The Creative Science Foundation is pleased to extend an invitation to  attendees of the  Maker Faire held in New York during September 20 & 21 2014, to write a very short fictional story, proposing a new type of product that you might create or see in a future Maker Faire at least 20 years from now. The challenge is to describe and motivate your idea in 100 words or less (a genre of Science-Fiction Prototyping called a Micro Science-Fiction Prototype or Micro-SFP for short). The shorter your word-count the more difficult it is to write and the more marks we will give. Generally there are three components to such a story; the technology, a simple action and a person.Brian David Johnson, Intel’s Futurist, has kindly volunteered to join the team of judges. The best micro-SFP will win an Arduino Robot and two runners up will win Arduino starter kits. If this is your first attempt at writing an SFP you might find the following useful; Jennifer O’Connor’s notes “On Writing SFPs”  or Vic Callaghan’s paper, “Micro-Futures” (includes examples of Micro-SFPs). Further information is available from Simon Egerton who attended and managed the New York Maker Faire.

 

COMPETITION RULES:

• Competition opens September 20th 2014 and closes 3pm September 21st 2014 (22nd September for email entries) **CLOSED**
• Submit your entries to the Creative Science Maker Space (information should include, Your Name, Maker Faire Ticket number, Email Address, Micro-SFP (100 words or less), Explanation and Rational of your story (200 words or less).
• Judging criteria will take into account the story’s creativity, innovation, humour, engagement and general wow factor. The judges decision is final.
• By entering the competition you agree for your entry to be published on the Creative Science website.
• Competition winners will be contacted roughly four weeks after the competition closing date to arrange delivery of prizes. Winners list will be published on the Creative Science web site (see bottom of this page). Inquiries should be addressed to Simon Egerton.

 

Competition Results:

Top Three Micro-SFPs

• 1st Place – Emily ran into the lab one day. It worked. Her pillow of dreams (or pod for short) worked. It was a pillow that could monitor the brains activity while sleeping and would show you what you had dreamed about. She decided to test it on herself four hours later she saw the results. Amazing she breathed; it only showed basic images but it still worked! (65 words) – Shannen

• Comment: A potential application of brain-interface research, Wouldn’t it be awesome to see your dreams … or your partners!

• 2nd Place – Yawning, kicking, grasping for air, a new-born child has entered the world. Its parents trace the child’s fingers in awe. It curls its toes in a great big yawn when OH NO! Gently clenching the baby’s foot, they realize its fate! Pes Planus; the child has flat feet! The couple lament its future ridden with annoying foot pain, back stiffness and knee weakness, but wait! A super maker appears and produces shoes, the cloth material morphs to its feet and tightens while mechanical rollers in the sole mould an arch for the feet. With regular wear success is here! (99 words) – Elizabeth

• Author’s Comment: By the time people realise they have flat feet problems, it is too late to create an arch. The bones are set. However, the cartilage and bones of an infant are malleable, thus the potential for arch creation exists. The rollers in the shoes soles roll from toe to heal, placing emphasis where the arch should be. In time, the child should be spared a life of feet, knee, and back problems.

• 3rd Place – Where is he?!! She was exasperated as he always wanders off at these fairs. He tugged at her shirt. Hi Mom, Bee found me. I hate it when it stings me, especially since I was right there (pointing at the booth). Following it back to you is like the walk of shame. Anyway are we next in line? (58 words) – Sayuri

• Author’s Comment: Product “Bee with me” is a tiny flying object (like a bee) that will search for someone. Once found it will buzz wildly or offer a nip to catch the persons attention so that the person will follow it back to where the sender is waiting… perfect for moms @ maker faire 🙂

Highly Commended Micro-SFPs

• The helmet snugged in place, and suddenly he was seeing himself through her eyes, the faint taste of her popcorn filling his mouth. Was this what it was really like being her? He felt… shorter. (35 words) – Josh

• Authors Comment: Optogenics is providing the roadmap, deep brain stimulation the vehicle, to really get into each other’s heads, perhaps erasing forever the conception of a person being “other”

• He put the helmet on and immediately felt himself transported to a different world, one that was forever lost in the past, virtually rebuilt from remnants of a blurry memory he felt the gentle breeze against his face and took in the scent of the lavender from the luscious field. It all felt so real to him and even though deep, deep down disbelief resounded from inside of him, he felt an overwhelming sense of relief from this reverie. It was solace to a heart wounded from loss, and just life. This forgotten happiness made him choose to forget reality. (100 words) – Nisakorn

• Authors Comment: My invention is a virtual reality helmet that can replicate an environment from a human memory and allow the wearer to re-experience the memory through all the five senses. Through this helmet people can re-access happy memories, which would be a reprieve from any life sorrows they may have. This would also provide a small world for people to retreat into to discover themselves and explore their mind, which may help in the treatment of psychological disorders.

