Make:

I've got to give this show a big thumbs down. It seems a lot more like "America's Greatest Infomercial" to me.

I liked it. But that inventor that was a judge, Doug Hall I believe, he said he invented 13 or more of the things in your house, what did he invent?

I also liked that black guy that made the exercise machine thingy. As the judges said, he was really the american dream. The inventor judge was nice to that kid at the end.

I had mixed feelings, but still turned into a fan. I thought the cooler/portable power source was the best idea. The implications of that could be much wider spread than the inventor is imagining.
Also dissappointed that they didn't let the kid's "doggie air conditioner" in. I've been kicking around a similar concept for a couple years now. One of those moments I was rooting a person on saying "Hey, I thought of that! Go kid!". And "Hey, I'd buy that".
The best part of that show is that it's inspirational to other inventors. It got my creative juices flowing, and I thought of three new ideas for inventions. (I'll have to see now if they already exist.) If nothing else it is encouraging to realize that some of my ideas aren't that bad (considering what these people are sinking thousands of dollars and years of time into) and it's fascinating to see what people from all walks of life are working so hard to create.

I also had mixed feelings. In between all the spun up drama, there were moments of brilliance from the inventors that made me smile. :)
The "solar powered cooler" was great and I really loved the simplicity of the "sandbag shovel." The shovel combined two simple mechanisms (a lever and a tube) and made something really useful and elegant. You can use it for sand, fallen leaves, etc.
The inventor judge, Doug Hall, seemed to reject some good ideas...I felt that he rejected them because he was jealous and that he didn't think of it first!

I can't take it emotionally. I lost interest after the punk rocker, but the guy that sold his house to make a shovel did me in. It's a reasonably good idea, but selling your house is crazy. You could make a reasonably good prototype out of pvc.

It just reminds me of all the companies over the years that have been set up to rip off people who think they are going to get rich off of their invention.

At least the guy that had the fashion suits for cars didn't sell his house.

Too much sensationalism, not enough inventions. It probably can't be helped because I think the show's premise is too geeky for the average viewer, so the drama factor needs to be high to snag their interest. Saying that, I'll keep watching. I agree with rook999 that it helps get the creative juices flowing.

I also felt bad for the kid, I would have responded to the woman judge's comment with "you can't change people's behavior, they are still going to put dogs in hot cars, so my invention at least addresses that." Plus all the other applications it could be used for. Nice of the one judge to talk to him afterwards, the kid needs encouragement as it would be waste for him to give up.

The Cooler idea is infeasible.

Solar power cells simply do not provide enough energy to power a peltier or TEC which is the only "low" powered way to cool something and you are talking 50+ watts for even a small peltier which would would be barely enough to cool 4 cokes. And the temperature extreme would not be that great like 15-25 degree delta from room/outdoor temp. (FYI TEC/Peltiers are used in those Mini-fridges you see that plug into a cigarette lighter). An 80 watt solar panel is 48" x 20" approx and costs about $500.

Even if the power usage and size is feasiable the cost would blow it way out of the water. At that kind of panel cost you are talking $700-1000 retail price on a product and that thows you into a niche market. And for a product that is not likely to be that effective (not cold enough to store medicines etc) it is just a toy or novelty and an expensive one at that.

The way the show was edited it really made you feel bad for the kid. Of course I would not be at all surprised if the publicity from the show got him a few scholorships and maybe funds to pursue other ideas (I did not think the invention was that great).

Knowing the "dog stuff" market, I can tell you that the kids invention was probably the most marketable of all the ideas that I saw last night. It's practical, it's cheap, and it has a huge potential market. I wouldn't be surprised to see them in stores in no time.

The kids invention has already been done too. I did a Google and came up with at least 3 different versions of the same idea of a car-cooler. All were solar powered and but none really said anything about a pet's comfort - probably for liabilities sake, they don't want to get sued when Aunt Polly's poodle croaks even though the fan was working.

The kid was brilliant though, smart and had some good funny come backs.

