invention

The new Hungarian invention can be the ultimate festival drink

Boraszprotal.hu writes that the new Hungarian invention, the Vasuta spritzer (named after its inventor, Gábor Vasuta) will be launched at summer festivals. The bottled spritzer is made with 51% wine rate, poured into a half liter plastic bottle at 2,5 bar pressure with a twisty, lockup cap. You’ll be able to choose from Cserszegi fűszeres spritzer made from white wine and Cabernet Savignon spritzer made from red wine.

The Hungarian beverage was a great success at the world’s biggest international food and drink exhibition, FOODEX, in Tokio, between the 8th and 11th of March, and also at the Food and Hotel international exhibition in Singapore between the 12th and 15th of April. People also liked it in Hague at the Business Women Congress, which means that it is also close to women’s hearts and tastes.

The alcohol content of the bottled spritzer is the same as beer’s, but it’s not fattening, it’s very effective, when you’re thirsty, and if you drink it within bounds, then it helps digestion and blood circulation. So it’s perfect for the summer festivals VOLT, Balaton Sound, Sziget etc. It’s especially exciting that foreigners will also get the chance to try this excellent hungaricum and report upon the Hungarian wines, soda and creativity in their homelands.

Photo: www.magyarkonyhaonline.hu

Copy editor: bm

Government to spend EUR 3.9 bn on research until 2020

Budapest, May 2 (MTI) – The government is planning to spend a total of 1,200 billion forints (EUR 3.9bn) on research, development, and innovation, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Monday.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the general assembly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Orbán said that the total will bring Hungary close to the European average of research spending-GDP ratio of 1.9 percent.

“The future and quality of Hungary’s science is not a political issue,” Orbán said in his address. He insisted that there was an increased global demand for scientists, and countries not only in the west but also in the east have created attractive conditions for talented ones. “The Hungarian government and the Academy cannot accept an intellectually subordinate and vulnerable position,” he said, and suggested that Hungary would meet the challenge.

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Speaking about the government’s contribution to Hungary’s scientific development, the prime minister said that the country raised its science spending from 1 percent of GDP in 2010 to 1.4 percent in 2016, financing such projects as the CERN-Wigner Data Centre or allocating some 12 billion forints to the national brain research programme between 2014-17.

Photo: MTI

A revolutionary Hungarian invention to be a great success in China

solar

China desires green energy. According to globoport.hu, the Asian country has the biggest carbon dioxide emission in the world at the time, but their ambition is to become the world’s greatest green economy in the near future. However, this is a long road to take, and a Hungarian invention could be an important milestone on this road.

It fits into a briefcase, it can be hung over a window, and it is capable of heating up a whole room, or even a smaller house with solely solar energy. This is no sci-fi; this is a new Hungarian invention, a revolutionary new version of the solar collector. In inventor Péter Boda’s patent the technical part is what counts as an innovation: the liquid, which takes up solar energy and gets it into the heating system. The invention doesn’t only make solar collectors simpler and smaller, but also way cheaper.

And this could make solar energy a lot more attractive for users, since, if the construction of a new system costs a lot less than today, then it will be really worth changing to the greenest energies of the world. The Hungarian inventor’s idea could be mass produced in China with the help of the Hungarian Trade & Cultural Centre (HTCC).

A Chinese company called TIAN YUAN is seriously interested in the producer setting up a capacity in China for the Hungarian invention. The company has significant experience in garbage recycling and green economy, and, as managing director Li Jingchun said after his meetings in Budapest, a solar collector like this could perfectly fit into their current product range, and they would have the financial background to build a whole production line. He feels like the Hungarian invention wouldn’t only be a great success in the Chinese market, but their company would also be able to successfully merchandise it in the world market, as China is the biggest producer of solar collectors in the world anyway.

Péter Orosz, the network development director of HTCC told globoport.hu that the Chinese partners are not only interested in the solar collectors, but also other green projects, and that they visited several Hungarian cities to find potential partners.

Copy editor: bm

Hungarian companies showcasing innovations at high-tech expo in SW China

china hungary flag

Budapest (MTI) – Hungarian companies showcased their technology, environmental innovations and “smart city” systems, with the aim of boosting Hungarian-Chinese cooperation, during a business event in Chongqing, southwest China.

