In the latest unLTD Business Podcast, host James Marriott discovered how Sheffield’s Ruth Amos turned childhood curiosity into a joyful career championing creativity and inspiring future engineers
“I’m probably unemployable.”
That’s not the sort of statement you expect from someone whose CV includes national awards, viral invention videos and Guinness World Records. But for Sheffield-based inventor Ruth Amos, convention was never the goal. From the moment she stumbled into engineering as a teenager, she’s been on a mission to change not only how the world sees inventors – but how young people see themselves.
It all began, quite unexpectedly, with a school project.
“When I was doing GCSE Resistant Materials, my teacher set me a challenge to design something to help his dad go up and down the stairs,” Ruth explains. “So I ended up designing something called the StairSteady, which is a specialist handrail. And through that, I got thrown into this whole world of engineering and invention.”
That single brief sparked a fascination – and ultimately, a career. Not that Ruth had planned it that way. “I realised I should have always wanted to be an engineer. Everything I watched growing up, the toys I played with… but no one had ever told me that I should be one.”
Now, she’s making sure that others don’t miss the memo.
Together with co-founder Shawn Brown, Ruth runs Kids Invent Stuff – a YouTube channel and outreach project that brings primary school children’s wild invention ideas to life. “Lots of young people, but particularly girls, form their opinions around what careers they can and can’t do early at primary,” she says. “We decided we wanted to start something around that.”
What followed was part kids’ TV, part engineering challenge – and wholly wonderful. “We’ve brought to life over 100 kids’ invention ideas now. When I’m not building those, I’m building ridiculous things in the workshop – for brands, for TV. I’ve kind of set off on this journey trying to share with as many people as possible how amazing engineering and inventing and making is.”
It’s work that regularly reaches a global audience – but still begins with one child and a spark of imagination. “Kids have the best invention ideas. And they’re also quite nerve-wracking bosses,” Ruth laughs. “We want them to like what we’ve done, for it to be their vision – but also better than they could have imagined. There’s definitely a lot of pressure.”
And with upwards of 20,000 submissions a year, there’s no shortage of ideas. “Every single one of them has something about them. We never get a bad invention. I think kids do the hardest part of our job. As adults, we become a bit boring and constrained. Kids haven’t got those limits. Their brains take them to amazing places.”
That mindset – playful, fearless, wonderfully impractical – is what makes Ruth’s work so infectious. And while she’s faced plenty of high-pressure builds, one project stands out for sheer audacity.
“We entered a gravity racer challenge,” she recalls, referencing the kind of soapbox racing made famous by the Red Bull events. “Grace sent us her idea for a gravity racer shaped like a cake. And a friend of ours said, ‘You should make it out of cake.’”
So that’s what they did.
“In a microwave, we made 140 kilograms of vegan cake. We made the most disgusting mix – sugar’s expensive, eggs are expensive – and assembled it in blocks, connected by skewers. We iced it, added sprinkles, candles… the works.”
Transporting it was nerve-wracking enough. Racing it, more so.
“I was sat behind this giant cake thinking, what am I doing with my life? We’d spent so much money on cake and so little on brakes. I thought, I’m going to kill myself with a giant cake.”
She didn’t, of course. The race was a success. But the real victory was in embracing uncertainty – and turning a child’s whimsical drawing into something real. “That’s what I love. These are prototypes. There’s always a bit of unknown. But facing those fears makes you stronger.”
Alongside the channel’s online content, Ruth and the team spend much of the year in classrooms and at live events, bringing hands-on invention to schools – especially those that rarely get access to STEM outreach.
“This year, we’ll have seen almost 20,000 young people face-to-face,” she says. “About half of that’s in South Yorkshire. We work really hard to get into schools that maybe don’t get loads of STEM stuff.”
The region, she says, has been central to the project’s success. “The workshop is here. A lot of the team is here. And there’s so much going on in South Yorkshire when it comes to engineering and technology.”
From the AMRC to Gulliver’s Valley, where Ruth hopes to install a permanent exhibition, she sees South Yorkshire as not just historically great at engineering – but future-facing too.
“People think of Sheffield engineering as the steelworks, but there’s so much more. At the Olympic Legacy Park, you’ve got new NHS facilities, incredible medical tech, UTCs… We partner with organisations based in these places. It’s all happening here.”
And for Ruth, the connection to business is fundamental. “We couldn’t do this without partners. We’ve worked with Octopus Energy, the Intellectual Property Office, Taskmaster Education… a lot of our work is project or challenge-based, funded by businesses or engineering organisations that care about the next generation.”
It’s clear that this isn’t just about fun YouTube builds – although there’s plenty of that. At its core, Ruth’s mission is about changing perceptions, opening doors and addressing the skills gap with joy and inclusivity.
“There’s this idea that engineering’s for people who are cleverer than you. Or that it’s for men. It’s not true. So our job is to show young people how amazing it is. There’s so much creativity, so much variety.”
That positivity extends to how she sees today’s young people – too often, she says, unfairly maligned.
“People say kids can’t communicate anymore; they’re always on their phones. That’s nonsense. Young people today are so switched on, so passionate. Whether it’s climate change, recycling, how we consume things – they care. And they’re capable.”
Despite her own relentless schedule, Ruth does try to switch off. “Love Island, Secret Lives of Mormon Wives… sign me up,” she laughs. “But I am always coming up with ideas. I’ve got a great team and we’re constantly throwing ideas around.”
As for what’s next?
“We’ve got big plans to expand the schools work, and we’re trying to get funding for a permanent exhibition space. Somewhere we can bring school groups in, have those conversations, and reach people who might not expect to see STEM in a theme park.”
From building a business on her parents’ dining table to inspiring tens of thousands of children each year, Ruth’s story is one of making things happen – sometimes literally.
And if you ask her what makes it all worthwhile, the answer is simple.
“We’re getting those emails from young people saying, ‘I’m studying engineering because I watched your channel.’ Or, ‘You built my invention, and now I want to try it myself.’ Knowing you’ve made a difference – that’s what keeps me going.”
To find out more about Ruth’s work, visit:
kidsinventstuff.com
emily@kidsinventstuff.co.uk
YouTube: Kids Invent Stuff
Instagram / TikTok / Twitter: @kidsinventstuff