The kids Idea really wasen't feasible though, I mean it looked like a simple heat pump or heat exchanger and those things require a huge resiover of ICE cold water at near freazing temperatures to run efficently. I then thought that the air conditioner had a compressor in it, but if this kid has build a compressor/evaporator system that can cool down a 115-120 degree car and is small enough to carry in a bag then I will be impressed, but it's downright not feasible. In fact all the electronic devices are not feasible, I love it when people invent things but at least do some research/ do the equations and see if your product really works, if it's one thing america doesn't need it's making more inventions that promise or then they deliver.

-Edible snow globes: yes they are edible but where was the snow??? Snow globes are usually filled with water and "snow". They lady just simply put a plastic bowl over the candy and declared it a snow globe

-kids in plastic air cushion: only in the San Francisco Bay Area one can come up with psycho junk like this.

-Pit and shell hiding bowl: two guys that had a hit single once, never heard of them, do you know them? The idea is ok but why were they not able to produce a prototype? And one guy said "We're gonna be famous again".

-Gym in a bag: WTF? You can see the rubber band exercise thingy every other night on informercials. The guy didn't invent anything and he claimed he spent already $100,000??? This man is BSing everyone.

-Solar-powered cooler: one of those no-brainer ideas the cooler companies are probably working on it for the past 7 years.

-suits for cars: this man was clearly insane.

-toilet paper holder with soap: not bad of an idea, would be great for the middle east where they don't use toilet paper and always wash their behinds with water.

-Easy branch cutter: this was unbelievable! You can buy this at every hardware store. That just shows you that none of the judges ever did any yard work.

-bed pouch: that was fun to see her face after she learned that someone invented it already. And she claimed that she spent $8000 on it already.

-car window AC: well it was just a fan in a clear suitcase, but at least he had a prototype.

Nitrozac and I watched the show last night... yeah, it destroyed a few brain cells, but I have to admit I liked it. Kinda like the Gong Show for geeks. :-D

The sand bagger thing has already been done in a few different ways.
http://www.angelguardproducts.com/industrial/ezbagger/ezbagger.htm
http://www.gobagger.com/howto.htm
http://www.brownells.com/aspx/ns/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=18766&title=KWIK-FILL+SANDBAG+FILLER

And dont forget the inverted traffic cone trick. Hey it is not just a sand bag filler but it is a traffic safety device ;) Two items for the price of one.

Looks like there may be more people selling thier house:
http://techchallenge.thetech.org/rules.cfm

I watched it all except from 9:00-9:30 when "My Name is Earl" was on, I think "Earl" is better entertainment and putting the show opposite is probably a bad idea... Some comments:

The sandbag shovel was an excellent product and demo (1-2-3!) except for the cheesy rap. The amount of money to make a blow mold is understandable. He had the prototype when he came in made from ductwork. He could sell these by the hundreds for emergency preparedness.

Are most inventors stupid and insane? At least there were no perpetual motion devices.

The kid was smart but needs to have his mom teach him to be graceful in defeat. I have seen the adult version of this kid, made more and more demented by defeats that taught him nothing and it isn't pretty. If he learns from the experience then he'll turn out pretty good. That he burned his hand with the soldering iron is sad, and where the hell is his dad in all of this?

The gym in a bag sucked, but his method of attaching weights to the dumbells was innovative (if it is truly new).

If you want to get picked have a hot Dorothy in your demo. Words to live by.

The snow globe is genius - the amount of tacky craft items out there that generate profit is incredible. And the analysis "a product you consume" is true. My cousin had a candle business and watching people buy his expensive candles and then destroy them and buy more was awe inspiring.

The roach farm was good, but I came up with the idea of marketing bannana slugs for city dwellers that want a pet. Feel free to market that yourself...it has as much chance.

The bed pockets are a great idea, and like a lot of great ideas, already extant...

