List of Dodgy Crowd Source Funded Projects

[rafalpilat0077]

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/energy-multiplier-cleaner-efficient-energy-production?c=home

 

Check out all the cool stuff you get if you donate $10,000!

"Receive a paper certificate stating your level of contribution with your name and personally signed by the inventor. Also receive exclusive updates via indiegogo.com on the progress of development. Get exclusive access to our VIP Platinum Members area of our website. See website for details. ** This is redeemable through direct purchase of products offered only through our members area **"

... A piece of paper with the guy's name written on it! Wow!

Lol , this shit is hilarious

[u271D]

Ripoff of Dave's µCurrent GOLD

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/microcurrent-gold

[george graves]

Well that was taken down quickly.

[hikariuk]

Clang, $500K and 1 year later:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/260688528/clang/posts/604023

CLANG is really more an example of a project biting off a little more than it could chew, rather than a scam.  The hardware side of things, primarily.

[Gallymimus]

So these guys show big time media outlets like FOX ABC CBS, but I can't find a single article from any of the big media outlets they show at the front of their page.  Am I missing something or is this totally fraudulent marketing?

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/thingcharger-the-awesome-new-charger-for-all-your-things

Other than that it seems like a bad product to me.  I'd not want to balance a phone or tablet vertically on the tiny connector of this thing without any other mechanical support.  Again am I missing the point?  It seems like a great way to break stuff.

[Lurch]

Other than that it seems like a bad product to me.  I'd not want to balance a phone or tablet vertically on the tiny connector of this thing without any other mechanical support.  Again am I missing the point?  It seems like a great way to break stuff.

Also looks a bit of a fire risk to me. This is the sort of thing I'd probably fail on PAT testing, like when you get loads of plug in adapters stacked up on top of each other.

[Gallymimus]

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/smarty-ring

Seems too small to do what they claim, but hey maybe I just don't know how to push the tech envelope.

[CanadianAvenger]

20% fuel savings.
http://igg.me/p/650364

Well at least that one is fixed funding, meaning it's all or nothing.

[codeboy2k]

20% fuel savings.
http://igg.me/p/650364

Well at least that one is fixed funding, meaning it's all or nothing.

And you can have smooth skin if you don't own a car or don't want to pay full fare to buy the fuel-saver.. 

[Rutger]

How about this one; http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/rawlemon-solar-devices

Replace you solar panels now with 6 ton glass bowls filled with water. Hope you have a strong roof! 

I guess the name gives it away; rawlemon... I prefer my lemons cooked (under a bowl of glass)

[Gallymimus]

How about this one; http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/rawlemon-solar-devices

Replace you solar panels now with 6 ton glass bowls filled with water. Hope you have a strong roof! 

I guess the name gives it away; rawlemon... I prefer my lemons cooked (under a bowl of glass)

well why not?

http://www.rehnu.com/technology/receivers-and-cooling

 

[dexters_lab]

How about this one; http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/rawlemon-solar-devices

Replace you solar panels now with 6 ton glass bowls filled with water. Hope you have a strong roof! 

I guess the name gives it away; rawlemon... I prefer my lemons cooked (under a bowl of glass)

while i dont think it's dodgey, it does seem a bit niche!

[MadModder]

I don't think this one is mentioned in this thread?
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/home-quantum-energy-generator
Look at the fundings  

[jucole]

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/meterplug-lower-your-electricbill-measure-real-electric-cost
(days away from the delivery date, only one photo of pre-production units, no updates)

lol - still not delivered!

[uwezi]

How about this one; http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/rawlemon-solar-devices

Replace you solar panels now with 6 ton glass bowls filled with water. Hope you have a strong roof! 

while i dont think it's dodgey, it does seem a bit niche!

It is dodgy!

A major part of the production cost of today's silicon solar cell modules is the flat sheet of glass on its front. And this is a plain sheet of glass! Not a sphere, whether solid or strong enough to hold water...

[Gallymimus]

A major part of the production cost of today's silicon solar cell modules is the flat sheet of glass on its front. And this is a plain sheet of glass! Not a sphere, whether solid or strong enough to hold water...

Where did you come up with THAT data?  The glass on top is most certainly not a major cost in a module.
If that were TRUE then thin film solar cells (which are on a glass substrate and then have the additional glass layer on top) wouldn't be significantly cheaper than silicon cells.  Also see this marketing report for a breakdown of material costs.

http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy12osti/53938.pdf

[uwezi]

A major part of the production cost of today's silicon solar cell modules is the flat sheet of glass on its front.

Where did you come up with THAT data?  The glass on top is most certainly not a major cost in a module.
If that were TRUE then thin film solar cells (which are on a glass substrate and then have the additional glass layer on top) wouldn't be significantly cheaper than silicon cells.  Also see this marketing report for a breakdown of material costs.

http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy12osti/53938.pdf

Thinfilm solar cells are not significantly cheaper than silicon solar cells!

And neither are organic or dye-sensitized solar cells.

I did not say that the glass was the biggest cost in a solar cell module, I stated that it was a major (one of several) cost factors.

I am working as a university researcher in the field of thinfilm solar cells and have been part-time working in a company which we still have close collaborations with. The data I have is from recent international conferences on photovoltaics and up-to-date news.

