Flaming hair, and a knot on the back of the head would have been enough to discourage most boys, but it only lit the fire under Robert's passion for inventing. Robert's first invention was a rocket plane. At the age of six, he borrowed one of his brother's bottle rockets, and glued it to the side of a toy balsa glider. The rocket plane functioned flawlessly, making a high speed loop, and hitting young Robert in the back of the head. Robert not only learned some painful facts about aeronautics that day, but also, the fine art of extinguishing a fire in one's hair Having narrowly survived his deep diving experiment, and his electric worm extraction device, young Robert continued testing fate, by obtaining a private pilot's license, inventing a lightening powered x-ray machine, and a motorized wheelbarrow. Later, a sail powered bicycle, and his perilous first attempt at hitch-hiking nearly ended his innovative ambitions.