Recent technological firsts by Filipino inventors have given people more things to be proud of other than the Pinoy talent for performance and the arts. Inventions making Filipinos ooh and aah include a solar-powered car and an anti-terrorist robot. Another has scientists and ordinary people narrowing their eyes at its seeming impossibility.

First pinoy speed ray-cer

On October 27, 2007, solar-powered car SINAG finished the World Solar Challenge (WSC) with “over a day to spare.” It was the first time that a Philippine-made car joined, much less finished, the event. The WSC is a 3,000 km race in Australia spanning from Darwin to Adelaide. It attracts over 40 competitors “from around the world,” the De La Salle University (DLSU) SINAG project site said.

SINAG, named after the Tagalog word for a ray of sunlight, was unveiled on September 1, 2007, the Manila Times reported. It was “designed and built by students from the Mechanical Engineering and Electronic Engineering departments of [DLSU].”

The car's development was assisted by technology partners such as Gochermann Solar Technology, Aurora and Merritt Partners, and sponsored by big-name companies including Philippine Airlines, San Miguel Corp., Shell, Ford, SunPower, Ventus and Motolite.

First PNP robocop

Police Inspector Mechanical Anti-terrorist Concept (PI MAC), the Philippines' first bomb disposal robot, was declared the first World Cup of Computer Implemented Inventions (WCCII) grand champion two weeks ago in Xuzhou, China, the Philippine Star reported.

According to the Science & Technology Post, PI MAC placed second best in the WCCII semifinals held in Taiwan in September last year and was cited as the “most outstanding invention advancing quality of life” by the Minnesota Inventors Congress of USA.

The five-man team sent to China was led by Engr. Roel Judilla, former dean of the Mapua Institute of Technology, PNA reported. “I am the first winner of the World Cup and I am a Filipino,” PNA quoted Judilla upon his victorious return to the Philippines with Mapua students Jaoud Jaylord and Kit Mistosomente on October 21.

Before Judilla's team left for China, PI MAC was hailed by the Philippine National Police as its “most fearless recruit.”

“MAC will make our jobs safer. He will take on assignments which could endanger the lives of our policemen,” the Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Makati police chief Senior Supt. Gilbert Cruz during MAC's unveiling on October 14.

On November 3, Judilla told PDI that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) will provide his team P1.7 million for the continued improvement of PI MAC. His team is “currently...working to produce a cheaper version of the anti-terrorist robot with a slew of enhancements,” he said, which include the capability to operate underwater and traverse staircases.

PDI reported that Judilla's team is looking for a company “willing to mass produce the enhanced MAC,” a unit of which can be sold for P100,000.

First water-powered car?

Gasoline prices may have undergone several rollbacks during the past month, but Daniel Dingel's invention, if it proves to be the real thing and not a hoax, would probably have anyone, car owner or not, shivering in excitement.

Dingel said he built his water-powered car in 1969. In an interview, he claimed to have approached the Marcos, Aquino and Estrada administrations with his invention, and was in the process of signing production deals with them when either the sitting president lost his position or the Central Bank told him the government could not support his device due to a rule by the International Monetary Fund preventing the country from engaging in trade that would threaten certain investments.

Dingel's announcement in the 1980s that he had “discovered a way to make a vehicle run on water” stunned a world that was just recovering from the “first world oil crisis of the mid-70s.” International groups came to the Philippines to test his invention, but interest dwindled when they declared it a hoax.

The watercar is said to use gasoline only to fire up its engine; after being started, it then relies on hydrogen generated from water by a specially-designed conversion system.

His detractors say the watercar is a joke, as Dingel doesn't allow anyone to examine his car or even do a simple emission test. The inventor asserts his reluctance is due to fears that his design will be stolen. To help curb criticisms of his invention, Dingel posted on his website an invitation for scientists to design a test protocol for his watercar.

Dingel earned his mechanical engineering degree “from the International Correspondence School,” he said in a 1994 article by the Manila Times. “Perfected by practical experience, my educational attainment could be equated to a Ph.D.”

He holds the patent to other more successful inventions, such as his electromagnetic fluid (EMF), branded the EMF Flux Fluid 2000, a car engine lubricant additive derived from plant extracts. Dingel offers a “satisfaction-or-your-money-back guarantee” on EMF, which the Manila Times said has a patent. A search of the Intellectual Property Philippines database, however, reveals it expired in 1988. There is no information on whether it has been renewed.

Meanwhile, BUHAY party-list representatives proposed a bill promising to promote the welfare of Filipino inventors and allow them to get more government support for their contraptions.

In addition to providing funding and assistance for inventors, the “Inventors and Inventions Incentives Act of 2008” aims to regulate the transfer and promote the adaptation of technology in the Philippines.

Its authors, Reps. Irwin Tieng, Rene Velarde and Ma. Carissa Coscolluela, hope to expand upon the Department of Science and Technology's limited support for inventors, which it implements via the Technology Application and Promotion Institute. The “Inventors and Inventions Incentives Act of 1992” does not have an implementing agency with the power to jumpstart programs specifically targeting the welfare of Filipino inventors, the BUHAY party-list representatives said.

There is another law benefiting Filipino inventors, Republic Act 8439, “An Act Providing a Magna Carta for Scientists, Engineers, Researchers and Other Science and Technology Personnel in Government,” but its scope is limited to scientists in government service. 

Photo 1: “CEL Manila SINAG solar powered car 10-25-08 18.52.57.000” by sofimi, taken from Flickr.com. Licensed under Creative Commons license number BY-NC-ND-2.0-DEED.EN.
Video 1: “Mapua Robotics Team MAC/24Oras,” uploaded by Mckoy467 to YouTube.com.
Video 2: “Daniel Dingel Water Powered Car” uploaded to GoogleVideo.
Photo 2: "BUHAY Party-List logo" taken from the BUHAY official site. Use of this photo is believed to be free under Philippine fair use laws.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."