Inventors

One of the most bizarre vehicles we've ever seen in motion. This jaw-dropping electric contraption rolls on four custom-made omnidirectional wheels, mounted sideways so it can self-balance like a Segway and move in any direction. Completely bonkers.

Taking his "cue" from an old Tom and Jerry cartoon, YouTube content creator Alex Apollonov from the 'I Did A Thing' channel has created an explosive billiards stick. Then he played his friend in a game. What could go wrong?

Although their advantages over conventional bikes are debatable, hubless-wheel ebikes do look futuristic. Penny farthings, on the other hand, do not. It only makes sense, then, that Christopher Terpstra would combine the two in his penn-E-farthing.

The James Dyson Award is an international competition to encourage students to get creative to solve the world's pressing problems. The national finalists have been announced for 2021, showcasing ideas that help people and the environment.

Thomas Edison’s original patents surrounding the light bulb and an archive of 37 original British Patent Letters related to the incandescent lamp have been sold at auction for US$75,000.

Looking at today's tech, you might think “pack it in, inventing is finished.” But innovateurs and imagineers need something to do, even when the well of useful ideas is running dry. Here are the oddest and most questionable inventions of 2019.

Every now and then, an invention comes along that makes us wonder how we ever lived without it – but those are in the minority. New Atlas rounds up the weirdest and wackiest inventions that left us scratching our heads this year.

Wayward hammers have probably been striking exposed thumbs since ancient tinkerers first started swinging them, but what if hammering nails could be a single-handed undertaking? Designer Michael Young's prototype hammer is designed to achieve just that.

A rare 175 year-old book containing the world's first computer algorithm by Ada Lovelace – mathematician and daughter of Lord Byron – has been sold at auction in England for £95,000 (US$125,000).

Whether any of the following are likely to follow in the footsteps of once-derided products like the bendy straw and change the world remains to be seen, but to borrow a phrase from another oddball invention, for the following devices it's probably "outlook is not so good."

It's hard to imagine the world before Tim Berners-Lee brought the World Wide Web into our lives. His invention indelibly changed the course of human history, and he's now been awarded with a million-dollar prize for his significant and lasting contributions to computing.

Some ideas are ahead of their time, some might have to wait an eternity. We're not entirely sure which camp the following fearless forays into the realm of invention fit into, but they definitely get our nod for being among the quirkiest gadgets of 2016.