Hungary had the largest number of stands this year at the high-tech expo and fair which takes place biennially in the city, Lóránd Dióssi, Hungary’s consul general told MTI on Sunday. The expo also provided the venue to launch the Budapest Cultural Spring, he added.

A thermal complex focusing on medicinal cures is planned to be built in Chongqing. Viktoria Horvath, the ambassador in charge of priority projects at the Foreign Ministry heading Hungary’s 20-member delegation, told a press conference at the site. The planned complex will be built in three phases, first two of which will have a budget of about 520 million yuan.

Talks with businessmen also touched on the possibility of combining thermal spa treatments with Chinese traditional medicine in a project to be launched in Hungary, she said.

Budapest’s Technical and Economics University (BME) signed a cooperation agreement with Chongqing University on professor and student exchanges as well as joint R+D. BME together with seven Hungarian firms also signed a declaration to join the Chongqing Hungarian-Chinese Technology Transfer Centre to be set up with support from the local government’s High-Tech Incubation Centre.

The Hungarian inventor of cycling dope was the star of a French fact-finding television series – VIDEO

István Varjas, the inventor of the newest generation of electric servomechanism bicycles, has been in the news quite a lot recently. 444.hu writes that he became a bicycle engineer and team manager after being a cyclist and now, a French fact-finding television series presented him as the newest protagonist of cycling dope. He invited the French crew into his workshop, where he showed them the newest development of the genre: the electromagnetic wheel.

This is basically a permuted electromotor, which doesn’t have a moving part in the traditional sense of the word, as most of the components (mostly magnets) are hidden inside the wheel so that they also move together with the wheel. Only the electromagnet and the battery are hidden in the bicycle itself. The advantage of the construction is that, while it’s silent, it gives more plus energy to the competitors than the formerly fashionable axle at the pedal’s driving rods or the electric solution hidden in the hub. It doesn’t warm up and it’s hard to detect its presence due to the carbon body of the modern wheels. The inventor believes that its only flaw could be the 2 kg wheels, but professional teams deliver so many wheels that the chance of this presenting a real problem seems quite small.

dopping bicikli

What 444.hu found especially funny about the episode was how the Hungarian inventor smiled so cheerfully and approvingly when the French reporter mentioned that these new generation wheels are so expensive that only teams willing to cheat on competitions could be potential buyers, as an amateur wouldn’t pay 50-200 thousand euros for one wheel.

István Varjas previously told that through inventing these electric servomechanism bicycles he originally intended to help civilians who lost one of their legs in the Yugoslavian civil war. Then he draw attention to the fact that he seems to have invented something like a knife, which can be used to cut bread but which can also be used to kill with, depending on who uses it and how. “It’s not my fault” he says at one point. And when the reporter said that nobody would buy a wheel for 50-200 thousand euros, he cheerfully answered: “I wouldn’t have invented it, if it didn’t make sense”.

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He added that the super wheel, which only needs a very small battery, as it recharges on downhills, is remote-controlled from a mobile application or even a Breitling watch that has an antenna.

The television crew had some footage from competitions, shot with a caloric camera, and they analysed the footage together with Varjas, and showed him how the users of the motor were glommed. They agreed that the international federation doesn’t deal enough with the revelation of machine dope. After the episode the federation denied this in a publication.


VIDEO. Un moteur dans le vélo by francetvsport

Photos: www.bikemag.hu

Copy editor: bm

The prize-winning IKEA-bicycle comes to Hungary

If you love cycling in the city but feel like the maintenance is drag, then you’re going to love IKEA’s urban bicycle. According to hvg.hu, these bicycles that were designed for urban use and are stainless, oilless, and chainless, and even have automatic shifters, will arrive to the department stores all over Europe in August.

The company wrote that Ikea will launch its SLADDA bicycle at the end of this summer. The unisex bicycle, which was designed by Veryday Design Company, won an award at the Red Dot Design Award competition, and also became the “best of the best” in its category.

