American Inventions come year in and year out. With some of the greatest minds on the planet calling the U.S. home, the innovation and creativity doesn’t stop! Here are the top 20 American inventions from the past 20 years
Earth is changing, and it’s changing fast. Many other countries are developing and growing at exponential rates. However, America is still up there for the world’s top innovators.
American inventions from the last 20 years
In the dawn of the 20th and 21st century, technological advancements have come leaps and bounds. Our future is here and it’s only going to continue to grow.
Here are 20 inventions and global contributions America has made within the last 20 years
1. USB Flash Drives – 2000
The first USB was actually patented by an Israeli company called M-Systems in ’99. However, IBM brought us a USB flash drive called DiskOnKey and held only 8 mg.
1. AbioMed’s Robot Heart – 2001
Artificial hearts have been around for a while now, however, this Massachusetts based company developed a robot heart. AbioCor is a self-contained unit with a wireless battery pack that attaches to the wrist.
2. iPods – 2001
Paving the way to how we listen to music today, Apple’s iPod revolutionized portable music. The way we find, choose, buy as well as listen to music has changed forever, thanks to Apple.
3. Braille Glove – 2002
A high school student who was only 18, saw a deaf woman trying to order food at Burger King. This experience lead him to create a device the translates sign language to text.
This device detects the hand movements of the wearer and transmits them wirelessly to text!
4. Cialis – 2003
Viagra’s biggest competition, is Cialis. Created by Lilly ICOS LLC in Indianapolis and lasts 36 hours whereas Viagra only lasts about 4 hours.
5. Facebook – 2004
Many of our first experiences with social media came from Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg launched this network our of Harvard and it eventually took over. Now it is worth about $615 billion!
6. Youtube – 2005
One of the biggest search engines and video sharing networks around to date. Youtube is home to millions of creators, communities and has played a huge part of American culture.
7. LifeLine – 2006
FDNY based out of Brooklyn, New York, created a person safety system made for quick escapes. This tool has become an essential part of firefighting equipment.
8. iPhone-2007
Apple is one of the great American Innovators of our time. From Apple computers to the iPod and next up the iPhone.
9. Flying Windmills – 2008
San Diego Company invented a flying wind turbine to be used at high-altitudes. These turbines are meant to cut down costs of construction and produce more energy than regular windmills.
10. Fitbit – 2009
The Fitbit craze started the trend of wearable technology. This revolutionary invention still, to this day holds more than 1/3 of the wearable tech market.
11. Google’s Driverless Car – 2010
This self-driving car used Google Maps to understand every road, lane and street. It comes full of radar sensors, video cameras and laser range finders which makes it actually safer than human-driven cars.
12. Surveillance Hummingbird – 2011
AeroVironment tech company based out of Simi Valley, California invented a Nano Air Vehicle. Built to resemble a small hummingbird, this remote controlled device was one of the smallest drones available.
@halacious
13. Gene Editing – 2012
At the University of Berkeley California and Harvard had been hard at work developing the CRISPR-Cas9gene-editing tools. This tools allows for exact edits to the genome and the scientists behind the technology went on to winner Nobel Prize in chemistry!
14. Video Doorbell – 2013
Ring was the first video doorbell system and it was first seen on the show Shark Tank. After being rejected, Amazon ended up acquiring the company for over $1 billion in 2018!
15. Hendo Hoverboard -2014
California Tech firm, Hendo, created one of the worlds first commercially available hoverboards. Thanks to a kickstarter campaign, the company was able to develop the prototype.
16. Tesla Model X – 2015
Tesla shot into the electric car business in 2003 but sky rocketed in popularity with the Model X. This company sets the precedent for electric luxury vehicles everywhere.
@tchompalov
17. Wynd Portable Air Cleaner – 2016
Start-up from California created the Wynd portable air cleaner that monitors the air around us and purifies it when necessary. It removes dust, smoke and pollutions from your personal space and is only the size of a water bottle!
18. 3D Ocean Farms – 2017
Addressing both climate change and overpopulation concerns, GreenWave’s invention uses horizontal ropes on the surface of the water. The lines connect to seaweed crops which allow scallops and mussels to grow. Furthermore, this is a significant advancement for sustainable shellfish farming.
19. The Beyond Sausage – 2018
Beyond Meat, a plant-based food manufacturing company based out of Los Angeles released their Beyond Sausage.
20. Virtual Reality – 2019
Virtual Reality headsets have been around since the 60s and were also invented in America. The first was developed at MIT and took users to a tour of Aspen, Colorado.
Oculus virtual-reality headset were introduced to America in 2019. Additionally, this company is actually owned by Facebook and was a new way to play video games and watch movies.
Minh Pham
@minhphamdesign
The inventions haven’t stopped. Every year more technology, more apps and new discoveries are made. American inventions continue to innovate and inspire! Lastly, check out some of the links and get the latest models of the American inventions for yourself!
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