Idea idol

By Matt Cooney, April 1, 2006 @ 1:08 pm

High-energy production company Television Spaceman creates a TV show to encourage innovation by kids and to sell to the world

Idealog March/April 2006, page 62

Rocket-powered roller skates. A quadraped pogo stick. Disposable nappies that can actually be safely disposed of. A six-legged hydraulic walking car. A hover-skateboard. A fishtank belt. A wind-up cellphone charger. A better walking stick. Sneakers with anti-odour fans built-in. A La-Z-Boy for the very lazy. There’s no shortage of great ideas among Kiwi youth.

Last year they got the chance to turn ideas into inventions with the Let’s Get Inventin’ programme. Let’s Get Inventin’, which will begin screening in April, matches clever kids with local inventors. The results are fresh, surprising, brilliant and very entertaining.

Let’s Get Inventin’ is the brainchild of Luke Nola and Neil Stichbury of Television Spaceman and arose from an earlier TV show, The Goober Brothers. The Goobers is, in Nola’s words, about “a couple of idiots who make stupid inventions that go horribly wrong”, such as the Smelliphone and the Fax Toaster. The inventions were adults’ ideas but Nola and Stichbury received so many invention suggestions from children that they realised they had the seeds of another show. If The Goober Brothers is Ren & Stimpy in a Dick Smith store, Let’s Get Inventin’ is Monster Garage for kids.

Television Spaceman received 680 idea suggestions and found it tough to whittle them down to 24. Local businesses like Dick Smith supported the programme with tools and gadgets and a bunch of local inventors helped the kids, but everyone was careful not to take over projects so they remained true to the vision of the young inventors. “Ideas are all about possibilities,” says Nola. “The kids don’t know that you can’t do it.”

This respect for the kids’ ideas carries on into protecting their IP. The $10,000 first prize includes a patent application for the winner’s invention and two other ideas are also likely to be patented. IPONZ, New Zealand’s patent office, was impressed. “They loved the show,” says Nola. “Their opinion is to get the message out there as young as you can.”

Television Spaceman, however, is busy pitching the show concept abroad and has had some favourable responses from the UK, US and Canada. Stichbury says the company plans to make a ‘bible’ on producing Let’s Get Inventin’. “We’re in it for the long haul.” But the biggest buzz from producing the show has been watching the kids’ excitement when they realised they really would be able to design and build their own inventions. Nola hopes the show is only a beginning for the entrants. “We’re telling kids that hey, you can think and get paid for it—as a job.”

Quad

Justin and Brendon Port’s Quad

Justin and Brendon Port, Glenfield

Wheels—who needs ’em? ‘Twinventors’ Justin and Brendon Port imagined a six-legged walking vehicle that would prove wheels are overrated. In three days the Port lads and Sam Britten built the Quad and successfully marched it down Queen Street. It’s fortunate they met their three-day deadline—Let’s Get Inventin’ had a demolition crew onsite ready to blow up the Quad if construction took too long. “That kind of got them going,” says director Luke Nola.

Auto Dog Walker

Kristen Thompson’s Auto Dog Walker

Kristen Thompson, Darfield

Dogs would run around all day if you let them. Now Kristen Thomsen can let her dog do just that. Her Auto Dog Walker lets her walk, watch and talk to her dog from in front of her TV and even steer the canine by remote control. Quick, somebody invent a pooper scooper for this thing …

Very Lazy Boy

Josh Murphy’s Very Lazy Boy

Josh Murphy, Glen Innes

Why have a comfortable chair if you have to get out of it all the time? Josh Murphy wanted a chair that he could spend the day in, which means equipping it with a DVD player, gaming console, fridge and an intercom to call Mum and order dinner. The challenge was for Josh to spend a whole day in the chair, including rugby practice and playing the lead role in the school play—followed by a trip to Tuatapere where Sam Britten and ‘rocket man’ Bruce Simpson helped Josh attempt the Lazy Speed Record.

Walking Cell Charger

Alex Drinkwater’s Walking Cell Charger

Alex Drinkwater, Orakei

We’re all slaves to our cellphones, but Alex Drinkwater’s invention might mean we’re no longer slaves to cellphone chargers. The ‘walkie talkie’—seen above being strapped to Alex’s leg by Let’s Get Inventin’ technical director Chris Chitty, known as the guy who makes robots for movies such as the sheep in Babe—powers up a cellphone using pedestrian power. The gadget received its test when inventor Alex climbed the Sky Tower to charge a phone and then used it to order pizza. Telecom is now taking a close look at Alex’s Walking Cell Charger.

Pogobike

William Francis’ Pogo Bike

William Francis, Rotorua

The Pogobike combines William Francis’ favourite sports—cycling and pogoing. The air-powered contraption, built with the help of Zorb inventor Andrew Akers, gets its workout when inventor William rides his Pogobike to school. It’s a good workout for the rider too.

Originally published in Idealog #2, page 62