July 20, 2025 When first beginning their positions with Public Invention, volunteers are advised that the original commitment is five to six hours per week for a period of six months. This allows for volunteers to truly engage with a project, learn new skills, and immerse themselves in the organization without making a long term […]
Oxygen is a miracle drug for many conditions, and is absolutely essential for serious surgeries. Kids Operating Room (KidsOR) (https://www.kidsor.org/) installs pediatric surgical theaters in the poorest countries of the world. Recently, they installed their 101st operating room, and have now performed 722,401 pediatric surgeries. Generally, these operating rooms use either bottled oxygen or pressure-swing
On June 15th, Public Invention held its first in-real-life event since the pandemic in the Austin Public Library. We held a “demo day” demonstrating a lot of our physical inventions, and some software demos thrown in. Overall, it was a success, though the turnout was disappointing: we only met about 20 people that we had
We’ve published our annual report for 2024 in PDF form.
Postdoc Bridge Funding Initiative (PBFI) – Robert L. Read, PhD, Public Invention, April 2025 Note: This work is now obsolete; it was a prelude to a workshop. The project has evolved, we suggest you look here. In early 2025, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF)’s normal funding processes were disrupted.
The Development of a Wi-fi Enabled, Wireless Medical Alarm Device One of Public Invention’s most prominent projects, the General Purpose Alarm Device, or GPAD, which was recently published in HardwareX, has developed into a wireless version called the Krake. Both versions aim to be used in a medical setting as a peripheral annunciator, connecting to
Scenario: The Head Invention Coach is Incapacitated In 2024, the President is Robert L. Read, who is also the Founder and Head Invention Coach, and the only Public Inventor working full time (although he is unpaid). If he were incapacitated, it would seriously harm the viability of Public Invention. However, the board would still have
(The source version of this essay can be found at Open Source Medical Supplies, long with other explanation: https://opensourcemedicalsupplies.org/gosqas) Free Lightweight Global Distributed Tracking for Makers Written by: Robert L. Read, Christina A. Cole, and Victoria Jaqua (October 25, 2023) Lightweight Tracking Of an Object Tracking an object or make
What is Public Infrastructure? Why is it important? Who is impacted by it or involved in it? All of these questions are valid and crucial to understanding the limitations of current supply chains and enterprise-based innovation. More specifically, a critical weakness of production, manufacture, or supply of commodities by corporations is the lack of modularization
Have you ever wondered where all those individuals that take part in humanitarian efforts come from? Like how do they get initial funding and grow? Even if a group like this existed and took off, how could I contribute to something like this? Well look no further because we are a membership who seeks out
