The Idea Collider
A system for generating project ideas that are original by construction.
Asking "what could AI do for me?" always converges on the same ideas everyone else has. This system forces combinations you would never choose deliberately, then makes you rescue them. The roll is cheap; the steelman is the engine.
The method
- Roll a collision. Randomly combine a niche person, a physical signal, an output medium that isn't an app, and a constraint. You are not allowed to pick, but you may bring one element you're stuck on and let the dice supply the rest.
- Steelman the stupid. Spend ten minutes making it work before you may discard it. Find the real problem hiding inside the WHO. Treat the twist as the fix, not the obstacle.
- The kill test. If it could appear in a listicle or a startup pitch, kill it and re-roll. Keep only what earns "wait, what? … that's kind of great."
- Reality check. Demoable with ~$50 of hardware and AI doing the heavy lifting? Bookmark it.
Roll
Click the text on any card to type your own and it locks automatically. Click the padlock to lock or unlock. Re-roll fills the rest.
Kill test
Keeping it sharp
The WHO column decays fastest. Refill it by lurking niche forums and searching for "why is there no" and "I wish something would": that's where real niche problems hide. Keep entries specific: "people who share a driveway with a neighbour," never "homeowners."
Edit the lists
One entry per line. Saved lists live in this browser (localStorage) and survive reloads. Custom entries you type on a card can be added to your lists when you save.
Case files
Three ideas this system has produced, kill-tested and bookmarked. Each is roughly $50 of hardware with AI doing the heavy lifting.
Cold Case: a screenless archivist for the chest freezer you fear
WHO: people with a chest freezer they fear · SIGNAL: one big button · OUTPUT: thermal receipt printer · TWIST: no screen allowed anywhere.
Freezer inventory apps fail because nobody types "2 kg of mince, layer 3" with cold wet hands. So: one arcade button on the lid and a mic. Hold the button and say what's going in or out; the AI keeps the inventory, including how deep things are buried. Tap once and a thermal printer answers with a dig ticket: what to eat tonight, and what to dig past to reach it. The freezer becomes a character that gently shames you about the ham.
The honest weakness is unlogged removals, fixed with amnesty mode: it periodically prints an audit checklist, you tick it with a pencil and read corrections aloud. About $55 of hardware.
The Standing Request: a gatepost flag for cemetery genealogists
WHO: cemetery genealogists · SIGNAL: motion in one doorway · OUTPUT: a servo-raised flag · TWIST: hardware under $50.
Thousands of headstone photo requests sit unfulfilled for years, because the people who do wander into rural cemeteries have no idea anyone needs anything. A small solar-powered box on the gatepost watches the open requests for that cemetery. When motion at the gate says a visitor just walked in, a servo raises a little brass flag: someone, somewhere, needs something only you can do right now. They call the number on the plaque, the AI reads out the names and plot locations, and their phone photos close the loop for a stranger's family tree.
About $35 of hardware. The real design problem is rural connectivity, which is exactly what makes it interesting.
The Weather House: a wheelchair go/no-go oracle on the fridge
WHO: new wheelchair users · SIGNAL: air quality sensor · OUTPUT: a fridge-magnet screen · TWIST: usable by a 90-year-old.
Most new wheelchair users are older people, and nearly every product built to help them is an app they won't use. A sensor outside their own front door reads their microclimate; inside, a fridge magnet modelled on the old German weather house does the talking. When conditions are good for a wheelchair outing specifically (dry rims, battery-safe temperature, breathable air), the little figure comes out of the house, with one line in big type: "Good until about 2."
No app, no buttons, no configuration. Around $45 of hardware, and the AI's whole job is compressing a forecast into one figure and seven words.