, the unnatural motion posed a long-term risk
of scoliosis and Winter’s health was worsening.
Enter Kevin Carroll and Dan Strzempka, two prosthetists with Hanger Orthopedic Group.
Carroll heard Winter’s story on the radio, and convinced his colleague Strzempka, who
also happened to be an amputee, that they could help.
Carroll and Strzempka quickly volunteered to try to craft a prosthetic tail for Winter.
While aquarium staff initially thought Carroll’s call was a prank, they quickly agreed to let
the men, who offered their work pro-bono, work with a team of trainers and vets to try
to find a solution.
After several iterations, the team developed a viable prosthetic tail for Winter, as well
as a gel that provides cushioning for the prosthesis.
Not only was Winter able to swim normally again, her story, which spawned the movie
Dolphin Tale, provided inspiration for people all over the world, including children with
disabilities and wounded soldiers.
Additionally, the gel that Carroll and Strzempka developed has also helped human amputees manage
their prostheses.
9.
An anti-tremor spoon
While working on his doctorate, engineer Anupam Pathak worked with the Army Research Lab,
looking for ways to stabilize rifles for soldiers in combat.
Pathak succeeded in identifying ways to make the hardware for motion cancellation very
small and realized his innovation had the potential to help another group of people
needing steady hands—those with Essential Tremor or Parkinson’s Disease.
One of the most salient impacts of those diseases comes when patients eat.
Often, hand and arm tremors make it impossible for those experiencing them to feed themselves.
However, Pathak worked to refine and commercialize his technology to make a spoon that would
cancel out the tremors, giving patients back their autonomy over one of their daily functions.
Using Pathak’s motion cancellation technology, the Liftware Steady spoon cancels out more
than 70% of shaking, allowing many of those with hand tremors to feed themselves.
The company was acquired by Google and has since reduced the price of its products, and
introduced a second product—the Liftware Level, a spoon which assists those with limited
hand and arm mobility by keeping the utensil level, even when the hand moves unpredictably.
One user with Essential Tremor explained the impact of this device on her life, noting
that the Liftware spoon made eating less embarrassing and gave her more confidence, making eating
enjoyable again.
8.
Railway tunnels for turtles
What happens when Japan’s high-speed trains meet its low speed turtles?
In the past, it hasn’t been pretty for either party.
Near Kobe, Japan (which is on the coast), turtles trying to cross the tracks sometimes
fell in the space between them and couldn’t get up.
They’d walk between the tracks until being run over by a passing train or until they
got to a junction, at which point they’d get squished during signal switches.
This wasn’t just a problem for the turtles, but also for the train and its passengers,
with turtle-related incidents causing 13 service disruptions between 2002 and 2013.
To combat the turtle vs. train problem, West Japan Railway Co. partnered with the Suma
Aqualife Park to find a solution.
They came up with “turtle tunnels,” concrete ditches that pass under the tracks near switch
points.
If staff find any turtles in the tunnels during their track checks, they rescue them and send
them to the aquarium.
A train company spokesman noted that, “The system prevents turtles from getting into
accidents and avoids causing trouble for our passengers.
We hope to continue using it.”
7.
Biodegradable 6-pack rings
Plastic packaging poses a threat to wildlife on land and in the sea.
The Pacific Ocean has a “garbage patch” made up of almost 80,000 tons of discarded
plastic, covering an area three times the size of France, posing a threat to the sea
life it encounters, who can be entangled and killed in the floating trash pile.
While plastic 6-pack rings (that hold cans of soda or beer) make up a tiny fraction of
the discarded plastic, consumers have long been warned to cut them up before discarding
them, because they can injure or kill animals that become trapped in them.
However, one company, E6PR, has come up with an even better way to ensure that animals
don’t become victims.
It has created an eco-friendly 6-pack ring, made from by-product waste (wheat and barley)
and designed to be compostable.
Even if it doesn’t end up in a compost facility, it will break down in weeks and, unlike plastic,
won’t hurt animals if they happen to ingest it.
The product had its commercial debut in early 2018 on cans of beer from Florida’s Saltwater
Brewery.
As of mid-2018, the company is working to refine the product and ramp up production
to be able to supply the 6-pack to all the beverage manufacturers who want to offer it.
That’s a development animals all over the world should want to toast.
6.
PARO the robot seal
PARO, an interactive robot that resembles a baby seal, may be best known for its appearance
on Aziz Ansari’s sitcom, Master of None.
However, PARO, which was designed in Japan, does most of its work in nursing homes and
hospitals—helping provide patients with the benefits of animal therapy.
Like a trained therapy animal, PARO responds to users’ voice and movements with its own
motions and vocalizations.
However, unlike real animals, PARO doesn’t need food, breaks, or clean-up, doesn’t
play favorites amongst patients, won’t trigger allergies and can be used with patients whose
unpredictable behavior might pose a risk to a therapy animal.
In a study of nursing home residents, those who interacted with PARO for an hour twice
a week over 12 weeks, showed significant declines in loneliness over the period of the study.
For those who worry about the dehumanizing effect robotic therapy animals might have,
research suggests that in addition to engaging with PARO, residents who did so were more
social with other residents and staff.
