Hasta La Ideas

We saw quite a few robots at MWC 2024 last month, but the two brightest stars were dog-like designs that were derived from the nightmare fuel that was Boston Dynamics’ Spot. Nowadays, the term “quadruped robot” would call images of that machine or its more refined descendants, but that’s only by convention and not by definition. This DIY robot, for example, also has four legs, at least for the technical definition of what a “leg” means, except it doesn’t take inspiration from canines or other four-legged animals. Instead, it tries to disguise itself as a fruit that suddenly splits into four and starts moving almost like a crab. A real-world Transformer, but in a small and somewhat cute package.

Designer: Ryota Kobayashi

Most of us probably aren’t unfamiliar with robots in disguise, at least those fictional machines that transform from a mundane shape to something truly more robotic. Of course, those fictional robots try to mimic vehicles or even animals since those things are already mobile by nature. But a spherical fruit that only rolls when the law of inertia takes effect? Really an odd choice for a disguise.

But that’s exactly what the Sherobo quadruped robot does, looking like a very fake plastic lemon in its “inactive” state. The real inspiration isn’t actually the fruit itself but what’s done with it in Japan. A game called “Suikawari” is pretty much the Japanese form of piñata, trying to split the watermelon with a stick while blindfolded. Of course, you won’t be splitting this sphere, let alone hitting it, because it splits on its own when it stretches its legs to walk around.

Sherobo is actually made from many off-the-shelf components for the robot’s mainboard and motors. The frame, body, and legs, however, are all custom 3D printed, of course, and the designs are sadly not available publicly. What’s interesting is that each of the robot’s four legs has three degrees of freedom or 3DoF, giving it a great deal of mobility and flexibility. That said, given its design of the legs located around the body, it walks more like a crab than any other quadruped.

And, of course, it doesn’t have to be a watermelon, either, and it can be any fruit or spherical object you prefer. It’s definitely an interesting experiment on robot design and one that expands the definition of a quadruped robot. It doesn’t hurt that it is perhaps more adorable those those Spot-like dog-inspired robots, that is unless you actually have a phobia of crab-like and spider-like critters.

The post Cute quadruped robot is actually a watermelon in disguise first appeared on Yanko Design.

DeepCharge is a startup focused on cutting-edge wireless charging solutions. To turn their technology into market-ready products, they turned to Boston-based ID consultancy Sprout Studios. “Our work gave their Qi-standard charging technology a form language, unifying a family of initial products to support their investment community engagements,” says Sprout.

Imagine There’s No Wires

DeepCharge believes the user experience for wireless charging should be simple, effective, and effortless. Their frustration with the user experience for nascent offers from other early providers became a catalyst for their work. With their AI-enabled, software-defined, and Qi-standard platform they have defined several advances designed to mainstream the wireless charging experience.

Among other innovations, DeepCharge solutions include ambient links with device batteries (no coil alignment required) and transmutation configurations that convert tabletop surfaces into ambient charging media (no charging pad required). These breakthroughs provide a new degree of freedom for product design teams to envision and embody prospective use cases.

The challenge for DeepCharge was to push past the minimally viable product stage by defining a product family which would demonstrate how the platform could flex to embrace new and emerging consumer, commercial, and industrial applications. Our challenge was to balance the rigor of the technology and its suite of commercial partner development tools with the elegance of imagined solutions.

Technology-enabled Creative Freedom

The DeepCharge platform radically transforms the wireless charging experience. Our initial visual design explorations focused on two proof-of-concept products: a laptop charging pad (for consumer use cases) and a portable drone charging station (for commercial applications). These studies leveraged the freedom that ambient charging fields offered for the design of charging surfaces for multiple devices (on a desktop) and for docking drone charging feet (on standard UAV configurations).

In a second push, the Sprout design team worked with DeepCharge to embody the technology in a configuration that responded to investor interest in the development of scalable, commercial solutions. These studies embodied two other DeepCharge innovations: “transmutation” (the conversion of tabletop surfaces – like counters or desks – into wireless power stations) and “energy hopping” (the capacity for a single master charging hub to wirelessly supply satellite charging stations).

Our charter was to define a design language that would feel appropriate for both home and work environments and that offered a first expression for the ‘personality’ of a DeepCharge experience through iconic forms and signature design details.

Laptop Pad: Elegant Battery-driven Living

The DeepCharge wireless charging laptop pad provides a high-speed charging surface for all the devices that now require their own power supply: laptop, phone, earbuds, etc. A place for everything and everything in its place. Ideal for a personal workstation, the pad can also act as a charging hub for all the home (or office) devices that now fight for their own outlet.

