62 results found displaying 31-33
   
socratesOne
 USA
3D Printing on large scale with Cob Printer Friendly Version
Cob is a natural building material made of sand (or sand-rich soil), clay (or clay-rich soil), water, and straw. It is traditionally used by mixing the ingredients with your feet, forming it into small oblong balls about 2 liters in volume, and pressing it against other cob balls to form structures such as walls.
3D printing is an additive manufacturing process whereby an object is built one layer at a time, automatically, much like the way a printer prints an image on a page.
My idea is to use existing technology to automate the process of building cob structures.
To do this, the envision a tri-pole, large scale 3D printer consisting of a machine roughly the size of a car (which may or may not be "driven" by an individual or a computer program), and containing a "print head" the size of consumer multi-color laser printer.
The "print head" is a chamber made primarily of two perpendicular metal plates to serve as the guides for each wall (thickness of the walls would be the distance between the plates), a feeder which adds new cob to the chamber, and piston which packs the cob into the chamber.
The head would be attached to a machine that has the ability to gather materials from the local environment, or from pre-made piles of sand, clay, and straw. The exact details of automating the process of combining each is an engineering challenge yet to be solved.
The machine would mix the cob, form it into blocks, add it to the queue, and move the head in high precision. The car-sized machine itself will be moved in low precision by three cables that reach up to the tops of three poles approximately 30-40 ft in the air and 30-40 feet apart from each other (telephone polls may be used), the exact dimensions giving the total range of the size of the constructed building.
Reward: A house built in the "earthship" style (passive solar heating, off grid power and water, etc...), made with the device.
 

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41°

   
Daniel L. L.
 USA
Geese for the homeless Printer Friendly Version
Problem #1: During the summer months here in Minnesota, it seems that there is geese everywhere and goose poo everywhere (expecialy in suburban areas). I hear of people going to North/South Dakota and having an unlimited bag limit on their goose harvests (I bet most of the geese they harvest go to waste). It seems that we have a problem with an over-population of geese. It's just gross walking around a metro lake that is peppered with goose sh*t everywhere! We simply dont need all of these geese.
Problem #2: A lot of homeless people and they need food.
Solution: Why don't we have a team of professional certified people that go around in various metro areas and humanely harvest some of these geese. Also set up hunts in the Dakota's that are cheaper for hunters if they donate some of their harvest. If we can thin out some of these geese, maybe we won't have so much wasted game from people bringing home 50 geese from a unlimited bag hunt and not eating it. I certainly don't think that this would really impact the goose population too much if the DNR helps monitor the program. The geese can go to shelters and be served to help feed people in need. Goose certainly isn't like "phesant under glass", but to a hungry homeless person, it has more nutrition and better taste than a dirty sock. Beggars can't be choosers.
Reward: The opportunity to go on a "Donation Hunt" for free.
 

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40°

   
ginjo
 USA
USB thumb code Printer Friendly Version
How about a program that requires fingerprint identification using a USB encrypted scanner. It scans your fingerprint to allow you into the program instead of asking for a password. Can be portable and just plug it in as needed to get into a program.

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39°

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