Another study of dementia patients found that sessions with PARO lessened anxiety, increased
social interaction, and helped lethargic patients remain alert.
5.
Pugedon recycling receptacle
The Pugedon recycling receptacle aims to address two problems at once—promoting recycling
and feeding stray cats and dogs.
The machine, which is about the size of a refrigerator, is placed on the street and
powered by a solar cell.
When someone throws in a recyclable bottle, the machine dispenses food for hungry strays.
If users want to empty their water bottles before disposing of them, the machine also
funnels that leftover water to a bowl that the strays can access.
The profits garnered from the sale of the recyclables pay for the kibble dispensed by
the unit.
The machine was introduced in Istanbul, Turkey, which is home to more than 150,000 stray cats
and dogs.
Engin Gargin, the machine’s inventor, said he was inspired by the idea of giving residents
a cost-free way to help strays, while improving Turkey’s recycling rates.
One of the concerns with the units was that they would attract hordes of hungry dogs,
but according to one article, that has not transpired.
In India, the machines were planned with a slightly different user in mind.
Pugedon units have been placed near areas where pet owners walk their dogs, in the hopes
that the prospect of a free dinner for their canine companion may encourage residents to
recycle.
4.
The Upsee harness
Debby Elnatan, an Israeli mother of a son with cerebral palsy, was determined to see
her son walk, despite doctors that counseled her that her 2-year-old, “didn’t know
what his legs are and has no consciousness of them.”
Elnatan worked with her son to build his walking skills, an arduous task.
Elnatan says the idea of the Upsee, a harness that attaches a child to an adult, allowing
the child to stand upright and to take steps with the support and motion of the adult,
came from the “pain and desperation” she experienced while trying to find a way to
help her son walk.
A group of 20 families with mobility-challenged children tested an early version of the product,
and shared favorable results: the children enjoyed using the harness and the Upsee enabled
families to undertake more activities together.
The Upsee was put into mass production by Irish company Leckey, and is now improving
the lives of children with mobility challenges around the world.
3.
Embrace infant warmers
Complications from preterm births are responsible for approximately 1 million infant deaths
a year.
A major contributing factor to these deaths is the hypothermia many premature babies experience,
as they lack the body fat needed to regulate their temperatures.
In wealthier settings, where preemies can be placed in incubators in hospitals, they
have much better outcomes than those preemies who are born in resource-poor settings, where
hospitals may be distant, electricity may be intermittent, and incubators that can cost
up to $20,000 just aren’t affordable.
Addressing this gap in care was the challenge faced by Jane Chen, Rahul Panicker, Linus
Liang, and later, Naganand Murty, who first received the project in a Stanford class called
“Design for Extreme Affordability.”
Using design thinking and rapid prototyping the team developed the Embrace Infant Warmer,
a sleeping-bag type warmer that relies on paraffin pouches for heat and costs hundreds
of dollars, instead of thousands.
The product has since helped more than 300,000 babies worldwide.
In order to ensure the product’s sustainability, the company introduced a for-profit sleep
sack, the sales of which support charitable distribution of the Embrace Warmers throughout
the developing world.
2.
Lifestraw water filter
The Lifestraw story begins with Guinea worm, a tropical parasite that incapacitates those
who consume its larvae by drinking unclean water.
In 1986, Guinea worm disease afflicted more than 3.5 million people in Africa and Asia.
By 2017, the disease was nearly eradicated, with only about 30 reported cases.
One of the factors driving down the incidence of the disease was a filter developed by Vestergaard,
a Swiss-based company, which removes Guinea worm larvae from drinking water.
After its success with the Guinea worm filter, Vestergaard turned its attention to dealing
with other water contaminants.
In 2005, it introduced the LifeStraw, a personal straw-like filter, designed for use in emergency
situations and in the developing world, where clean drinking water may not be easily accessible.
Today, the company offers a range of products based around this idea, from water bottles
for hikers to larger community-level water purification systems.
For each product purchased, the company commits to providing clean water (via school-based
systems) to a child in the developing world for a year.
LifeStraw’s philanthropic efforts have provided clean water to more than 1 million children
in the developing world.
1.
Be My Eyes App
The idea for this app, which helps people who are visually impaired by crowdsourcing
volunteer assistance with short, simple tasks, came from founder Hans Wiberg’s own experiences
as a visually impaired individual.
Wiberg’s blind friends shared that they often relied on FaceTime or other video phone
apps to ask for help from family and friends for help with everyday problems like reading
the expiration date on a milk carton or the departure board at a train station, though
many of them worried that they were burdening their loved ones with a plethora of micro-tasks.
Wiberg saw an opportunity to connect the visually impaired with a network of volunteers who
could help with things like identifying the contents of cans, or reading the amount of
an electric bill.
After pitching his idea at 2012’s Startup Weekend in Aarhus, Denmark, Wiberg quickly
connected with a team that helped turn the idea into a reality, and the free mobile app
was launched for iOS in 2015 and Android in 2017.
Since the app’s launch, more than 80,000 blind and visually impaired individuals have
been helped by more than 1.3 million sighted volunteers.
There are so many volunteers that they have to be quick to the draw to be able to help;
as of late 2017, the app’s response time averaged 20 seconds, meaning that most users
were able to get help almost as soon as they needed it.