About Rob..




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Rob started the first jack-o-lantern recycling effort for soup kitchens.





ROBERT MATTHIES is an innovator with an interest in
renewable energy and sustainable living. He started
Angels on Ebikes which delivered food to Union Gospel
Mission using bikes
with trailers, demonstrating the
viability of non-fossil-burning vehicles.
Angels on
Ebikes
collected shipments that were too small for
truck-based organizations to pick up. Then, there's the
Kyoto Bike Discounts. Did you know that
Vancouver has many shops and restaurants that offer
discounts to cycling customers, that, in turn, helps keep cars
off the road? This discount program for cyclists was another
one of Kyoto Bob. Vancouver Cllr. Raymond Louie
endorsed this Kyoto Discount Program on Shaw TV.
Cllr. Ladner and Cllr. Woodsworth also approved of it.
More recently, Matthies provided fairs and festivals in
GVRD with
solar-powered bubble machines, allowing kids
to create
bubble-beards, along with solar-powered
cooling caps. Rob's unique "grey day" solar-powered bubble
machines surprised people at an ICBC company picnic,
because these
bubble machines spewed
bubbles despite clouds, rain showers, and tall,
sunlight-blocking trees. He did this with a
special circuit for photovoltaic panels,
which also charged batteries for
Christmas
lights, even in our relatively
sunless region of BC.
Rob also started the
Vancouver Amateur
Inventors & Gadgeteers
group. This group's meetings
resulted in the development of the Anti-Aggression
Traffic-Calming Light used by cyclists to avoid
accidents. Another light-based device was used to
create the
crow-free zone at Mt. Pleasant's Guelph
Park. Crows carry the
West Nile Virus.
Other birds
damage property.
This device was a result of a special
crow-training light discussed at this group's forums.
(Crows are considered a vector for bird flu,
Salmonella, and West Nile Virus.) Matthies operates
Solar Powered Roadshow which brings solar powered bubble machines
to
charity runs, and festivals.
The road show also offers
educational
workshops
(including one on the baffling Stirling engine)
sustainability-science magic acts,
and creates
innovative events involving
including an
ebike show and jack-o-lantern recycling
for
Kingsgate Mall. Gifted kids competed at
the
Electric Pumpkin Drag Race at Harbour Centre Mall,
a unique event Matthies created. He has also assisted in
Junkology classes. Matthies holds a BA and believes
that
wind, water/waves could also be developed into an energy
source, especially in our own city, "
Raincouver".
Rob went on TV to show an amazing
rain cape.

Recently, some of Rob's students made the evening news,
when they did what most people consider
doubly-impossible, in renewable energy.
They even made
solar ovens.
His
sustainable-energy workshop students seem to
have
fun while they learn.
Rob taught
gifted kids, too, at Osler School,
as well as
ocean wave energy.

For his community, Rob used his umbrella repair kits
to
repair damaged umbrellas for
"Out of the Rain", a charity fundraiser for the homeless.

Rob has been using
elecric bikes longer than most
people in Vancouver, according to a
Vancouver Sun
journalist. Thus, his real-world experience
is useful to consumers considering purchasing
ebikes for the first time.

The media usually cover Rob's solar
devices at events.
Thus, the fair or festival aqquires
positive publicity
efforlessly.

If you're from Vancouver, you know about
leaky condo problems.
Rob held a forum where he showed
how anybody can
diagnose leaky condos
with a simple
device, thereby
avoiding a real-estate nightmare,
as many buyers have blundered into.
He also taught people at workshops how to
diagnose dangerous, aluminum
or
loose wiring in homes
by using adjustment-free thermal scanners.