The company believes their bicycle to be perfect for the city, and their main principle was the creation of a bike that doesn’t need lot of maintenance and can be conveniently used in the city. It is stainless and oilless. They used gear wheels instead of chains, and automatic shifters, when creating the bicycles, which have been certified for 15 thousand kilometres.

ikaóea bike2

You can easily attach complements, like luggage trailers or bicycle bags to the vehicle, due to its buildup. Bike Europe writes that the aluminum framed bicycle will be available in 26 and 28 sizes. The automatic shifter means that you won’t have to bother shifting. This, and the chainless buildup are serious developments in the bicycle industry.

The website also writes that the Ikea-bike will be sold for 499 euros for Ikea Family members and for 699 euros for non-members. The vehicles will be displayed in the middle of August in all European countries.

Photos: IKEA

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A Hungarian startup launched Helpy, the Uber of cleaning

Szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu writes that Helpy was created to reform cleaner mediation. Probably all of us have heard the question “Do you know a good cleaner?” Well, this is how it goes in Hungary, in the middle of digital revolution. This is what Helpy wants to change, which is a Hungarian startup that received a 150 thousand euro investment in March.

If you move to a new neighborhood but don’t know a good cleaner who you could trust with your home, or you just simply don’t have time and energy to look on the internet, then all you have to do is type Helpy.hu into the browser. Not to mention that, if you’re looking for someone trustworthy and someone who works at a high standard, well, you might not find that person simply on the internet.

So after you have typed in Helpy you can easily place an order. You can choose from five basic packages, based on, for instance, the size of your home, and then you can also choose extras (window cleaning, cleaning of the oven, fridge, doing laundry, ironing etc.). After this, you have to choose the time and date (you can ask for regular, once a week, once in two weeks, monthly cleaning) and give the details. All of this takes about 2-3 minutes.

From this point on, everything works just like with Uber, the system sends you a reminder before the cleaning day and an email asking for your feedback the next day. And this might be the most important part of the system. They pay attention to your feedback and make sure to only send reliable cleaners.

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You can also apply as a cleaner on the website. They promise a regular salary with regular jobs (if you are reliable and neat, of course). Something that might be even more attractive is that they send you to the closest place as they look at where you live and the places to be cleaned up. This way your 8 hour job won’t end up being 12 hours with travelling.

The founders of Helpy found it really hard to find a trustworthy cleaner as the ones who work properly are always busy going from house to house. The problem was given, so they looked up how others solved it abroad. “This was when we found the German Helpling company, which tries to supplement this matter” said Patrícia Krcsma, the PR manager of Helpy. After a short market size-up they came to the conclusion that there’s need for this in Hungary as well.

The leader of the four member team is Timur Csillik, who studied international commerce at Oxford Brookes University and doesn’t lack experience. He was very enthusiastic about Helpy and the ideas quickly fructified. Szabolcs Udvardy is the marketing and sales manager, Patrícia Krcsma is responsible for social media and she’s the spokesperson for Helpy, while Ádám Bacsányi keeps in touch with customers and is responsible for operative tasks. However, it looks like they’ll have to look for more employees.

One of their aims is to make over their otherwise very good website to make the ordering process even more simple and enjoyable. Their long-term aim is to launch an iOS and Android Helpy application. They are very determined to reach neighboring countries until 2017, thus, becoming an international company.

Photos: www.facebook.com/helpyhun

Copy editor: bm

Worlds first mobile hostel – Great invention from Croatia – VIDEO

Nearby’s Mobile Hostel concept is seen as a new paradigm in affordable, mobile, self-contained, easy access, secure and comfortable accommodations.

Osijek (Eszék), Croatia, March 19, 2016 – One of the secrets of success is to find a need and fill it. This is what the team at Nearby Hostel has done and in a brilliant way. They identified the need for mobile, hostel type of accommodations that can be transported to festivals. These types of events are well known for being outside of the city proper, where accommodations are both difficult to find and expensive, especially during major events. They also must be booked well in advance. The alternative has always been sleeping in a tent, which is unsafe, uncomfortable and lacks basic amenities.

Nearby Hostel is a specially engineered portable structure. It can easily be loaded on a truck, and moved from one festival to another, and be fully operational in 30 minutes after arrival at its destination. There is a built-in mechanism that enables it to triple in size. Special attention has been placed on making the most out of the available space and getting the maximum comfort. If needed, it can run independently as well because it has its own engine room with silent power generator, air-conditioning system, and water and waste-water tanks.

