Dishwasher under the sink drainer by Cristiano Giuggiol. Good idea! The washing cycle takes only 6 minutes and uses 23 litres of water. www.coroflot.com
The Kitchen Hideaway, Daniel Dobrogorsky, Australia
A virtual reality concept that allows the inhabitants of a communal building to imagine being in a kitchen, preparing a particular meal rather than having to actually do this for themselves. The thoughts of the user are then transmitted to robotic chefs within the building who then prepare the visualised meal in a real kitchen and with real ingredients. In effect, the headset replaces the need for kitchen appliances in individual dwellings, saving space through creative thinking.
The Snail, Peter Alwin, India – Micro Induction Heating
A portable heating and cooking device based on magnetic induction processes. Such is the size and versatility of the Snail, it can be stuck directly on to a pot, a pan, a mug etc. to heat the contents. This reduces the amount of space required for conventional cooking whilst adding portability to the process. Powered by a high density sugar crystal battery, the Snail converts the energy from the sugar, heating up a coil to conduct the magnetic induction process to the utensil. Inbuilt sensors detect the food type being heated so as to automatically adjust the time and temperature. A simple touch sensitive display with interface helps to monitor the process.
GAIA, Ankit Kumar, India – Wall Mounted Air Purification
A self sustaining, wall mounted ‘personal ecosystem’ that creates energy from a living wall of plants providing air circulation, air purification and temperature control abilities. Envisaged as a personal touch of green, the wall units are modular so can be fitted in to homes and apartments of different sizes as required to provide individualised clean air whilst taking a minimum of space.
Bio Robot Refrigerator, Yuriy Dmitriev, Russia
Four times smaller than a conventional refrigerator, the Bio Robot cools biopolymer gel through luminescence. Rather than shelves, the non sticky, odourless gel morphs around products to create a separate pod that suspends items for easy access. Without doors, draws and a motor 90% of the appliance is solely given over to its intended purpose. At the same time, all food, drink and cooled products are readily available, odours are contained, and items are kept individually at their optimal temperature by bio robots. The fridge is adaptable – it can be hung vertically, horizontally, and even on the ceiling. Different sizes and dimensions allow it to perfectly fit the accordant dwelling.
The Electrolux Design Lab theme for 2011 is Intelligent Mobility. Henrik Otto, Head of Global Design at Electrolux, is looking for concepts from indsutrial design students that will inspire, support and guide people both within and beyond the home. Submit your entry before May 1st at www.electroluxdesignlab.com Good Luck!
This will be out by the end of 2011...
A new washing machine that uses just a cup of water, a pinch of detergent, and about 1,000 small recyclable plastic chips to clean clothes is coming to an appliance store near you, by the end of 2011. Cost will be comparable to the average price of a conventional machine. Plus your clothes come out of the wash almost dry!
The Japanese have announced they have successfully extracted methane from a methane hydrate reservoir 30 miles off Japan's east coast and 980 feet beneath the seafloor. They are the first to have achieved this feat.
The Guide ranks 15 leading mobile phone, TV and PC manufacturers on policies and practices to reduce their impact on the climate, produce greener products, and make their operations more sustainable.
We need to go back to nature in order to move forward. The Microbial Home is a proposal for an integrated cyclical ecosystem where each function’s output is another’s input. In this project the home has been viewed as a biological machine to filter, process and recycle what we conventionally think of as waste – sewage, effluent, garbage, waste water.
Greenpower Education Trust is an educational initiative established to offer schools an exciting way to introduce their students to green engineering. The young students design, build and race their own eco-race cars. By getting pupils hooked on engineering while they’re still young the project aims to inspire the next generation to develop solutions.
The Solar Roadways project is working to pave roads with solar panels that you can drive on. Their long range goal is to cover all concrete and asphalt surfaces that are exposed to the sun with Solar Road Panels. They plan to start off small: driveways, bike paths, patios, sidewalks, parking lots, playgrounds, etc. This is where they hope to learn lessons and perfect the system. Once the lessons have been learned and the bugs have all been resolved, they plan to move out onto public roads.
A Geminoid or twin-robot is designed to resemble a living person. It is controlled by an operator who through the use of advanced software can transfer facial movements and speech to the robot. For many years, robot technology has primarily been associated with factories and warehouses, but the days of thinking about robots as just 'tools' are over...
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