College dropout holds more than 40 U.S. patents, including the design for a personal flying machine. Tune in to the premiere of 'Invent This!' to see it in action.

Woody Norris -- Driving

Woody Norris has vision. Indeed, he has many visions. In his 40 years of inventing, Woody has chalked up countless inventions. These include the world's smallest transistor radio (it fits right in your ear), an artificial hip alarm (to alert a patient when the hip starts to separate), and his latest and greatest, a personal flying machine.

Ready to fly

The single-passenger AirScooter weighs in at a mere 250 pounds, which qualifies it as an ultralight aircraft. This means you won't need a pilot's license to take flight. As cheap as a new Camry, the air scooter will send you soaring over crowded highways during rush hour.

"The idea with this was not to get out of the traffic down here and go up to the traffic up in the sky, but to be in-between," Norris says. U.S. customs, the military, and fire and police departments have already expressed interest. Norris sees the AirScooter eventually moving into the recreational vehicle and commuter markets.

Taking speakers out of the box

Another of Woody's recent inventions harks back to his days of working with radio. His new Hyper Sonic Sound speaker is the first highly directional audio emitter. Highly directional audio emitter? Like a spotlight, Woody's speaker emits sound only where you want it to go. You have to be in front of the speaker to hear the sound.

The speaker is being sold to businesses for use in museums, trade shows, retail stores, and theme parks to make announcements and advertise to select groups of customers. A consumer model will hit the market soon, with an estimated price of $100.

Do you look forward to the day you can buy one of Woody's personal flying machines? What do you make of his success? Comment on our message board.

Woody factoids

  • His father was a Maryland coal miner who stopped attending school after the third grade.
  • He got his start in electronics by teaching himself to fix broken radios.
  • His only formal electronics training comes from the Air Force, where he spent six months working with radar and electronics used to trigger A-bombs and H-bombs.
  • One of his first inventions, a "doppler" tool that listens to isolated sounds inside the body, eventually evolved into the sonogram. He developed it in one weekend.
  • He credits his ability to sell his ideas successfully to drama experience in high school. (He got the lead in every play he tried out for.)


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