As a learning experience for inventors the show is pertty good and maybe some people won't mortgage their house...I do get a lot of customers (I sell small machine tools, and do some prototype work) who are trying to make their own vision come about and I think that making your prototype yourself is probably more cost effective, if you develop the skills - if you don't though your demo will look like crap and you won't get anywhere. The 1-888 numbers are a scam and it's good they are talking about that.

The "pit port" was a good idea but it would have been cheap to have a potter make up a prototype - those guys seemed lazy. Shows what you can create with 3D modelling though.

For the target audience (people that watch American Idol) it succeeded if my wife's tearing up was any indicator - so if it makes "normal" people think about inventing it's all for the good.

After the show we discussed some of our invention ideas (we always write them down in a book kept in the living room, no matter how stupid) and how none of them would really succeed. But that doesn't mean we'll stop thinking about it and as an impetus to create the show is probably a positive thing.

The show would definitely be more enjoyable if I drank.

Hey, another thing. Did anyone get the feeling that some of these people were just actors dressed up to act stupid? I mean the guy in the space suit was just too "out there".

Some of the others just seemed a bit too "polished" at acting like a botard to be real.

I found Doug Hall annoying and thought he was grandstanding a lot. He almost redeemed himself toward the end with the kid. But I didn't much like the kid either ... he had a lousy attitude at being rejected, the kind of kid who'll grow up to be a postal worker.

The gym in a bag would have gone nowhere had the guy not dazzled them with his story. What's the point of it? It's not exactly portable if you're lugging around weights, and a fixed home setup works better. I didn't think ANY of the inventions were all that inspired ... hard to see how this show will maintain its legs. Still, I'm rooting for it 'cause I thought it was surprisingly entertaining.

I think the saddest part of all was the amount of money these people sunk in those scam invention services. Its a great opportunity for an organiztion like the National Inventor Fraud Center to run a commercial or something.

http://www.inventorfraud.com

My blood boils when one of those "invention idea" ads come on TV, and what could do more to stifle the spirit of the American Inventor than to steal from or scare off true innovators that are merely poorly informed about their options.

A patent search supposedly runs about $5k , and depending on your protoype's requirements for milling, molds or dies you could go another $5k to $15k+. The heart wrencher was the one guy's gym in a bag where he has $100k dumped into something you could make from a hardware store and MAYBE $1k of plastic machining

one more word about the money some of them claimed to have invested. I think most of them lied when asked about how much money or time they had invested. They just tried to give some importance to their *inventions*

The guy with the gym bag claimed $100k. What did he do with it? He couldn't have gotten a patent for something that exists already (the bungee cord exerciser) and the weight were not made out of gold as far as I could see.

The guy with the branch cutter said he spent the last 10 years working on this. Big fat lier, he bought the branch cutter the day before at the hardware store.

And so on

They could have lied, but from the previews it looks like the next episode will be more stories of people selling their homes/cars/children to finance their "dreams".

---"The guy with the gym bag claimed $100k. What did he do with it? He couldn't
---have gotten a patent for something that exists already (the bungee cord
---exerciser)"

Um.. you can get a patent for just about anything. The patent office is clogged with poorly researched duplicate ideas that are just settled later in litigation (which means bigger lawyer usually wins).

A scam artist playing to peoples egos ("You are a genius, I'll make you rich etc..") and ignorance would have no problem stringing someone along for a long time. In fact, if this show get popular enough to run for a year or two, the topic would be ripe for a 60 minutes segment - if it hasnt already.

Every reality show seems to be about half "actors" trying to self-promote. I think these people make the rounds of Jerry Springer, Survivor, and Howard Stern show auditions, just trying to get their 15 minutes. Then you have the borderline mentally ill.

Were these the best inventors they could come up with? A suicide bike that will cost millions in liabilities? Exercise Junk?

BTW don't forget _Patent_it_Yourself_in_24_Hours. I think the cost is around $80 for a provisional patent, and it doesn't require an extensive patent search.