Every Nearby Hostel has 9 rooms with 26 beds, toilets and smart showers that use up to 70% less water. Each room is well insulated and equipped with super-comfortable beds, TV, Wi-Fi, Lockers, AC sockets and a fridge. Guests can simply unlock the doors with a Smartphone, no keys are required. It gets even better: The new Nearby App makes it a simple task to get back to the Nearby Hostel site. Coffee first thing in the morning? Drinks and snacks too? Of course, relax and enjoy this revolutionary hostel experience.

Nearby Hostel has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo for their first round of funding. They will be able to move from engineered drawings to an actual prototype. Their cutting edge concept has been warmly embraced by festival and event promoters from around the globe. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to become part of something that changes how people think about accommodations. Imagine being a sponsor of the launch of Nearby Hostel as they grow to become a worldwide phenomena. They are offering outstanding perks for all sponsors on their Indiegogo page.

Hungarian invention to end thievery at the beach

According to travelo.hu, a Hungarian enterprise thinks that an egg-shaped mobile safe might be the solution to thievery at the beach. A bracelet and a mobile application are connected to Beachegg. The former alarms by vibrating, while the latter shows where our stolen Beachegg is.

You are probably familiar with the feeling of worrying while at the beach, when you want to go into the water but the only thing that you can cover and protect your stuff with is a towel. And let’s be honest, this is not a full-proof solution. A Hungarian startup company has been thinking about this and they came up with a solution in the form of an IoT (internet of things), in other words: an internet based design object.

The designers want to spread the Beachegg safe among companies running beaches and hotels, so that bathers could rent it locally as a supplemental safety service for, approximately, the price of a beer. When you rent an egg the receptionist takes a photo of you, uploads your information to the smart phone application and gives you a waterproof bracelet that opens and closes the egg with a single touch.

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There are motion sensors, a SIM card and a GPS built into the egg. If the egg is moved without touching the bracelet it starts beeping and sends a sign to the application and server, with the help of the built-in SIM card. Meanwhile, the GPS identifies the whereabouts of the Beachegg, and the information is sent to the hotel’s security guard’s smart phone where it also gets stored. This way the guard can follow the stolen egg, no matter where it’s taken to.

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However, if you buy your own Beachegg, and it gets moved without authorization, then you get notified on your phone. This is when the other important feature of the bracelet comes in handy: if we put our phone into the egg as well, then our bracelet alarms us of the stealing. The bracelet and the egg communicate through Bluetooth, which’s effective range is around 250 metres. If something happens to our egg in this range, our bracelet starts vibrating. But there’s no problem if you’re out of range, or you don’t notice the alarm, nor when the thief runs away with your beeping egg, because you can follow the path of the stolen Beachegg through its application on any phone so you can inform the police in time.

Photos: www.facebook.com/beachegg

Copy editor: bm

Dávid Schwarz, the pioneer of airships

There are only a few inventors in the history of technology who lived to taste the rightful acknowledgement that belonged to them, in some cases even others put the inventions across. This statement is true for Dávid Schwarz, the Hungarian inventor of the rigid, dirigible airship, who died before his masterpiece was flown. Count Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin purchased Schwarz’s airship patent from his widow and made the invention world-famous.

Dávid Schwarz was born on the 7th of December, 1850 in Keszthely, as the seventh kid of a poor family. After his school years he worked in forestry and married the daughter of a wealthy timber-merchant of Zagreb in 1880. He inherited his father-in-law’s business in 1890 and became very interested in technological aspects through the machines used in forestry.

According to mult-kor.hu, his first plans for an airship were rejected by the Vienna Ministry of War, but Russia’s military attache to Vienna showed some interest in his work and convinced the Russian Ministry of War to invite the inventor. So he worked in Saint Petersburg for two years, but he couldn’t figure out a way to fill hydrogen despite the 77 thousand roubles he had spent on his work. In 1895 he moved to Berlin, and his rigid, dirigible airship, made of light metal, rouse the Prussian Ministry of War’s interest. However, they didn’t finance it since they found it to be inconvenient for military actions.

old zeppelin

The rigid, aluminium framework and the cigar shaped body of the ship stretched onto it filled with hydrogen were also Schwarz’s ideas. He connected the airship and the nacelle with stable sticks instead of ropes, made the filling safer by gas cells. The propulsion of the three airscrews was ensured by the four-cylinder, water-cooled combustion engine.

