Great ideas go viral

Made by students to showcase their innovative work, a group of videos have been viewed by hundreds of thousands around the world and are well worth watching.

The Greenfingers Fogponics System, created by Industrial Design students Adam BenDror, Casey Lin, Robert Skene and Nick Johnston, uses an extremely fine, nutrient-filled mist to grow plants, which can then be easily shared between friends.

A cross-disciplinary team of Media and Industrial Design students created the Pinokio lamp, which interacts with its users by tracing their movements and responding to sounds, bringing to life an everyday, mundane object. Pinokio received a vimeo Staff Pick award and more than 800,000 views.

Constructed by a team of Industrial Design students, the Quakescape 3D Fabricator uses seismic data to paint a 3D model of Christchurch. Each colour reflects the location and size of aftershocks. It was described by the Smithsonian as “probably the world’s most beautiful seismograph”.

As part of his Honours year, Engineering student James McVay built MechBass—a computer-controlled bass guitar that is capable of playing new note combinations faster than any human player. James’ YouTube video has more than 500,000 views.