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A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

smithsonianmag.com

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Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#161

Post by yardie »

potamic wrote: post #126
yardie wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its kind of expensive. About $30-50k for the entire process. For a big company with deep pockets and IP lawyers already on retainer that price is just the cost of doing business and an investment of beating the competition. If your an individual $30k for a not sure bet is a hell of a lot of money. A good friend patented a makeup applicator and she's not sure if she'll ever get that money back.

Why does it cost so much to file a patent? Isn't one able to draft and submit an application by themselves?

You can do a lot of things on your own and you may even be successful at it but there are so many roadblocks intentionally put in your way. If you don't have the expertise to file an application paying someone else to counsel may be prudent. If you do have the expertise you'll probably make more being hired to file than the actual patent filer.

Anyway, she thought of an idea. Sketched and prototyped it. Hired a lawyer to file it and that was step 1. She wasn't able to manufacture, license, or sell her patent.

She went back to being a makeup artist and was mildly successful streaming.

Other friends with patents work for large corps (Siemens, Microsoft, Motorola) who handle it all automatically. They might have got a plaque and a annual bonus for their effort. None are wildly richer for it.

Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#162

Post by sudosysgen »

prvc wrote: post #153
ekianjo wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most 17 years old don't have access to 3d printers. Equipment is a big factor in making something tangible.

They're common in public libraries in many major cities, so quite a few do.

As someone who was in that position 13-17, it's complicated. Many will refuse to help you if it's a project with a modicum of risk (like homemade motors) and/or impose crippling restrictions, at that age.

Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#163

Post by jcalvinowens »

zackmorris wrote: post #64

This is great, I'm happy for him! But I miss the creative aspect in myself. I used to be so creative like him, with so many half-finished inventions scattered around the house. Today there's nothing. I finally managed to carve out a day or two per week away from my job to work on personal projects after many years of failed attempts to get away at great personal expense. But the last 3 days that I went to work on som…

> I can't self-start anymore or do work that isn't demanded of me externally

I've had similar feelings in the past. For me, the way out is to flip it around: I'm not neglecting my personal project out of a lack of willpower or motivation, I've lost interest in my personal project and it's no longer rewarding enough to be worth my time! The solution is to find something new to do, not run yourself into the ground trying to see it through.

It's not a job: you don't have to deliver something for your time. Focus on what interests and excites you, not what will get internet points or make money. If you want to allocate part of your free time towards making money, treat that like a second job and not as free time.

Also, a career culminating in a permanent fellowship with an inter-dimensional time traveling think tank in your early twenties is an unrealistic standard for achievement.

Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#164

Post by robertlagrant »

This is how we do it. Not 30-somethings in STEM for the cash and clout, or Twitter warriors frantically retweeting, or the green PR industry, or authoritarian rules.

More people like this lad, motivated, smart, and hard-working, and we'll become sustainable. Just need to get out of their way.

Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#165

Post by bGl2YW5j »

bckr wrote: post #84

This is inspiring, and let's look at why so many of us have the impulse to figure out what the flaw or missing part of the story is. For me, it's because I hadn't done something so cool at 17. That makes me think, huh, I wonder if I'm not a "natural born engineer". I start going through my life story so far and beating myself up for playing too many video games, or not going deep enough on my interests. Then I start…

Insightful comments like this are why I love HN. Thank you!

Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#166

Post by phonescreen_man »

zackmorris wrote: post #64

This is great, I'm happy for him! But I miss the creative aspect in myself. I used to be so creative like him, with so many half-finished inventions scattered around the house. Today there's nothing. I finally managed to carve out a day or two per week away from my job to work on personal projects after many years of failed attempts to get away at great personal expense. But the last 3 days that I went to work on som…

Maybe try magic mushrooms?

Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#167

Post by pontifier »

The article teases by opening with a casual mention of "high speed running boots" but I'm having a devil of a time finding any info about that.

I've thought about this a bit myself. About 15 years ago my unpowered prototype allowed me to speed walk about as fast as I could sprint. Only problem was my ankles kept hitting each other... Very painful.

Sounds like a very inventive and interesting guy rather than a one trick pony. Good luck!

Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#168

Post by dymk »

robertlagrant wrote: post #164

This is how we do it. Not 30-somethings in STEM for the cash and clout, or Twitter warriors frantically retweeting, or the green PR industry, or authoritarian rules. More people like this lad, motivated, smart, and hard-working, and we'll become sustainable. Just need to get out of their way.

We do "it" (what's "it"?) with... 17 year olds' spare time, for free? Maybe they get a patent if it all pans out?

Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#169

Post by sbf501 »

bckr wrote: post #84

This is inspiring, and let's look at why so many of us have the impulse to figure out what the flaw or missing part of the story is. For me, it's because I hadn't done something so cool at 17. That makes me think, huh, I wonder if I'm not a "natural born engineer". I start going through my life story so far and beating myself up for playing too many video games, or not going deep enough on my interests. Then I start…

> why so many of us have the impulse to figure out what the flaw or missing part of the story is.

Why? Because that's literally what engineers are paid to do: make things, break things, fix things. It's all about tearing things apart to understand them, and then making them better.

Just like this kid is doing. I don't think DC motor engineers took it personally when he decided to "figure out what the flaw" was in current rare earth magnet designs, right?

If you take that personally, you're in the wrong field.

Re: A 17-year-old designed a novel synchronous reluctance motor

#170

Post by sbf501 »

zackmorris wrote: post #64

This is great, I'm happy for him! But I miss the creative aspect in myself. I used to be so creative like him, with so many half-finished inventions scattered around the house. Today there's nothing. I finally managed to carve out a day or two per week away from my job to work on personal projects after many years of failed attempts to get away at great personal expense. But the last 3 days that I went to work on som…

He has an amazing lab and access to a lot of expensive resources. There should be maker labs like this for pre-college kids all over the place, that are free.
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