So he solved the basic questions of aeronautics but unfortunately died before the trial flight of his invention. The first and last flight was held on the 3rd of November, 1897 in Berlin. It started out great, but the pilot, who had never flown such machinery before, panicked, when one of the fan-belts broke and released too much hydrogen from the airship, which then fell down and broke into two pieces.

Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin was among the people in the audience and witnessed all of this. He had already got a patent for his airship idea but he didn’t seem to progress as much as he wanted to. After the trial flight he bought all of the patents from Dávid Schwarz’s widow. Three years later he came out with the airship named after him. The zeppelin had a glorious career, only airplanes were able to supersede it decades later.

Photo: www.mult-kor.hu

Copy editor: bm

A Hungarian father makes incredible lamps, using old bikes – VIDEO

Péter Belső has recently launched his project “Industrial Kid” which offers custom made lamps; the customer has full control over the product, and they can design lamps that are in harmony with their home and personality, writes szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu. All the lamps are inspired by bicycles. 

The customer chooses the colour of the grip, the brake levers, the handlebar, and the bowden cable; there are ten different shades available. The aim of the project is to give the customer a lamp that is unique, and shows the owner’s personality. Also, the LED’s are switched on if someone hits the brakes.

Péter originally wanted to make a folding bike which doesn’t get the clothes dirty, and decided to make a belt-driven bike; the spare parts gave him the idea to make designer objects. The first bike lamp was made for his daughter, who hated sitting at her desk – until she got the first, unique bike lamp.

The first lamp was made three years ago, and more than a hundred was sold since; after the project appeared on Indiegogo an additional 47 was sold in three days. Péter’s goal is to collect $20 000, and he also made a graph showing where the money would go.

The short term goal is to have an online surface where customers can design their own lamps; the long term goal is to make other objects, such as bracket lamps and ceiling lamps as well.

If you’re interested in these amazing designer lamps, you should definitely take a look at Péter’s website and Facebook page for more information, and watch Péter’s video introducing his invention!

Video source: Péter Belső/vimeo
Photo source: Industrial Kid Facebook page

Copy editor: bm

These were the best creative projects in Hungary in 2015

The third Highlights of Hungary, organized by the Super Channel, was recently held in the Toldi Klub, szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu wrote. Out of the 53 projects the curators chose 10 was actually chosen by the viewers: thousands of people have cast their votes. Thanks to Forbes, Instyle, the Municipality of Budapest, and the BVA Budapesti Városarculati Nonprofit Ltd., three special awards were given.

All the projects are exceptional: the Kreinbacher Estate, which finished 10th place, is the ideal combination of the Hungarian gastronomy and design; visitors are welcome to enjoy the vineyard’s best wines in a unique and relaxing environment. The Maacraft, which got 9th place, is equally unique: a workshop was created by the Miskolc Autism Foundation (Miskolci Autista Alapítvány) for designers and young autists to work together on great projects to prove that autists have creativity as well, and are capable of making extraordinary objects.

The eighth place was awarded to Péter Gárdos for his successful novel Hajnali Láz (Fever at Dawn), which tells the tragic love story of Gárdos’ parents (Gárdos also made a movie out of the novel). Seventh place was taken by the Bánkitó Festival, which proves that you don’t need millions of Forints to organize a great cultural festival in the summer.

The next (sixth) place was given to the Autizmusbarát Kakaókoncert (Autism-friendly Cocoa concert), which is a music initiative and aims to create an atmosphere where children with autism, their siblings, and their parents can all have a good time.

Fifth place was also taken by a music project, the Midnight Music. The goal of the concert venue, which starts half an hour before midnight, is to bring classical music closer to young people. The Kéktúra pecsételődobozok (Blue Trail Stamp Boxes), which finished fourth place, gives an opportunity for nature-lovers to gather all the different stamps while going through Hungary’s most popular hiking trail named the “Blue trail.”

