Washington’s leading public broadcasting station, WETA, filmed a pilot episode of a new series called Inventing America in the Dorothy Marvin Betts Theatre Thursday.
The show provides a forum for aspiring inventors of all ages and backgrounds to present their creations and receive counseling while appearing on television. The audience chooses its favorite invention from five products showcased, and the winner receives consultative advice from a group of experts.
Laurie Rackas, a producer of the show, said GW’s Betts Theatre was chosen for the taping because of its set design. Professor Carl Gudenius of GW’s drama department designed the set of Inventing USA and suggested the theater to its producers.
Host Jos? Diaz-Balart, former co-anchor of the CBS This Morning show, was accompanied by video feed from Dr. Mae Jemison, a professor at Dartmouth. Jemison became the first African-American woman to enter space aboard the space shuttle Endeavor in 1992. NASA engineer Joe Parish, marketing expert Larry Udell of the California Invention Center and Joanne Hayes, editor and publisher of Inventors’ Digest, made up a panel of Inventing USA All-Stars. The panel reviewed each invention and proposed ideas to its creators.
This is something new for the public, audience member Marvin Kerderman said. It shows that the mind can move forward and develop things without money being involved.
Palmer Robeson and his Emergency Traction Device took home top prize in the pilot-episode competition. His device works like snow chains for a tire but attaches more quickly and easily. Its is intended to be used to free a trapped car and will sell for about $100 to $150 a pair.
I’m tickled pink, Robeson said of his win.
Second-place honors went to Elena Boisvert, who invented a self-adhesive gift-wrap. Boisvert said the paper works like painter’s tape, which can be removed without tearing a surface. The product only costs two cents more a square foot than regular paper and eliminates the need for tape.
(I want) never to have to use a roll of tape again, the inventor said.
Terrence Winston followed in third place with a new version of the police baton. The Winston Baton has a curved shaft that contours the body and provides leverage for takedown and control holds, an alternative to beating a suspect into submission. The curved structure also functions to deflect blows away from an officer. Winston, a former police officer, said the Rodney King incident in Los Angeles was a motivating factor for his desire to help prevent police-related injuries or deaths.
Melody and Enoch Swetland presented their concoction, called TeknoBubbles. These bubbles appear and work just like the run-of-the-mill soapy kind but glow under black lights. The bubbles are already prosperous in the European market. The Swetlands said they hope to introduce their product to the U.S. market sometime this year.
The show also exhibited AIBO, the new artificial intelligence robot dog from Sony. AIBO learns as it lives, just like a real pet, and interacts with people and objects around it. A few thousand of the $2,500 robots were sold on the day of release in Japan. AIBO will hit the U.S. market soon.
Inventing USA also included a segment highlighting four children selected from the 40 finalists in the 2000 New York Dream Toy Competition. The children received a $100-dollar savings bond and a provisional patent for their invention.
More than one half of the inventions in the world come from the United States, Diaz-Balart said. We’re scouring the nation for the next big thing.
The inventors featured on the show are discovered through the U.S. Patent Office. Hundreds of thousands of patents are issued every year, Diaz-Balart said.
We found the cool ones, he said.
After the pilot airs this summer on PBS, Rackas said he hopes the show will become a weekly half-hour primetime series.
We’re looking to get through to people of all ages … to reach out to people with inquisitive minds, Diaz-Balart said. Inventors aren’t the big-glasses guy in the lab, they’re every American.
