Amateur inventors

By Photography sourced from Reuters | May 31, 2013

: A spherical pod, named “Noah’s Ark”, designed by Chinese inventor Liu Qiyuan floats on a river during a test in Xianghe, Hebei province. Liu, who has spent 1.8 million yuan ($288,000) on building six “Noah’s Ark”s in 8 months with the help of his former furniture factory’s workers, is working on his seventh pod. The 17 cubic-metre volume vessels were built to serve as lifeboats in the event of earthquakes, tsunamis and floods.

: A woman rides an unicycle at a park in Shanghai. The unicycle was designed several years ago by Chinese inventor Li Yongli who called it “the number one vehicle in the world”

: Zhang Wuyi sits in his newly made multi-seater submarine at his new workshop near an artificial pool in Wuhan, Hubei province. Zhang, a 37-year-old local farmer, who is interested in scientific inventions, has independently made seven miniature submarines with several fellow engineers, one of which was sold to a businessman in Dalian at a price of 100,000 yuan ($15,855). The submarines, mainly designed for harvesting aquatic products, such as sea cucumber, have a diving depth of 20-30 metres (66-98 feet), and can travel for 10 hours

: Zhang Wuyi looks up as he squats under a suction pipe of his new submarine that captures sea cucumbers at his workshop in Wuhan, Hubei province. Zhang, a 38-year-old local farmer who is interested in scientific inventions, has independently made eight miniature submarines with several fellow engineers, one of which was sold to a businessman in Dalian at a price of 100,000 yuan ($15,855) in 2011. The submarines, mainly designed for harvesting aquatic products, such as sea cucumber, have a diving depth of 20-30 metres (66-98 feet), and can travel for 10 hours

: Chinese inventor Tao Xiangli modifies the circuits of his self-made robot at his house in Beijing. Tao, 37, spent about 150,000 yuan (USD 24,407 ) and more than 11 months to build the robot out of recycled scrap metals and electric wires that he bought from a second-hand market. The robot is 2.1-metre-tall and around 480 kilograms (529 lbs) in weight.

: Farmer Wu Yulu drives his rickshaw pulled by a his self-made walking robot near his home in a village at the outskirts of Beijing. This robot is the latest and largest development of hobby inventor Wu, who started to build robots in 1986, made of wire, metal, screws and nails found in rubbish sites.

: Wu Zhongyuan, 22, a local farmer, poses with his self-made helicopter, in Jiuxian county, Henan province. The local government later halted Wu’s plan to fly the helicopter out of safety concerns. The aircraft, powered by a 150cc engine, took Wu two months to build and cost more than 10,000 yuan ($1,460)

: Local farmer Shu Mansheng hovers above the ground in his self-designed and homemade flying device during a test flight in front of his house in Dashu village on the outskirts of Wuhan, Hubei province. The round steel flying device, which cost more than 20,000 yuan ($3,135), is the fifth model made by Shu, a junior middle school graduate. It measures around 5.5 meters (18 feet) in diameter, and is powered by eight motorcycle engines. Shu managed to hover for 10 seconds at about 1 metre (3.3 feet) above ground during a recent test flight.

: An ethnic Uighur man Abulajon sits on his self-made motorcycle beside a normal motorcycle as he poses for a photograph in Manas county, Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region. Abulajon, a 30-year-old Uighur worker from a sewage treatment plant, spent a year making his 0.3 tonnes motorcycle measuring 4.3 metres (14 feet) in length and 2.4 metres (7.8 feet) in height, although it makes it impossible for him to drive it on the street. It cost him about 8000 yuan ($1300) to buy all the parts from salvage stations and the converted engine can power the motorcycle with a speed of 40 km per hour (24.8 miles per hour)

: Li Jingchun (top L), a 58-year-old farmer, works with his family members on his self-made aircraft on top of his house in Xiahe village located in Shenyang, Liaoning province. The 5m long, 1.5m wide plane, mostly made of recycled iron plates, cost the aircraft enthusiast and his family two years and more than 40,000 yuan ($6,349)

: An ethnic Uighur man Abulajon sits on his self-made motorcycle beside a normal motorcycle as he poses for a photograph in Manas county, Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region. Abulajon, a 30-year-old Uighur worker from a sewage treatment plant, spent a year making his 0.3 tonnes motorcycle measuring 4.3 metres (14 feet) in length and 2.4 metres (7.8 feet) in height, although it makes it impossible for him to drive it on the street. It cost him about 8000 yuan ($1300) to buy all the parts from salvage stations and the converted engine can power the motorcycle with a speed of 40 km per hour (24.8 miles per hour)

: Zhang Xuelin sits inside his self-made aircraft at his home before its test flight in Jinan, Shandong province. Zhang, a farmer who dropped out of primary school in his early years, spent around 2,000 yuan ($321) to build a plane around a motorcycle, using wood and plastic boards. The plane, which took 11 months to build, failed in its test flight.

: A 49-year-old electric bike mechanic who identified himself only as Wu welds a component to fit onto his newly-made robot (R) at his repair shop in Shenyang, Liaoning province. Wu spent over 10 days to make this nearly two-meter high robot using parts from abandoned electric bikes. The robot, which is able to walk and pump up tires by itself, is still under modification

: Farmer Shu Mansheng prepares to take off with his homemade ultralight aircraft in Wuhan, Hubei province. The 4.5-meter-long (15ft) ultralight, powered by two motor engines, took Shu eight months to build and cost him 5,000 yuan (733 USD)

: Lei Zhiqian rides a modified bicycle across the Hanjiang River, a tributary of the Yangtze River in Wuhan, Hubei province. The bicycle, equipped with eight empty water containers at the bottom, was modified by Lei’s instructor Li Weiguo, who hopes to put his invention into the market.

: Han Yuzi, 63, inventor, holds up one of his creations, a hair comb that doubles as a small hand-held musical instrument, in Guangzhou, the capital of China’s Guangdong province. The instrument measures 126.2 mm in length, 48.6 mm in width and weighs 68 grams

: Chinese farmer Yang Youde pushes his homemade cannon near his farmland on the outskirts of Wuhan, Hubei province. Yang’s cannon, which is made out of a wheelbarrow, pipes and firing rockets, is used to defend his fields against property developers who wants his land.