Third place was awarded to the Nagy DIY könyv (The big DIY book), which is one of the most beautiful printed books of 2015, the Bible of the Hungarian “Do It Yourself” movement, and contains interior design tips from 21 Hungarian bloggers. The MagikMe project, which got second place, created a seesaw named Butterfly, which disabled kids can use too. The project was founded by parents and it has already caught UNICEF’s eyes as well.

And the best creative project of 2015? First place was given to the EggMap project. The EggMap was created by Dénes Sátor and Tamás Sátor. You can hold this peculiar egg in the palm of your hands; it’s a digital offline map, and it’s also weather resistant.

InStyle magazine’s Special Award was given to the Perceptual Thinkers project, which draws attention (with the help of fashion) to the unique way people with autism think; the Forbes magazine’s Special Award was received by the 45+ Vállalkozói Program (45+ Entrepreneur Programme) which helps people to start a new career, and the BVA Budapesti Városarculati Nonprofit Ltd.’s Special Award was given to the Így Dolgozunk Mi (That’s How We Work) project, which gives life advices to high school students.

 Cover photo: http://labsator.tumblr.com/

Copy editor: bm

Viztec technology cuts emissions, power consumption at sewage treatment plants

Budapest, February 17 (MTI) – Hungarian-owned Viztec and the Eötvös József College of Baja, in south-west Hungary, have developed a technology that can reduce carbon emissions and power consumption at sewage treatment plants, daily Magyar Idők said.

The Debrecen waterworks in the east of the country uses the technology and has reduced carbon emissions by almost 11 percent while cutting electricity used in its aeration tanks by 32 percent, the company’s CEO said.

The Miskolc waterworks in the north-east has lowered its CO2 emissions by more than 7 percent and cut aeration tank power consumption by 51 percent using the technology, the paper said.

Four Hungarian sewage treatment plants have adopted the technology already and more are testing it, said Viztech technical director Tamás Ladi. Sewage treatment plants in the Romanian cities of Targu Mures (Marosvásárhely) and Timisoara (Temesvár) are also testing the technology as could plants in Slovakia and Austria, he added.

Photo: pecsma.hu

Codie, the popular Hungarian invention

According to szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu, a young Hungarian man invented Codie, a robot that teaches computer coding to children. Ádám Lipécz is only 23 years old but Codie, his masterwork, is already becoming more and more famous all around the world.

What exactly is Codie? Codie is a robot created to help children learn the logic of coding while playing. It comes with a smartphone programming setting where users can put together their first instructions. Codie has similar sensors to smartphone sensors and thanks to the colourful app it is not only instructive but very entertaining as well.  It can be even used as a remote-controlled robot which is the most fun part. Codie teaches the basics of computer coding that improves the very beneficial analytic thinking.

codietherobot

Codie has been changing in the last three years because they wanted to develop a truly hard-wearing robot. The latest Codie is made of wood so that it is able to cope with falling on the ground. They also shrank its electronic system which makes the usage convenient. One of the most important developments was that the chain tracks became the most exterior element of the robot so that it doesn’t get stuck and it can also swing on an axis. “Codie looked like a tank for a while but it’s now looking much cuter. After all, it is a kids’ toy” said Ádám.

Szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu writes that Ádám studied at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics while teaching programming. He got the curriculum and he thought that it was definitely not the most exciting way of teaching. He realised that there was a gap because there was curriculum for those who wanted to learn coding and programming, but there wasn’t curriculum for those who only wanted to get to know the basics of it.

codie

His initial idea was the building of a robot that could be programmed by smartphones. The first conception was a tank but it was more so a game than an instructive device. The development of the teaching robot started in February 2013 only as a hobby project for university students, not a business.

They started out as most start-up companies do but they realised that this wasn’t their only chance. The first breakthrough came when they got into an incubator. They took part on a Finnish course where they learned to work as a company. When they came back to Hungary they got their first investment and each of them had to decide if they could work full time.

They ran out of money in 11 months but they managed to create their first product so they could start a crowdfunding campaign. “We worked half a year on a good video, a nice campaign page so that journalists would write about us. We spent a lot of money and time on it. Pressing the START button was a very exciting moment. We kept our fingers crossed that people would be interested in our work.” said Ádám. The campaign finished in May 2015 and they managed to collect 96 thousand dollars.

