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Every issue of Make: provides more proof that today’s generation of makers is creating an amazing array of inventions, gadgets, circuits, and projects. Some of these creations even appear sufficiently novel to qualify for patent protection.

No matter what you plan to make, invent, or discover, one of the best steps you can take is to keep a detailed record of your progress. The traditional mechanism for documenting inventions and projects is a paper notebook, preferably one that is bound to assure that pages have not been added or removed. While paper notebooks remain very popular and are easy to update and store, the computer era has provided a variety of ways to record the progress of a project in far more detail and flexibility than possible with paper.If you have commercial plans for what you’re designing or making, a notebook will help establish your intellectual property rights and document your expenses. Be sure to enter all your ideas into your notebook but keep in mind that ideas alone are not patentable. Your notebook should disclose how to transform an idea into a working apparatus, tool, rocket, instrument, robot, or computer program.

 

MAKE Volume 34: Join the robot uprising! As MAKE's Volume 34 makes clear, there’s never been a better time to delve into robotics, whether you’re a tinkerer or a more serious explorer. With the powerful tools and expertise now available, the next great leap in robot evolution is just as likely to come from your garage as a research lab. The current issue of MAKE will get you started. Explore robot prototyping systems, ride along with the inventors of the OpenROV submersible, and learn how you can 3D-print your own cutting-edge humanoid robot for half the price. Plus, build a coffee-can Arduino robot, a lip balm linear actuator, a smartphone servo controller, and much more

On newsstands now, by subscription, or available in the Maker Shed

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