I wanted to share this blog article with all of you would-be inventors and tinkerers out there! In today’s world, robots are becoming more and more of a reality. Remember when we all watched the cartoon show, The Jetson’s, and thought that’s what the year 2000 would be like?

So, maybe our world isn’t quite like that yet, equipped with robot servants (remember Rosie?) or flying cars. But technology has brought us to places we could only imagine 50 or 100 years ago. Robots to clean the house, cook dinner or help the kids with their math homework aren’t as far out as we once thought.

One of our frequent readers, Roxanne Porter, writes blog stories for nannyjobs.org. In one of her recent blog posts, she discussed the hilarious problems that could come with robots becoming nannies.

Take a look!

(http://www.nannyjobs.org/blog/10-reasons-robots-make-terrible-nannies/).

Thanks for sharing, Roxanne. This is funny stuff!

Ahhhh….that’s the sound of a relaxed INPEX® Director – I recently returned home from a wonderful vacation in Hilton Head, South Carolina. After such an exciting show in June, it was much-needed!

Of course, wherever I go, I’m always thinking about inventions and innovation, and I am always curious as to how the things surrounding us came to be. While I was soaking up the sun in Hilton Head this past week, I watched the children on the beach building majestic sandcastles. They’d fill their plastic buckets with sand, pack it together with water, and sometime later, a giant masterpiece was created. It got me wondering who built the first sandcastle, and how they came to be such a popular part of family vacations.

According to some theories, the ancient Egyptians built sand models of the pyramids. An Indian legend dating back to the 14th century also makes reference to the poet Balaram Das, who built devotional sculptures from sand, but the first documented sand sculpture wouldn’t appear until more than 500 years later.

It is commonly believed that the first artists to profit from their sandcastle building surfaced in Atlantic City, New Jersey, late in the 19th century. Some credit Philip McCord with creating the first true sand sculpture in 1897, which featured a drowned mother and her baby. But, by the early 1900s, word had spread that money could be made from building these giant sandcastles, so “artists” came from near and far to carve out their little patch of sand. They started to overwhelm the Atlantic City beaches, which irritated the town officials. Sometime in 1944, a strong hurricane ripped through Atlantic City, destroying the boardwalk and demolishing the sand dunes. The local government saw this as a blessing in disguise, rebuilding the boardwalk, but banning any sandcastle building along the entire stretch of boardwalk, a law that is still in place today.

In Europe, Professor Eugen Bormel created giant sand sculptures on the German coast at the North Sea summer resort town of Nordeney. His preferred models were mermaids and renditions of the Sphinx, which are still some of the favorite subjects for modern-day sand sculptors.

After World War II ended, and the modern American family started taking beach vacations, family sandcastle contests started popping up all along the east coast. Modern day sand sculpture as we know it really started in California in the early 1970′s, with the teaming up of Gerry Kirk and Todd Vander Pluym, collectively known as Sand Sculptors International (SSI). This team set the standard by organizing teams of sculptors to create incredibly huge and detailed replicas of famous castles and architecture.

Today most children have plastic buckets resembling sandcastle molds and most beaches host at least one sand castle contest each summer. Every year, Western Europe features hundreds of sand sculptors trying to outdo each other in size and special effects.

As always, inventors, enjoy your summer with your friends and family, and keep checking back to my blog and the INPEX® website for updated information regarding our 2012 show!

Hey inventors! Do you have a food-related invention? Lucky Dog Films is producing a show about food industry inventors for a major cable channel, and your invention could be on it! This new TV show will be co-hosted by Patrick Raymond, Founder of the Inventors Association of Manhattan and Chairman of the International Judging Committee at the upcoming 2011 INPEX Invention Show.

As many of you reading this have probably heard, the direct response television industry lost a true pioneer last weekend, with the untimely and sudden death of TV Pitchman Billy Mays. Billy, well known for his thumbs-up pitches and larger-than-life personality, was born in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, just minutes away from our InventHelp and INPEX headquarters, here in Pittsburgh.

Over the years, Billy had been seen hawking everything from Orange Glo to Oxiclean, and most recently was featured alongside Anthony Sullivan in the Discovery Channel reality show, Pitchmen. Like many consumers, I was also a big fan of Billy Mays and had the opportunity to meet him at the Inventors Corner back in March at the Home & Housewares Show. It was a true pleasure to meet the man who made selling products on television look like a fine art and whose zest for life was infectious.

On behalf of the entire InventHelp and INPEX staff, our condolences go out to the Mays family. He will be greatly missed.

Hey Ladies!

Do you think your invention will have all of America wondering, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Would you like the chance to have your new product seen nationwide?

If so, Milojo Productions (the production company owned by Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos) wants to meet you. They have contacted INPEX to let us know they are now casting women with inventions and great personalities from across America for a new series on TLC to help women inventors and potentially take one inventor’s product to the Home Shopping Network.

If you have an invention or new product and a working prototype, TLC and Kelly Ripa may be able to help you manufacture, market and sell it on the Home Shopping Network.

A few requirements you should keep in mind:

• Invention or product may not be edible or make any guarantees of satisfaction (such as “guaranteed weight loss” or “best ever”)
• You must be a woman over the age of 18
• All applicants are subject to background check and standard television release forms

If you’ve got ambition, an idea and a working prototype, apply now at www.milojo.com/casting.

Casting calls are scheduled for New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas.

Good Luck!