Highlights

High-capacity, high-efficiency Qi-compatible charging pad

• Antimicrobial frantic top

• Underside venting for added cooling

• Large non-slip footpad

• Illuminated light ring to indicate changing mode

• 5° tilt for a better user experience

Drone Dock: Goes Where Work Gets Done

The DeepCharge wireless drone charging dock combines the coil-sensing and surface transmutation features in a versatile, on-demand charging system. The ambient charging surface provides an added degree of freedom for landing location. Lightweight feet are optimized for high-speed charging. And the portable form factor is ideal for agricultural, real estate, and tactical first responder applications.

Highlights

High-capacity, high-efficiency Qi-compatible charging dock.

• Foldable design for added portability

• Integrated handle for ease of carry

• Oversized QR code for drone alignment when landing

• Shock absorbing charging feet

• Expansive ambient landing zone

Transmuter: One Charger to Rule them All

The DeepCharge wireless under-surface charging system combines the DeepCharge “transmutation” and “energy hopping” technologies in one solution. With a single master charging hub and an array of satellite charging stations, this configuration can transmute an entire desk, table, or counter surface for charge transfers. Its use cases span retail, commercial, and industrial settings.

Highlights

High-capacity, high-efficiency Qi-compatible large surface wireless charging

• Low profile design

• AirFuel-compatible energy-hopping hubs

• Coil-contact free, fast-charging design

• Calable hub/satellite system

• Command strip or screw mounted attachment system

The Outcome: Charging Forward

The DeepCharge platform is streamlining the development process for wireless charging applications across industries. It is increasingly well-positioned to advance discussions with diverse development partners. Along with other early-stage investors, Sprout Ventures is committed to the vision of the DeepCharge team. We believe as they do that their platform can empower developers to deliver on the promise of wireless charging for consumer and commercial solutions.

You can see more of Sprout Studios’ work here.

Promotion: architect David Chipperfield has delivered a critique of his profession as part of a panel discussion at the Design Doha Forum that is now available to stream on Dezeen.

Chipperfield spoke alongside Design Museum London director Tim Marlow and Qatari architect Ibrahim Jaidah on a Design Doha Forum (DDF) panel titled “Agent of change: how design shapes society and culture”.

Moderated by DDF editorial director Jelena Trkulja, the panel looked at ways that design and architecture were having both a positive and negative impact on lifestyles, culture and the environment.

Chipperfield expressed a sense of anxiety about the idea of technical progress and its consequences today, especially in regards to social changes and the environmental crisis.

“I think we’ve changed our idea of what progress is itself. For the first time in my life, I would say there’s a certain loss of confidence in the absolute notion of progress,” he said.

He added that cultural heritage, identity and the problems of globalism were all “expressions of anxiety”, which could be traced back to consumerism and its effects on resources and the climate.

Chipperfield said that although the most critical decisions about the built environment were made further up the “food chain”, before the involvement of architects, they nevertheless had been part of a process that has changed cities for the worse.

“I would say as architects, we have been part of, in the last 30 or 40 years, a process which has not necessarily improved our cities, has made our cities more expensive to the point at which most people can no longer afford to live in them,” he said.

“We’ve done a sort of social cleansing on cities like London, Paris, Zurich. Everybody has to live on the outside. We’ve been part of that.”

The British architect also critiqued the involvement of his profession in globalisation, saying it had made all cities look the same and resulted in “the moving of materials from one side of the planet to the other for no real reason”.

But he said that like many contemporary architects and designers, he had now reorientated his practice to try to fix some of these mistakes.

The architect spoke of a project he had completed through his research agency Fundación RIA where, after five years of community consultation, they had built a new public seating area on a former car park on the waterfront of Spanish town Portos de Galicia.

“In the maturing years of my professional career, I get enormous satisfaction of having a village as my client, a community as my client, and trying to find physical resolution and capturing common concerns and concerns that might improve quality of life,” Chipperfield said.

Marlow agreed with Chipperfield, adding that educating the public and trying to shift taste was critical in enabling these kinds of projects and that the same was true for industrial design.

“If we want to find ways of reusing plastic, we have to move away from the obsession with perfect monochrome material and actually have something that looks like the Play-Doh that we all had as children, when it all got amalgamated in the same box,” he said.

Jaidah, whose past work includes the Al Thumama Stadium in Doha and some of Qatar’s most iconic buildings, spoke of how he had seen tastes change in Qatar in his own lifetime.

“I have witnessed this in my 30-plus years of career,” he said. “At the beginning, identity was literal: we had to continue doing what we had done. Because our history came to a halt when the oil came, that vernacular disappeared.”

“It didn’t evolve like other nations in the world – you got the Gothic and then you had the Renaissance and then the Bauhaus,” he continued. “No, here a halt came, and then international style came, then all these boxes.”

He said that since 2000, international designers and architects had “helped us redefine what our identity or our culture is” and that adaptive reuse had become more common and considered.

“Your culture is beyond the skin of a building,” said Jaidah. “It’s your environment, it’s your surroundings.”

