FRAN SCOTT:Testing how well your invention works is absolutely crucial. Usually you only discover how good your invention is by giving it to other people to try out.
INVENTOR ONE:It's a really important stage. Having a great idea is easy So to actually develop it and testing it, is the hard bit. But it's also the really fun bit.
INVENTOR TWO:Testing is one of the most important things that you do as an inventor, as a designer. You'll come up with your first idea and you'll look at it as if there has been not a better product made.
INVENTOR THREE:Testing's really, really important because you could make a mistake but you might not find out that you've made that mistake for a long time.
INVENTOR FOUR:If you haven't tested your invention.
FRAN SCOTT:Yeah.
INVENTOR FOUR:SAM: It is virtually nothing.
INVENTOR FIVE:It's important to test it out and show people and get it out there. And get it out there. And get feedback, because from the feedback that's how you know how to improve.
MARK CHAMPKINS:Testing and retesting and refining something you know, is the best-- the best possible method of getting to the best possible solution.
FRAN SCOTT:Now you might think that inventors work in places like a lab a workshop, or even maybe a shed.
FRAN SCOTT:Well I'm about to meet one who works on a ship right here, on the river Thames.
FRAN SCOTT:Yusuf Mohammad creates many of his inventions onboard his floating workshop - HMS President. This is where he does lots of testing.
FRAN SCOTT:So Yusuf, we've come onto your ship where you invent things.
YUSUF MUHAUMMAD:-Yep.
FRAN SCOTT:-As an inventor, does working on a ship help you creatively?
YUSUF MUHAUMMAD:-I think it does. It's just nice to be somewhere different. Something where you've got different lines and different shapes.
YUSUF MUHAUMMAD:Things that you wouldn't normally see. And it's always good to get inspired by things that are different.
FRAN SCOTT:-'Below the surface of the river, on the ships lower deck 'is where Yusuf builds and tests his ideas.'
FRAN SCOTT:So what's this invention that we're looking at here?
YUSUF MUHAUMMAD:-Well this is Automist, it automatically puts out fires in the home.
FRAN SCOTT:-How does that work?
YUSUF MUHAUMMAD:-Well you just have this little unit here which fits onto any normal tap in your kitchen and then the whole thing, the system is triggered by a heat alarm.
YUSUF MUHAUMMAD:So it detects the temperature in the room, it can tell that there's a fire. And then you get jets of water mist which fill the whole room and a fire can't survive in those conditions.
FRAN SCOTT:-Now this final design looks absolutely fantastic. It looks really slick and fits in with the tap. You must have gone through a lot of processes to get your invention looking this good.
YUSUF MUHAUMMAD:-Gosh, you wouldn't believe how much testing we had to go through. I mean, particularly with it being a safety product. You really have to make sure that it works.
YUSUF MUHAUMMAD:But initially, I think we first came up with the idea I was just in my back garden experimenting with a, literally with a jet washer and spraying a mist just above the-- the barbeque.
FRAN SCOTT:So you were testing, with your barbeque and a hose? And you call that work? That's brilliant.
FRAN SCOTT:So can we see it in action?
YUSUF MUHAUMMAD:Sure. You might want to stand back a little bit though.
FRAN SCOTT:I might want to stand back? I'm a bit worried about this.
FRAN SCOTT:Bloody hell. That shocked me! That shocked me!
FRAN SCOTT:For some reason I just didn't think it would be that powerful. Like they look like just little small-- small sprayers, but that was so powerful.
FRAN SCOTT:You could see how it would just put out fires before they get big.
FRAN SCOTT:'That invention definitely passes the test. 'Sometimes, though, testing in the workshop isn't enough.'
INVENTOR TWO:Testing it, you know, not just with yourself but with other people, getting other people to give you feedback, to test it to see how they use it, is really valuable.
FRAN SCOTT:'Mark Champkins is a very experienced inventor. 'He's come up with lots of different inventions. 'Many of them designed to help you concentrate at school.'
FRAN SCOTT:This one here, which looks like a bag but I've noticed says 'chair pad bag'
MARK CHAMPKINS:Yes.
