Do or do not, there is no try, and nowhere is that better exemplified than at the Museum of Failure. The Museum of Failure is a travelling showcase of over 150 of the worst failures in tech, medicine, food, and sex we’ve seen over the last few decades. Notable failures include 3D TV’s, Cyberpunk 2077, and many ventures from Elon Musk. The museum is the brainchild of Samuel West, a psychologist who is obsessed with the art of failure and currently serving as a design consultant for companies across the world.
The museum is a microcosm of failure, of course, but it’s also a display of what was once innovation. Exhibition organisers told Gizmodo during our visit that the goal of the showcase is to recontextualize what failure means — at some point, somewhere all of these projects started as ideas that someone thought could change the world. The Museum of Failure is currently open in Brooklyn’s Industry City until June, but here’s a peek of some of our favourite exhibits.
Juicero
Nothing exemplifies Silicon Valley’s displaced desire to innovate quite like the Juicero. The Juicero was advertised as a path to health, with the machine squeezing out juice from the company’s own proprietary juice packages. Except you didn’t need the machine — which cost hundreds of dollars — since you could just squeeze the juice out of the packages by hand.
More: Juicero CEO Begs You: Do Not Squeeze Our Juice Bags
Roland TB-303
The Roland 303 is a small synthesiser that was popularised in the early 1980’s as a substitution for the bass guitar. Musicians quickly hated the gadget, mainly because it sounds nothing like a bass guitar. Despite this, the synth had a lot of bells and whistles that musicians and producers have come to love, but alas, it was too little, too late for the Roland 303.
We-Vibe 4
The We-Vibe 4 is a sex toy that provided pleasure to consumers and data brokers alike. The toy featured a bluetooth remote and smartphone app that allowed partners to…ya know…seemingly from anywhere in the world. But, according to the Museum, hackers reported that the We-Vibe 4 was collecting sensitive data on users’ climaxes and sexual habits, which saw We-Vibe pay out a $US3.75 ($5) million settlement in a class action lawsuit.
Theranos
Elizabeth Holmes, a woman who truly needs no introduction, founded Theranos as a startup in 2003 after she dropped out of Stanford University during her undergraduate education. Holmes touted the company’s groundbreaking ability to test a patient’s blood with a single drop using the company’s proprietary technology. The company eventually folded after whistleblowers from within Theranos tipped journalists at The Wall Street Journal in 2015, claiming that the company’s blood-testing technology didn’t work at all. Bloody hell.
More: Elizabeth Holmes Sentenced to 11 Years and 3 Months in Prison for Theranos Fraud
My Friend Cayla
My Friend Cayla is a doll like no other — it collected your child’s data. The doll used speech recognition and a smartphone app to listen to its human playmate and then scour the internet for answers to their questions or tell stories. My Friend Cayla landed in hot water, however, when Germany banned the doll citing privacy concerns over where a child’s data was going.
Groove Stick
There are some gadgets, tools, and inventions that are so well-engineered that they need not be iterated upon, like the drumstick. The Groove Stick is a two-pronged attempt at streamlining the drumming experience by allowing a musician to hit the hi-hat symbol twice as fast using both sides of the V-shaped tool. A great idea in theory, horribly impractical in practice. You could repurpose it as a slingshot, though.
Hula Chair
The Hula Chair is such a ridiculous invention that it’s sort of become a tall tale. The Hula Chair features a gyrating seat that is supposed to work your core while you sit, but it amounts to a less-than-relaxing experience.
Google Glass
The Google Glass could have been a good idea, but was released way too ahead of its time. While the Metaverse has yet to catch on, glasses with a camera, voice control, and Internet connectivity actually feel like the beginning of what could have been a practical gizmo. Unfortunately, concerns over price, privacy, short battery life, and distracted drivers killed the Google Glass before it had the chance to catch on.
Jarts Lawn Darts
Sharp, pointy metal in a toy: What could go wrong? Jarts Lawn Darts were a lawn game that involved throwing the metal-tipped darts into a ring, and while the darts weren’t especially pointy, they were certainly heavy. The Museum of Failure says that the Jarts seriously injured 6,000 children.
Fails in Progress