This formula is getting old. Are they trying to see just how many commercials they can run before viewers start fleeing (artificial drama or not)? Seriously, last night they must have reached critical mass.

Stop insulting your audience before they go away. Try to get your head around the concept of too much. Look for a balance. Greedy weasels.

Oh yeah, that “I only have good ideas” kid has some serious lessons to learn about being gracious. His parents need to step up and nip the “whiny little brat” thing in the bud.

Was I the only one impressed with the Sand Bagger? I see this as a good and useful invention, although its main fault is that its not really what they are looking for- something that will touch every American. Its much more specialized, but I do see it as a useful tool for anyone who lives in an area prone to flooding. I checked out the links to other versions of it and I have to say his invention has some merit to it over the existing products.

I also noticed they kept some of the other accepted people out- saving their inventions for later. Obviosly they're following the American Idol formula of showcasing the wackos up front. FWIW, the only other invention I liked was the lady with the kids video teaching right from wrong.

<i>If you want to get picked have a hot Dorothy in your demo.</i>

I followed one of the judge's "yes" votes on this with, "Plus, Dorothy is hot." My wife wasn't overly amused.

I couldn't help but notice the irony that they kept saying they wanted to see something "new" that "no one had ever seen before," yet the show's format (in this first episode at least) followed the American Idol formula step by step, right down to the incompatible personalities of (some of) the judges.

It seemed like there were a lot of double standards in the judging -- the backside guitar jack was dismissed for being too "specialized" (true), yet the sandbagging shovel was accepted. Now, I don't know about you, but even though I have to seriously make an attempt at playing them, I have two guitars in my closet. I have never assembled sandbags. I don't see how that would be a product that "every household" would need.

The exercise kit in a bag seemed as though it travelled some well-trod territory, but there must be a reason that the airwaves are inundated with infomercials for exercise equipment, and that reason must be that people eat that shit up.

I went back and forth with the edible snowglobes. My first reaction was that they were just ridiculous, but the judges' comments swayed me to believing they were a marketable product that a lot of people (albeit people I would probably never associate with) would buy. (As someone noted before, the one judge's comment about the "consumable product" did make me think.) But, on thinking about it further, it occurred to me -- can those really be described as an "invention?" It's doesn't seem like a new method of presenting foodstuffs qualifies as an invention, correct me if I'm wrong. Maybe this (and some other entries) would be better represented on a show called "American R&D."

I felt as though the kid at the end got robbed. Say what you will about his response, but he was smart, clever, and came well-prepared with a working prototype -- moreso than can be said for many of the adult competitors. And, most importantly, that definitely seemed like a product that could and would SELL. It just didn't make a lot of sense to me that he didn't make it to the next round. The deadpan "YOU CRUSHED MY DREAM," straight into the camera, was little unsettling. I'm sure we'll see that clip run ad infinitum on the news if/when that kid snaps in a grand fashion.

All in all, nothing really blew me away. I'll dedicate one more hour of my life to the next episode before I decide whether or not I'll follow the show long-term.

Uninspired, too many commercials and overly sappy. I felt bad that people sunk so much money into poorly thought out products. At least they weren't sitting around watching whatever rehashed idea the networks throw out at the viewing public. Wish I had tivo'd it so that I could have fast forwarded through the commercials - felt like commercial to content ratio was about 50/50.

If the network execs want yet another American Idol/Inventor type show maybe they should 'invent' one where the contestants come up with an original TV show concept. Two hours of my life I'll never get back........

This seems to be exactly like a show over here in the UK called Dragon's Den that has been running for years. Five industry figures (the dragons) sit through pitches by inventors and entrepreneurs and deceide whether to pledge money toward the venture. Is it true Simon Cowell is responsible for the US version?

"Is it true Simon Cowell is responsible for the US version?"

Yes, American Inventor is a Simon Cowell joint.

I don't want to sound like one of those cranks who look at a piece of art and say "I could have done that," but the amount of effort and cash that some of the inventors sunk into their inventions boggles the mind.

