Software meets Hardware

Hey guys,
I'm not sure if this is the place to put this thread up but I couldn't find any other place thats suitable. I am looking to develop a product with embedded devices (ARM) and supported software of course to market and sell. I was wondering what kind of a device people would most appreciate. For those of you who aren't sure what kind of devices I'm talking about, anything ranging from a cell phone to a coffee machine to a tv to a radio is actually a device that I'm referring to. But, my team obviously can't make something as complicated as a mobile phone or something. A coffee machine is actually not very hard to make. So I was wondering if any of you had any suggestions/ideas. This is not a digital product and is going to be a real device. So if you ever felt "Damn, I wish there was a device to do this", let me know and if its viable and within my team's capacities, I'd love to hear your ideas. I mean, any device that solves some problems that exist today would be great. For instance, a mobile serves the purpose of mobile communication and also lays a platform for far more than that. That is just one example. Anything that solves/eases some part of our lives, maybe?
The reason why I felt this thread should be here is because I am looking to market this device very well online if I come up with a good device that can reach out to the masses. And so, couldn't find any other place (besides this "Making Money" section). PM me your ideas/suggestions.
I'd love to see what you guys might want to see. Any device idea that helps some environmental cause and stuff like that is also welcome!

No suggestions as yet?

The problem with a thread like this is, once people come up with a device that they think is truly a good money-maker, they'll keep it to themselves and try to do it themselves.

However, I'll bite. I have more than one dog, and when I walk them I use a device that allows me to connect the leashes so that I only have to hold onto one handle.

The problem is, the dogs will run around during our walk, and their ropes will often get twisted. What would be nice would be some sort of walker that has a hinge that rotates freely so that no matter how many times the dogs go in circles, their ropes don't get tangled.

So you will need to embed an ARM on that to calculate the dynamics of the ropes, throw some optimal control to adjust this and that over something else and there you have it. It can be called "iDogged".

haha! that actually sounds like an amazing idea, never looked for one cause i've never seen one... but would love to buy one...

Thanks for bumping the thread! But, do you realize that you definitely don't need an ARM device for this? Its simple mechanics. All you need is a round base to which you have your handle (perpendicular to the round base) and attach a cylindrical wooden piece to this round base which rotates freely and you can have as many ropes off the cylinder's base as you want and the cylinder just rotates freely on the round base (the direction being about the axis of the handle). so no tangling in that way regardless of how many ropes you have coming out of the cylinder.

I know what I said may not be easy to visualise and that I may not have put it in the best possible way, but its really easy mechanics.

OTrap said:

The problem with a thread like this is, once people come up with a device that they think is truly a good money-maker, they'll keep it to themselves and try to do it themselves.

However, I'll bite. I have more than one dog, and when I walk them I use a device that allows me to connect the leashes so that I only have to hold onto one handle.

The problem is, the dogs will run around during our walk, and their ropes will often get twisted. What would be nice would be some sort of walker that has a hinge that rotates freely so that no matter how many times the dogs go in circles, their ropes don't get tangled.

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