FRAN SCOTT:Explain more Mark, what is it?
MARK CHAMPKINS:Well, I remember being in school and sitting in the chairs - the hard plastic chairs, for hours on end.
MARK CHAMPKINS:Used to drive me crazy…
FRAN SCOTT:Oh you get a numb bum don't you?
INVENTOR TWO:Yeah, exactly.
MARK CHAMPKINS:And you just concentrate when you've got a numb bum so I was thinking it would be great if you could have a cushion or just something to make it softer.
MARK CHAMPKINS:And then I thought, well why not incorporate it with the bag that you have when you take-- you know that you've always got at school.
MARK CHAMPKINS:So you would take the bag and put it over the back of the chair…
FRAN SCOTT:Is that what this straps for yeah?
MARK CHAMPKINS:And that's what that's for, yeah.
MARK CHAMPKINS:And then you fold out padding over the… back rest and seat of the chair. And you, you sit on this padded bit. You know, and it's more comfortable on your seat and on your back.
MARK CHAMPKINS:So this was again, you know, as I like to do. A first prototype - something to try out the idea. And it went wrong because I used Velcro And not only is Velcro noisy in class and teachers don't like it but in this version, it was Velcroing all the pupils to their seats.
FRAN SCOTT:Yeah, that would stick to your tights and like if it was there, to your jumper.
MARK CHAMPKINS:To your jumper. Exactly, yeah. I mean I just didn't think of that.
FRAN SCOTT:So what did you do to solve that?
MARK CHAMPKINS:Well, that's a good question.
MARK CHAMPKINS:I was trying to think, well how can you stick stuff together without that kind of Velcro effect. There must be other ways of doing that.
FRAN SCOTT:Yeah.
MARK CHAMPKINS:The obvious thing is, on this flap I came up with using magnets.
FRAN SCOTT:Of course!
MARK CHAMPKINS:So there we go.
FRAN SCOTT:Yep.
MARK CHAMPKINS:There not, you know, it's not uncomfortable to sit on Obviously there's no noise and they don't stick to your uniform, So it's very easy just to close up the bag.
FRAN SCOTT:'So testing how well your invention works by yourself is crucial 'But just as important is testing how other people use your invention'
Fran Scott discovers the importance of testing an invention.
She meets Yusuf Muhammad in his floating workshop on board the HMS President. He introduces her to his invention, ‘Auto Mist’, which automatically puts out fires in the home.
He explains the detailed testing procedure he went through, before demonstrating the product in action, and getting Fran a little wet in the process!
She also meets Mark Champkins and looks at a ‘Chairpadbag’, one of his range of products designed to help children concentrate at school.
He discusses the importance of a trial with real people to find any flaws in the prototype.
This clip is from the series You Too Can Be an Absolute Genius.
Teacher Notes
Using the clip as inspiration, children could take Mark Champkins’ idea of designing products for the school environment.
Children could think about any problems they have within the classroom and ways in which they could solve problems.
They could use the school community as natural place for testing and could collate results in order to improve their products.
Children could even focus in on the seating issue, looking at all of the different criteria a chair needs to have before considering how they could make improvements to an existing design.
Children could invite school furniture designers in to school to discuss their own design and testing process with them, trying out some of their samples and understanding the significance of collating this information.
Curriculum Notes
This clip is suitable for teaching Design & Technology at KS2 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and 2nd level in Scotland.
More from You Too Can Be an Absolute Genius:
Developing ideas for inventions. video
Fran interviews inventors about the importance of producing prototypes and developing their designs.
Inspiration for inventions. video
Fran meets the young inventors of two products that have helped solved common everyday problems.
The importance of persistence when inventing. video
Fran meets inventor Dan Watson and looks at the importance being persistent with your invention and not giving up.
What is an invention? video
Fran Scott speaks to young inventors of a teacup-style bathroom plug and a shark-skin swimsuit about how they developed their ideas.
What is an inventor like? video
Fran and the inventors she meets describe what they think of when they hear the word 'inventor'.
What makes a good inventor? video
Fran looks at what makes a good inventor. She meets Sam and Benjamin, who show her one of their inventions.