Take, for example, the guy who relocated the jack on his guitar into a wedge on the edge of the body. I have a Danelectro where the jack is already on the edge of the body. I'm sure if I spent an afternoon with a jigsaw and a soldering iron I could duplicate the PacMan style jack with a total expenditure of $0. How on Earth did this guy sink over $10,000 into it?

Then there was the guy who spent over $20,000 on the all-in-one shovel and sandbag filler. Couldn't he have built a fiberglass prototype for under $1,000? Also, if time is of the essence in filling sandbags, I think a large, multi-spouted, funnel-shaped hopper design where several people can shovel sand into the hopper and a few fill sandbags would work better. It seems like an assembly line/partial completion problem.

Also, I'm somewhat surprised by the abject lack of research on the part of any inventor. I can't remember a single one who quoted any kind of sales data or statistics or basic research they did into the problem they're trying to solve. Have none of these people ever pitched an idea before?

"Have none of these people ever pitched an idea before?"
Well I think that the show attracts people (generally speaking, we'll see if anything useful actually comes out of the show) who don't have an invention that is good enough to get snapped up quick by investors, who have never developed any ideas for sale before, and who think that a reality TV show is a good way to develop a product...

In other words it's a "get rich quick" mentality behind the submissions...or "get famous quick"...

Or to be kinder it's "Inventing and Marketing for Dummies"

About the kid with the air conditioner, how does he power that thing? I wouldnt want a cord hanging from my window all the time plugged into the cigarrette liter. And what do you do with it when you dont have it in the window, it is a little bulky... I doubt it could really have enough power to really provide any cooling. There's a reason why you can't leave your air conditioner on when the engine's off, it would drains the car battery. peltier junctions(if that is in fact what he's using) drain a good amount of power, and really dont have very high efficiency (which is why cars use freon based compressor air conditioners). Im not trying to bash the idea, or say what he was doing was stupid, meaningless or he never should have tried it, im just saying that theres no market for it in the real word(i wouldn't buy it), but if he can even think about anything like that at 14, he'll go alot farther in the future. i dont think he should have made it any further in the show, but based on the other ideas that did make it, he should have. The solar powered cooler had the same basic flaw(not including the cost) and if it made the show, the kids idea definately should have.

The kid's "invention" has been out for years. In the back of Popular Science and Popular Mechanics magazines for years:
http://www.brandsonsale.com/solar-car-fan.html

"There's a reason why you dont leave your air conditioner on when the engine's off, it drains the car battery!!!"

Except for the fan, a car's air conditioner doesn't use the battery. It uses a compressor that's in the belt path. The compressor compresses refrigerant which is uncompressed into a radiator type coil. When the refrigerant uncompresses, it gets cold, much like one of those air dusters when you use it for a while. Blow a fan across the coil and voila: cold air.

I think a more elegant solution would be to allow the car's vent to run with the key removed. You could just have a switch that automatically cracks the windows when depressed. The only way to make it cold in this case would be a peltier.

I think the biggest problem with this invention is simply that it's a life support system. Any manufacturer who made this scheme standard equipment would be setting themselves up for a huge lawsuit in the event of a failure.

okay that Doug dude, i hate that guy. He's a self-important blow-hard who thinks he knows more than *anyone* else.

no one has a complete superset of any one other person's knowledge or intelligence. nobody. yet doug thinks he does.

show gets a thumbs down from me, because of doug. completely unchecked arrogance has no place in my life.

#1 - Oh, the horror. Almost made me not watch the entire episode.

#4 - They're right, the lady's probably gonna cave later. Technically, sheets are already recycleable, but they're durable as well...the idea behind it is good, but the current level of her invention is deplorable. It doesn't matter how soft it is if I rip through it at night while sleeping, and I doubt nanotech paper sheets are going to be within a reasonable price point in the foreseeable future.

#6 - I've heard of lycra panels in undergarments before. How is this new?

