WHAT do a bicycle that goes faster over bumps, a lever that allows car pedals to be operated by hand and a pedal-powered washing machine have in common?
They are all examples of 鈥渄eviant research鈥�, so called because they were developed by amateurs trying to solve problems that dog their daily lives, rather than to make money. A , for example, was invented by Remya Jose (pictured), who as a 14-year-old schoolgirl from the Malappuram district of Kerala in south India found that the time it took to wash clothes by hand was getting in the way of her studies.
Such grassroots innovations are driven by adversity, so they are often created by people who are prevented by problems of language, literacy or geography from getting their inventions into the hands of others who might have a use for them. As if these weren鈥檛 obstacle enough, deviant researchers risk being ridiculed by their own communities for daring to try to banish their problems in this way, rather than putting up with them like everyone else.
Advertisement
鈥淧eople risk being ridiculed for their innovative approach鈥�
One effort to overcome those barriers and oil the wheels of deviant R&D is the , set up almost 20 years ago by Anil Gupta of the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad. It was Gupta who coined the term 鈥渄eviant research鈥�. The network uses community organisations, local-language newspapers, multimedia presentations and other channels to find deviant researchers. It then connects them with each other and to scientists and other academics, who can test the inventions and provide help with patents and business plans.
The Honey Bee Network is now the repository for more than 10,000 inventions. One example is a bike that goes faster when ridden on bumpy roads, developed by Kanak Das, who lives in an isolated part of north-east India. Energy from the shock absorbers is used either to help turn the pedals via a set of springs or, in Das鈥檚 latest prototype, to charge batteries, creating an electric bike.
The Honey Bee network also talent-spots inventors during its twice-yearly Shodh Yatra (Sanskrit for 鈥渨alk to find knowledge鈥�). These week-long treks take Gupta and a crew of facilitators through remote regions of India at a pace slow enough to stop, talk and find out who has invented what. The last one, through the Anantnag district of Kashmir, found Abdul Rashid Dar, inventor of a lever that locks onto a car鈥檚 clutch pedal, allowing people with limited use of their legs to operate it by hand.
Now Gupta wants to dig out deviant researchers in the industrialised world. With that in mind, the 20th Shodh Yatra, the first outside of India, is being planned to start near Newcastle in north-east England as early as next month.