They started the production and later built their own production line in Esztergom where they are soon going to start the next round. The production and selling numbers are not public but Ádám said that “the robot was welcomed positively.” He is the youngest in his own company. They have 8 members for 15 field of work but they hope to develop and expand further with time.

Photos: www.facebook.com/codietherobot

Copy editor: bm

Hungarian engineers developed a unique drone launcher that can be mounted on any vehicle – VIDEO

The ingenious device is very mobile and can be deployed easily by one person if needs be, index.hu reports

The AVTO-01 Launcher is based on the patent pending Assisted Vertical Take-off technology developed by the AMORES Robotics Ltd. This technology enables the vertical launch of fixed wing UAVs (RPAs) from small spots. Provides enough altitude to avoid bushes, camp accessories and even small trees. The launch is powered by the potential energy of the transport vehicle, while the arming is supported by an electrical winch. No rubber bands, no pneumatics, no electronics, no sensitive parts. It is robust and cost effective solution for unmanned technology service providers.

The launcer doesn’t rely on any sophisticated electronics to be operated. It can provide up to 7-20 meters per second launch speed. Another advantage of the drone launcher is that it is very compact design and can be transported easily, on top of a passenger car; its transportation doesn’t conflict with the rules of the Highway Code.

translate by hungarianambiance.com

Great Hungarian invention: glow in the dark flowers

Remember James Cameron’s Avatar and the amazing world the movie created? Now you can experience the same thing right here in Hungary. Szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu reported that the viaFlora Group, a Hungarian flower business firm, has finally demonstrated their newest invention after years of research: flAVATAR, the glow in the dark flowers!

The invention has already got licenced in Hungary. It was inspired by natural wonders, and the cohabitation of different species. When two different living things are in a symbiosis then something new comes into life that haven’t been seen before, and that is beneficial for both kinds.

The inventors of flAVATAR have been studying the particles of different plants and the habits of those unicellular organisms that are living in cohabitation with them. At the end of their research they were able to make the dark flowers glow.

flAVATAR

Richárd Kun, who first dreamed about flAVATAR said that they successfully created a 100% plant based, genetically not modified substance that is not harmful for humans or any other living things, and if applied to flowers it makes them glow in green, blue, or in red for hours.

flAVATAR can be used on many different freshly cut flowers and pot flowers, such as callas, roses, palms, cactuses, pinks (dianthus), or chrysanthemums.

The glow in the dark flowers has been introduced to the public only recently, but already anyone can purchase them in Hungary. The viaFlora Group (which has exclusive rights to the invention) is planning to sell their invention abroad as well. If everything goes according to the plan, it will soon be available in several European countries.

Photo source: Sarah Photo/flAVATAR Facebook page

Copy editor: bm

Mária Telkes, the Hungarian pioneer of solar energy

In a time when the term sustainable development was completely unknown, Mária Telkes worked on projects which made use of solar energy. Telkes’ research made it possible to build the first solar house in 1948, which earned her the nickname “The Sun Queen.” Greenfo.hu commemorated of Mária Telkes and her great invention.

Márial Telkes was born on 12 December, 1900, in Budapest, as the first child of a wealthy banker. Telkes was a remarkably smart child and later applied to the Pázmány Péter University where she studied chemistry and physics, and earned her PhD in 1924. During her stay in Cleveland at her uncle’s in 1925, the famous George Washington Crile offered her work. Telkes grabbed the opportunity and moved to the United States.

Telkes worked with Crile for 12 years. Her main focus was to find out what kind of energy change cells go through when they die, or get cancer. Telkes’ and Crile’s foundings were published in a book after they concluded their research.

When Telkes became a US citizen in 1937 she started working for Westinghouse Electric, but solar energy became her main focus only from 1939 when she became a Maria Telkesmember of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Solar Energy Conversion project. After the US joined the Second World War Telkes was asked to work for the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) which also worked on the Manhattan project. Telkes’ task was to use solar energy to make drinkable water out of salty water, as many soldiers died on sea when they shipwrecked or were attacked because of dehydration. Telkes invented the first solar water distillation device which could make 1 litre drinkable water a day using the salty water of the ocean, and it soon became part of every soldiers’ pack. Telkes was awarded a merit by OSRD for her invention.