To answer your musing, yes, the guy with #8 - Paper Plate with Drink Holder made it through, just to spite Doug again though. Doug's right on this one, highly impractical. Adding the drink holder would shift the center of mass of the plate so much that it probably would make it easier to drop. The tricky dies needed to create the product and the thickness of paper needed would make this very expensive to produce. Also, what happens when you get runny foods? the die cuts would be useless in that situation, due to the fact that you'd have the juices leaking out of the die cut region. Overall, this is a gimmick item at best.

#9 made me sick. It's a frisbee on a rope. I heard of this device before...hmmm...oh yeah, a life saver off of a boat! He really should have brought in the flotation ring, but it's still silly. Being so thin, it looks like it could hurt someone as they were being pulled in (might cut into their arm).

#10 was good, but my wife (a teacher herself) brought up a good point - no good way to check your answers and the fact that there's no selectable differation between different skill levels make this game not work. If you included a electronic spellchecker and had selectable levels of play for each player, it would make it a whole lot better.

I must of misheard or misunderstood something in last night’s episode (I don’t have Tivo to rewind). Didn’t they say they would allow only 12 people to the second round? Granted I haven’t been counting but it seems there have been a lot more than 12 already. What did I miss?

I finally caught this show on TV and man is it weird.

The judges gave in to the teacher and her sheets even though she just had a fabric sample and the idea.

The worst was the paper plate, though. I don't know about plate manufacturing and the die that you'd need to cut it, but the very fact that there is a perforated section in a plate with food is a major problem. Put a heavy piece of food on, like a chicken breast, and it falls onto your lap. Combine that with some chili and it's all over. A good problem to solve, but awful implementation.

Missed the spelling game demo, but the tears were over the top.

And the frisbee on a rope guy tested it out in swimming pools only? How the hell do you keep the rope nicely wound on a boat?

Overall, none of the ideas looked that great.

i thought the paper plate idea was pretty good. The idea seemed so simple that it looked like someone has done it before though. i just think it needs to be simplified. maybe just put a hole with a little wall in the plate so that it could seperate the food from the cup. and then use the cup as a handle. Or would that change their invention too much? It seemed to look inexpensive to make ,but doug said it would be too expensive. I mean look at all those drink holders at mcdonalds and what not. I seems like you can make a paper mold of anything these days. my 2 cents.

<b>>> Didn’t they say they would allow only 12 people to the second round?</b>
Not exactly. Here's the process:
1. Everyone auditions. Anyone with promise (3 votes) is called back.
2. Callbacks. The judges have had time to research so they questions are harder. (Like, "Didn't you bother Googling this idea?") 12 people move on.
3. Each of the judges works with 3 of the inventors (they get a $50k budget) to finalize the product and make a commercial.
4. Public vote until there's a winner.

I know it's an old post but I have to applaud <b>ai42</b> for actually understanding refrigeration. I think it was deceptive editing though, he never actually said the cooler would chill anything. I'm sure he's just using the cooler as an excuse for the surface area needed to run a radio and small fan. When the next show him I'm expecting to hear a collective "Oh" from 20 million viewers who believe solar power is magic.

Peter's my favorite now btw, for calling that frisbee what it is: a ring buoy without the floatation.

There's some talk of discontinuing the full coverage articles of the show. I'd like to request you don't stop doing that. I sometimes miss the shows, but am still curious as to what the inventions were. I appreciate the time taken to write up the recaps and add in the photos. Please keep it up!

I thought this was the funniest invention on the show so far this scene made me laugh so hard pop went upmy nose:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFNdFWVMGPo&search=knot

I love this article at
http://www.AmericanInventorSpot.com
<a href:"http://wwww.AmericanInventorSpot.com">AmericanInventorSpot.com</a>

Is American Inventor a Disappointment
<a href"http://www.americaninventorspot.com/?q=node/676">Article</a>


I totally agree with everything this poster has to say. The show sucks and I am disappointment because I really wish it was better.

Perhaps now that they are on to the final 12, we'll have a more interesting show.