“I think the younger generations, the next generation, are going to be lucky because they’re going to build on what they have seen. My generation had to start from almost scratch to get reinspired.”

Chipperfield ended with a note that there were lessons to be learned from Qatar’s approach to urban planning, referencing the Msheireb cultural district, the “unique” area around the M7 cultural centre where the event took place.

“We’ve eroded our planning systems,” said Chipperfield. “The government here [in Doha] decided to impose an idea of making a piece of city. In most cities – I mean outside of Switzerland, let’s say – there isn’t a planning authority, because we have bought into the idea of the free market.”

“When you look at the commercial district, it’s a very pure expression of market forces, as is now London,” he continued. “That’s what the market does if you leave it alone, and I think that’s the issue that we have to think about.”

The panel talk took place on 26 February as part of the forum at Design Doha, a biennial event that was held for the first time this year. For more information on the event, visit the Design Doha website.

Partnership content

This article was written by Dezeen for Design Doha as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

The post Architects part of historic “social cleansing” of cities, says David Chipperfield at Design Doha  appeared first on Dezeen.

The Clipa Purse Hook is a simple, hinged metal ring with non-slip pads on the pincer-like tips.

It provides a convenient way to hang bags from flat surfaces, chairs, railings, crevices, etc.

While it can live inside a purse, it’s designed to be visually unobtrusive so that it can be hung from a purse’s O- or D-rings; it comes in multiple finishes, so as to match your purse’s fixtures. It can even be worn as a bracelet.

It will hold up to 33 lbs.

These run $18 a pop, regardless of finish.

Everywhere you look whether on Instagram, YouTube or Facebook, people are jet-setting about freely. My travel bucket is currently brimming with places I need to visit. But as any experienced traveler will definitely tell you, before you set off on your next adventure, you need to put together a collection of handy, reliable, and well-designed travel accessories. Great travel accessories are essential, they have your back in the most sudden and spontaneous of situations, providing you with aid and relief when you least expect it. And, we’ve put together a bunch of innovative and functional travel-friendly products that you need to pack in your suitcase for your next trip! From a sushi-themed suitcase to a wireless speaker/power bank– these products are the must-haves you need for your next holiday.

1. Audio 1

Braun is known for its functional, durable, and timeless products that never seem to fall short. And this wireless speaker power bank concept called the Audio 1, takes inspiration from Braun’s evergreen legacy, borrowing the brand’s principles and presenting them in a beautiful fusion of modern technology and retro design.

Why is it noteworthy?

The Audio 1 has two sides – one dedicated to the speaker functionality, and the other one for the integrated power bank and controls. This elevates the user’s experience, while also signifying Braun’s design theme of limiting clutter, and creating a clean, neat, and organized appearance.

What we like

• Ensures a hassle-free experience and eliminates the need for multiple cables

What we dislike

• No LCD display to show critical battery information

2. Nothing Power Bank

Called the Nothing power bank, this little gadget is the perfect companion for your travel adventures. It has transparent aesthetics that beautifully showcase the innards’ glory and beauty. The interior elements are illuminated by small warm-toned LEDS, which give the little accessory a Cyberpunkish look inside and out.

Why is it noteworthy?

This power bank is a perfect match for Nothing as it is quite functional, and has a no-frills nature. Although there are many options in the market, this transparent power bank would be an excellent addition to Nothing’s ever-growing ecosystem of product lines.

What we like

• The power bank complements the Nothing Phone (2)
• Features sleek transparent aesthetics

What we dislike

• It’s a concept, so we’re not sure how well it would translate into a tangible product

3. DOTS

Named DOTS, this portable coffee machine is a perfect fit for an automated vehicle, but it can be utilized for other on-the-go scenarios as well. The DOTS can be used for those long and tiring car journeys, where you need to get somewhere fast, but cannot stop for a quick coffee break.

Why is it noteworthy?

The coffee machine has a removable button, so you can adapt it however you want, depending on your need for it. It uses coffee capsules instead of the usual brewing method, making the coffee machine easier to use.

What we like

• Features a control or lever that lets you adjust the intensity of the extraction method

What we dislike

• It has a lid to place a straw on it, but sipping hot coffee with a straw seems weird and uncomfortable

4. Aroma Fragrance Pin

When you’re traveling around, you’re bound to get hot and sweaty, and if you want to maintain a lovely aroma around you at all times, then you may want to get your hands on the Aroma Fragrance pin. This tiny pin is a little holder that can hold cotton dabbed with your essential oil of choice. This allows a strong yet subtle fragrance to envelope you throughout the day.

Click Here to Buy Now: $49

Why is it noteworthy?

The Aroma Fragrance pin forms an individual fragrance bubble for you, which follows you around everywhere. You can top it up, once the smell begins to fade away, and is an excellent option for those with sensitive noses who may get affected by the aerosol particles in typical perfumes.