Telkes’ most famous invention was the first solar house. The solar energy had to be stored so it could be used on cloudy days, and she solved the problem by storing the solar energy in glauber salt solution (natrium sulfuricium) which has a low melting point (32 °C) but its enthalpy of fusion is high. Her solution can store solar energy for up to ten days.

The first solar house was built in 1948 in Dover, near Boston (it was designed by Eleanor Raymond) and it was tested by the Némethy family, who were relatives of Telkes. By analysing the national meteorological service’s data, Telkes found that in the past 65 days, the Boston region had maximum 9 days without sunshine, so she calculated that 21 tons glauber salt solution is needed for 10 cloudy days.

Unfortunately the winter of 1948 was unusually cold, so the residents were complaining that the house is not warm enough. The next two years were better, but some other form of heating was still necessary. Finally, in 1953 the solution tanks started leaking, and the family used traditional heating from then on. But solar energy from then on was counted as a viable form of heating, and it was in an age when sustainable development was not a term yet. People started building houses with solar panels, but also had traditional heating systems if the number of sunny days were too little in the area.

In 1952 Telkes got the Society of Women Engineers Award, and by that time she was already dubbed “The Sun Queen” in the United States. Telkes didn’t stop working until she turned 78, but she was still in close connection with her colleagues. In 1977 she got the Charles Greeley Abbot Award from the American Solar Energy Society, and she submitted her last invention in 1990, at the age of 90.

Telkes left Hungary at the age of 24 and returned 70 years later to see her home town, Budapest, for one last time. Mária Telkes died in Budapest on 2 December, 1995, at the age of 94. In 2012 she was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame together with Dénes Gábor physicist.

Photo source:New York World-Telegram and the Sun staff photographer/Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division/Wikimedia Commons

Copy editor:  bm

5 brilliant Hungarian inventions from last year

According to szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu, the alarm clock that disciplines snooze with taking money, the anti-bike-theft app and the energy producing  pavement were the greatest Hungarian innovations of the year.

A smartphone app which takes away money by pressing the snooze button

The alarm application called Snoopy was developed by Csaba Toth and Balazs Nemethi. The basic idea is is that you have to pay money for using the snooze button. So if you do not wake up, it has a price. Since direct payment methods are not allowed by Apple’s policy, you have to upload your balance in advance. The cost of a snooze is roughly half a dollar (HUF 130), so your balance is reduced by this amount, if you would like to sleep more.

Invention for the safety of your bikes

Velotrack security system can prevent bike-theft. The device collects data with a GPS and a motion detector in the bike. If someone tries to move the bike the owner immediately gets informed. In addition, you can see the routes you traveled and the whereabouts of your friends and family, thanks to the smartphone application.

Its operation is quite simple: the owner places a virtual logical lock on the parked bicycle. The lock can inform the owner about the safety of the neighborhood, based on community statistics of bike-thefts. The invention is possessed by Hargamon Kft, szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu wrote.

Photo: http://pearwilliams.com

The idea of the Hungarian photographer became a worldwide success

UniqueBall became the photographic accessory of the year at the congress of TIPA (Technical Image Press Association) in Dubai. There was no Hungarian prize winner during the 25 years of the event so far. The ball head greatly facilitates the work of photographers, since it can mimic the attributes of several different tripod heads. The designers use their inventions for their own purposes since 1998.

World sensation: Hungarian disinfectant

Solumium – which was developed by Dr. Zoltan Noszticzius (Professor Emeritus of the Technical University of Budapest) – received the interdisciplinary Grand Prize award of the Swedish Board of Commerce in Hungary, in 2015. The eco-friendly disinfectant offers a solution to the global problem of the antibiotic resistance as well, szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu wrote.

The energy-producing paving

Three young Hungarian inventors created the pavement which produces electricity from the steps of the passers-by. The technology is called FUTI, and its point is that electric voltage is created under pressure in the so-called piezoelectric plates. The super pavement contains solar panels as well. The inventors Imre Miklos Sziszak and Jozsef Cseh think a 12-sq-m FUTI sidewalk can fill all the electricity needs for a small house.

Cover photo: http://pearwilliams.com/projektek/velotrack

Copy editor: bm