If necessity is the mother of invention, then surely poor farmers will invent more than billion-dollar corporations or highly paid academics.

Or so believes Prof. Anil Gupta, who has spent two decades traveling rural India and searching for for its hidden innovations. So far, Gupta says he and his aides have uncovered more than 25,000 inventions.

Some examples:

 A bicycle-mounted crop sprayer

An electric paintbrush that never needs to be dipped in a paint can.

A rice cleaner designed by a 13-year-old after he watched his mother wearily picking pebbles from yet another sack of grain.

A washing machine mounted on the back of a scooter and powered by its engine

A bulletproof vest packed with herbs that absorb the concussive force of the bullet

 An amphibious bicycle

Professor on quest for India’s hidden inventors by Ravi Nessman, Associated Press