What we like

• The pin looks like a fashionable button-style accessory and has color options to choose from

What we dislike

• The aroma will last depending on the quality of the aromatic oil, so you will need to partake in some trial and error till you find a long-lasting fit

5. Monos Luggage

Monos’ luggage collection is designed to be whimsical, fun, and yet super functional. They have a diverse and fun range of suitcases including the Monos x Magnolia Bakery collaboration with the iconic NYC-based Magnolia Bakery. They also have a sophisticated Terrazzo which is a limited edition and involves a hard shell luggage option that looks very much like Terrazzo.

Why is it noteworthy?

The carry-on and check-in bags have aerospace-grade, water-resistant polycarbonate hard shells that feature 360° spinner wheels. The inside of every case is lined with an anti-microbial lining made from 100% recycled polyester, which is further adorned with ultra-microfiber vegan leather detailing.

What we like

• Equipped with TSA-approved combination locks, dual Y-shaped compression straps, and dividers, accentuated with YKK reverse coil zippers, and a flexible telescopic handle

What we dislike

• A bit on the pricey side

6. AirPods/AirPods Pro Neck Strap

This AirPods/AirPods Pro Neck Strap is great for listening to tunes on your next journey. It features a woven necklace that is designed for globetrotters who own AirPods. You can forget about the days you spend rummaging through your backpack or the panic of misplacing an earbud in busy airports.

Click Here to Buy Now: $39.

Why is it noteworthy?

The chic and functional accessory keeps your AirPods safely around your neck at all times, perfectly merging fashion with practicality. It has a patented One-Click Magnetic Lock that keeps your earbuds secure and safe, whether you’re boarding a flight, or roaming around a new city.

What we like

• Eliminates the chance of losing your AirPods
• Keeps your AirPods within reach and easily accessible

What we dislike

• It could expose your AirPods to damage, dirt, and the weather elements

7. Sushi Suitcases

These adorable suitcases are inspired by sushi! They were created keeping in mind the dual tones of nigiri, with an element of ‘white rice’ topped up by a colorful ingrediant. Merging luggage with sushi doesn’t seem so odd, when you imagine these containers on airport conveyor belts and how similar they look to sushi on food conveyor belts in Japan!

Why is it noteworthy?

The luggage come in three popular types of sushi – yellow egg “tamago” design, brown eel “unagi”, and orange salmon “sake”, giving you the choice between three adorable, functional and whimsical suitcase designs.

What we like

• Features a strap with an area for writing your information

What we dislike

• Isnt a groundbreaking new design, and is more focused on aesthetics than functionality

8. G5 Clothes Steamer

Designed by Nesugar, the G5 clothes steamer is much like the G2 and G3. It packs the reliable and durable functions of the predecessors, while also merging new functions that are functional and innovative. It is ultra portable, and the perfect companion for your travel adventures.

Why is it noteworthy?

The clothes steamer doesn’t need any water addition for a week or so, and doesn’t compromise the daily ironing needs. This is because it has larger panels, and three-layer heating bodies which support an efficient vaporization and better steam volume.

What we like

• Equipped with a new feature to prevent high-temperature water splashes

What we dislike

• It’s a concept, so we don’t know how well it will translate into a tangible product

9. Carry On Shampoo

The Carry On is a ingenious yet super simple solution that lets you carry a dedicated travel mini-bottle, and it comes along with your existing at-home shampoo bottle! It has a compact design that comes conveniently packaged with your regular bottle of shampoo. You can carry the mini bottle with you on your travels, and refill it when you’re running low!

Why is it noteworthy?

The Carry On is an economy-sized 1 liter, and it comes with its own handle built into the bottle’s design. But when you buy it off the shelf, the handle has a carry bottle that perfectly fits into it like a jigsaw puzzle. The smaller one is 50ml, and can get you through a week-long holiday.

What we like

• Lets you use your favorite shampoo, instead of the substandard ones you get in hotel

What we dislike

• The carry on bottle is quite small, so there is a chance of easily losing or misplacing it

10. Taco Device

This little taco device is inspired by the metaphor or pun “Let’s taco ’bout it”, and slowly evolved into something that is inspired by the shape of a taco, and is designed to help you connect with people from different countries and regions. It looks like a taco and can be used by both the speaker and listener!

Why is it noteworthy?

Looking like a little taco, the device can be utilized by both the speaker and listener. It is like those two-way cup devices you may have used when you were younger, but this time it is equipped with digital technology!

What we like

• Makes communicating more fun and functional

What we dislike

• The shape is good for holding and gripping, but not great at catching sound correctly

The post 10 Best Travel Accessories & Gadgets For Your 2024 Vacation Plans first appeared on Yanko Design.