Each year, the James Dyson Award celebrates the most creative inventions from around the world. This year's UK winner is a bizarre pinecone-shaped device which has been hailed as 'wonderful'. The oddly-shaped block has no moving parts, almost no metal, and is mainly made of charcoal and wax.
And did this 'invention' spring fully formed from the mind of the creator?
While it might be hard to tell based on appearances, the Pyri device is designed to help prevent forest fires by providing an early warning system to local communities. Pyri's design was inspired by 'pyriscencent' pine trees which only drop their seeds when wildfires melt their resinous outer casings. Just like those pinecones, the device's outer casing is made of a wax which melts as the heat of a fire approaches 80°C (176°F). As the outer shell melts away it releases a saltwater solution whose electrolytes produce a small electrical current which powers a radio transmitter.That radio signal is strong enough to be detected by towers which can triangulate Pyri's signal over 50km (31 miles).That data can then be sent to local communities and firefighting services to provide an early warning against wildfires.
So that's a 'No'. All they've done is add the WIFI - so shouldn't mother nature get the award?
The young inventors of Pyri are Richard Alexandre, Karina Gunadi, Blake Goodwyn and Tanghao Yu, who met while studying at Imperial College and the Royal College of Art in London.
They will be dubbed 'inventors' when really they are plagiarists.
Am I mistaken, I thought there were watch towers in forests, manned by people who monitored these places for such a purpose. And they are on the spot, ready to alert others and use their training to deal with the situation as appropriate.
ReplyDeleteAs the saying might be regarding this invention, when seconds count, fire fighters are miles away.
Why not make big water tanks made of this wax.
ReplyDeleteWhen the wax melts the great rush of water puts the fire out and the fire-watchers can see from the mushroom cloud of steam where the fire is / was.
And another thing. Like a simple match, how is it tested.
Meanwhile in a Dyson development laboratory somewhere in England, real engineers are cringing.
Many inventions are based on Nature and previous inventions. They take something and then modify it to make something different usually making it more efficient and/or easier to manage and/or cheaper.
ReplyDeleteSo imo this is an invention and this one covers all three of those areas.