Hi. I recently thought about joining a local "competition" which consists of making innovative things or inventing (although the definition for innovative and invention are a bit different in my 3rd world country 
)
I first though of a glove controlled quadcopter (which is not a competition-winner nor innovative in a developed place but its different in my country ) but the issue is , Ill have a hard time explaining the purpose of this quadcopter which differs in nothing but the remote control (being practical is important in this place)
So I thought about a bioprinter which is a very uncommon and intact field in my country , so I read up on the diy bioprinter. finding the arduino shield which drives the inkjet head is impossible in my country , so I thought of making the head myself too , but I couldnt find any information about the technology itself (is printing the same as FDM , just oozing cells out of a nozzle?) so I cant be sure if I can build it (im a student)
so as a last resort I went back to the only field I have a bit of experience in , and thought about making a 3d printer , but a different one , but even there I couldnt think of anything new (which would be practical) . I did think of a scara 3d printer (never seen one in my country) but not sure if it would be suitable for the competition because itd be copying,
I am searching here for any possible ideas that could be helpful (and within my skill level /budget)
Id be grateful if anyone could help me .
thanks in advance
(deleted)
I know that is true and you are right. I have come up with some ideas (the printer and quadcopter and all) but Im not sure if they are good enought to start working on , thats my biggest problem.
I have seen people building a mini cnc router and earning 1st place and Im quite sure a bioprinter is newer than a router , but still I am doubtful.
What country are you in?
I live in a country where you can get anything tec. related, what are you looking for exactly.
I can buy and ship to you.......for a price LOL
really what country do you live in?
Being practical? How many years do you have to decide and build your project? Do you have access to material and shop to construct whatever it will be that the Arduino will control? Do you have the skills to build whatever it is you will build?
Do you have friends to help or is this this just you in a closed room?
Paul
Hi
it is an annual event so I will have a couple of months . but the level is much lower, like someone became 1st a few years ago with a desktop cnc router dubbed "pcb machine" (which is not new at all)
my resources are limited but enough foor basic things like a quadcopter or a printer or anything , but I have no access to exotic stuff which could be needed for more advanced projects (like the inkjet head controller shield which Id need for an inkjet bioprinter)
and this is mostly me alone 
For many of these competitions the ideas themselves are not all that novel, as it's at least as much about the implementation of the idea. Maybe they found a way to implement it with much less or cheaper components. Or make it faster using a neat trick.
I'm sure the ones that end up on top are teams that have been working on their project for a few years, entering the competition only when they feel they're ready.
It's very hard to come up with a completely new idea, something that's never been done before. It's much better to find something you know intimately already and build on that. If you want to build a bio-inkjet printer, you should know quite intimately how an inkjet printer works, and you need to know a lot about biology to be able to not only print the tissue, but also have the individual cells survive the process. If you don't have that knowledge, you don't have much chance to build anything like it, let alone in just a few months.
So start with what you know (you're a student - stay within your field), and go from there.
Does it have to practical, or can it just be interesting or amusing?
There's a whole new field of visual art thanks to the ever decreasing cost of smart LEDs and microcontrollers. For example
Background info at Huge lighting installation at London Heathrow Airport, 2014 - YouTube
mikb55:
Does it have to practical, or can it just be interesting or amusing?
There's a whole new field of visual art thanks to the ever decreasing cost of smart LEDs and microcontrollers. For example
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkwtP66Nf7EBackground info at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Qlmywxjau0
Hi
most of the ideas that get accepted are practical (like devices , machines , etc)
wvmarle:
For many of these competitions the ideas themselves are not all that novel, as it's at least as much about the implementation of the idea. Maybe they found a way to implement it with much less or cheaper components. Or make it faster using a neat trick.I'm sure the ones that end up on top are teams that have been working on their project for a few years, entering the competition only when they feel they're ready.
It's very hard to come up with a completely new idea, something that's never been done before. It's much better to find something you know intimately already and build on that. If you want to build a bio-inkjet printer, you should know quite intimately how an inkjet printer works, and you need to know a lot about biology to be able to not only print the tissue, but also have the individual cells survive the process. If you don't have that knowledge, you don't have much chance to build anything like it, let alone in just a few months.
So start with what you know (you're a student - stay within your field), and go from there.
thats exactly the case. none could be counted as inventions , but cheaper methods or native-ation of current devices (for example if a device is imported , finding a way to make it locally) and such .
the level of skill required for the competition is not high at all , but the problem is that I have no confidence in my own ideas since I cant compare ideas and know whether it would win or not and the entire competition depends on the judges liking a project or not , which is another issue
(and since I live in a 3rd world country the judges are more often than not less educated than the participants themselves , thus making it harder to justify more technical projects , so its best to have something good enough but simple as well)
thanks for the help everyone
I will re-look the previous winners so I might understand the competition better and might get new ideas
thanks