• I observe what you cannot see; particles, harmful light, radiation. I am small but I am the guardian. I can protect you and your family. (25 words) – Glen

• Authors comment: This is a mobile fire alarm ++, it follows children in post environmental disaster. An electronic guide dog to guide us through the mess we created.

• Honey, my mom is coming tonight! What shall we do? “Joanne, don’t worry, we’ll be ready. I just bought an iHome designer”. I know it can instantly update our table and wall surfaces but will it make classic designs? “Joanne you saw the demo, but look at the table I’ll show you” Mark presses a button on the side of the table. It shimmers and suddenly turns an elegant gold and white. Joanne smiles; “that’s perfect!” Later that night, Mrs Jones comes by… “I love your decor!” Mark and Joanne smile. (91 words) – Alia

• Authors Comment: I’m an inventor of several products including an instant home design system. Custom walls and table décor in minutes.

• The skin on his forehead prickled from the dragons attack. He stepped out of the sensory immersion room excited for the next generation of arcade games. (26 words) – Leslie-Morgan

• Author’s Comment: An enclosed room or space dedicated to bringing a full sensory experience to arcade and video gamers. The room alters the users environment (heat lamps, humidity, terrain) based on the users expectations.

• The child clapped as the hologram turned on. She could see her mom and waved. She waved back. The girl shook the displays hand and felt her mom’s warmth. The girl waved good bye and the hologram turned off. (39 words) – Ian

• Authors’ Comment: The story is about a toddler saying hello to her mother while she is away. The hologram has a solid aspect to it, so they can shake hands.

Commended Micro-SFPs:

• I would like to see an interactive globe that reacts to the real world conditions based on weather, tide, and climate data. It would show storms, tornadoes, etc happening in real-time. (31 words) – Todd

• Comment: Interesting application of mixed-reality

• A pet collar reads it’s vital and provides useful information to owners using sound cues and visual alerts. A mute button is included on the remote status viewer. (28 words) – Sam

• Author’s Comment: The collar could measure different parts of the pet’s health, body temperature, chemical readings, etc. A remote monitor can be used to see any important updates on a pet’s condition.

• The computer knows more then we humans ever could. Everything that could be stored is stored. Big data cannot even begin to describe what we have now. No longer is it just “Big Data”, it is a snap shot of the entire world; a perfect recording of all human experience. However, human kind is always advancing and, with each new advance, there is new progress to measure and we are in a continuous pursuit of predicting the future. (78 words) – Ouwen

• Author’s Comment: The product is a sensor platform that organises all data in the world and allows any user to view / report the data. We will hopefully enter big organised aggregation of data not just a “Big Data” future.

• Colour rises at table five. Skin glow a nano-crème. No need for flash! Selfies at night. I see the light. (20 words) – Todd

• Author’s Comment: Decorative nano-capsule glow material. Apply as paint / crème

• The year 2030 bring the greatest feat yet for the first time a person will be transformed into a robot. A person’s brain will be put into a robots body. They will be immortal and live forever. (37 words) – Joseph

• Authors Comment: A person has their mind transferred live at Maker-Fair 2030. Their brains implanted into the robot so they can live forever while retaining their prior knowledge.

• 20 years from today, man will again have the perks of evolution. Humans will be able to adapt to the world rather than just shaping it. Self-controlled evolution with bionics will give the future of mankind a greater quality of life. With the development of prosthetics and engineering the limbless will be able to walk and the blind see again. At that time humans will control their own design rather than let bad luck and mistakes rule them. 20 years from now a bionic human being should be feasible. (89 words) – Teddy

• Authors Comment: Simply put, I want to see most of the body reworked, so limbs, organs and our general weaknesses can be replaced.

Check out the CSf web entry at the New York Maker Faire.

*** Have fun making your story! ***