Here you can find a breakdown of the costs in silicon solar cell modules as of 2012: http://www.cleanenergystates.org/assets/Uploads/Solar-PV-Manufacturing-Combined-Presentations.pdf slide 19 shows that about 20% of the cost of the module is in the front glass, lamination film and backsheet - and since then the price of the silicon cells themselves has gone down further, while glass has not become cheaper.

Even in the report from NREL which you have quoted, and which is yet another year older, the orange part in the breakdown of costs on the last page is significant.

Here is another source, analyzing the cost breakdown for major Chinese manufacturers of silicon solar cell modules - the purple part "Module" is the important part:

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/top-chinese-manufacturers-will-produce-solar-panels-for-42-cents-a-wat

Here is a newer report from NREL (2013): http://www.uspvmc.org/proceedings/2ndAnnualCSiWorkshop0710/14.%20NREL%20c-Si%20Roadmap.pdf

[daedalus]

100% efficient drivechain invention, seems legit

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/367465572/chi-eer-a-real-efficient-engine-motor?ref=category

[Jarrod Roberson]

This one is not going to succeed either, kind of telling how NONE of the pictures of the actual device show the screen, just a plastic wrist band!

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-rufus-cuff-more-than-a-smartwatch-a-wrist-communicator

[CanadianAvenger]

Well IGG just promoted it in an email, so lets wtch and see... hopefully IGG users are smarter than IGG staff.

[facumedica]

This one is not going to succeed either, kind of telling how NONE of the pictures of the actual device show the screen, just a plastic wrist band!

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-rufus-cuff-more-than-a-smartwatch-a-wrist-communicator

Take a phone, make a case with a 3D printer... Done! 

[Duane Degn]

I think this one fall under the "Dodgy" category.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1686304142/the-mini-mobile-robotic-printer

Their hardware demo video and what they are claiming don't agree.

Anyone with any robotics experience will recognize what they are claiming to deliver is next to impossible.

I'll quote from the other thread:

This has received a lot of backers and I'm afraid a lot of people are going to be disappointed in the final product.

The images on the Kickstarter page give the impression the robotic printer can print full page technical drawings and graphics. Yet the video just shows the robot printing single line of text.

Trying to get a robot to travel in a straight line with the precision required to print the type of documents they imply it will be able to print is a near impossibility.

These guys are business students dabbling in robotics and they don't have clue how to accomplish what they are promising. You can see some of the "development" work in posts at Let's Make Robots. The LMR member kkffiirr http://letsmakerobots.com/user/20833 has asked several questions revealing his lack of robotics knowledge.

I don't think they have been honest in describing the risks backers are taking by supporting the project. To make a robot capable of printing as well as they imply their robot will, is next to impossible.

Their "prototype" is a Parallax ink jet printer kit mounted on some omni wheels (normal wheels would have worked for their "demo" video). Here's a video of the printer kit used free hand.



This printer might work reasonably well printing text only documents if you didn't need the print to be high quality, but it's certainly not going to be able to print the type of documents shown in the photos.

I think this qualifies as a scam.

I thought Kickstarter projects had to have a working prototype?

BTW, I like to build robots myself and I've made many different kinds including robots with omni wheels. I won't post links to my stuff by it's easy to find by searching my name.

I think I'm particularly annoyed by this one since I had some interaction with one of the developers prior to the Kickstater launch.

[Jarrod Roberson]

They went and purged their blog entries from "lets make robots" apparently. I didn't get to see what noob questions they were asking, but I can guess they didn't paint their "experience" in a good light.

Anyone with any common sense and critical thinking can see that this thing will NEVER track straight enough to print out anything resembling the laser printouts they are "simulating" ( scamming ).

Apparently kickstarter and igg are taking the old adage "there is a sucker born every minute" and "a fool and his money are soon parted" to the most extreme social experiment possible.

[Duane Degn]

Jarrod,

I don't think he had any blogs. His questions were in the forum. You can see this questions by clicking "track". Here's a link.
http://letsmakerobots.com/user/20833/track

They might be ignorant enough to think what they propose is possible.

[kony]

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/beta-bioled-the-first-hand-held-blood-analyzer
Well, I don't have guts ti say it's scam right away, but it is at least very suspicious.
 
As I have some background in light measurements and chemistry (spectroscopy, radiospectrometry) - claiming, that their setup consisting of few assorted LEDs spread over the spectrum without any further filtering plus light integrator provided better results than commercital absobrtion spectrometers is just bullshit in my opinion.
Even with basic low cost miniautre spectrometer modules you have FWHM in 5nm range at least - and they are trying to convince me, that they can do better with LEDs, which spectra is gaussian shaped, spreaded over tens of nanometers will provide better results ? I don't think so. Based on this measurement, I would be able to resolve between basic colors of sample and mabye little bit about its transmittance, but hell no somethning about chemical composition of sample.
Only semiconductor light source capable of producing narrow enough spectra is laser diode, but then you are stucked basically to a few points in whole spectra - how could you estimate composition based on that (yep, Raman scattering, I know, but it really doesn't seem they are that far - and you are still tied to full spectra measuring and cost and effort for propper light filtering added) ? You simply won't get away without using prism, or diffraction grating - or am I missing something important ?
Oh, and did I mentioned that most valuable data about chemical composition of sample in case of optical spectrometry does not lie in visible part of spectra, but UV and infra ?

I'd like to hear somebody else opinion about this.