Hasta La Ideas

There’s something fascinating about watching a robot dog in action. Maybe it’s the uncanny lifelike movement, or perhaps it’s the realization that we’re inching closer to a future once reserved for sci-fi novels. I remember the first time I saw Boston Dynamics’ Spot bounding across a demo stage—it was all sleek power, like a show-dog bred in a lab. Now, with the Petoi Bittle X, you get a bite-sized version of that vision. But this one fits on your desk, doesn’t cost as much as a car, and—here’s the kicker—you can build and program it yourself.

We’ve been fans of Bittle X for years, but what we love about our prized little robot dog is that it shatters the myth that you can’t teach old dogs new tricks. Bittle X is always ready to learn, unlearn, and relearn new tricks, and will eventually inherit its own personality from you – the hacking master. How your Bittle X grows and evolves depends entirely on what tricks you teach it… and the best part is that you learn valuable STEM skills in the process too, as you help code actions and commands into your robot dog, now even with AI and IoT capabilities! In fact, Petoi’s been organizing online robotics competitions around the world to see how people hack/upgrade their robot pets using modules, custom parts, and a fair bit of AI and code.

Designer: Rongzhong Li

Click Here to Buy Now: $226.99 $279 ($52 off, use coupon code “10yanko” to get extra $10 off). Hurry, deal ends in 48-hours!

Bittle X is small enough to stand squarely on your palm, with a plastic chassis that’s sturdy enough for tumbles yet light enough for its bionic legs to handle. The legs, by the way, are where the magic happens. Unlike wheels, which might be easier to design and program, the legs give this robot a natural gait. Watching it trot, turn, and even pop into a backflip or a frontflip, you can’t help but smile—it’s as though someone shrunk Spot and sprinkled in a little whimsy. There are even damper springs in the legs’ slim enclosure to soften shocks to its precise gear system.

Easy to Develop AI, IoT and Robotics Applications for Quadruped Robot Dog

But this isn’t just a show pony—or, well, show dog. Bittle X is powered by Petoi’s BiBoard, an ESP32 microcontroller with enough ‘horsepower’ to support serious experimentation. Whether you’re programming it in C++ or Python or tinkering with its Scratch-like block-based coding interface, the robot is more than happy to follow your lead. I’ve seen plenty of “learn to code” gadgets, but few balance this level of flexibility with accessibility. Kids can start simple, chaining basic movements together, while more advanced users can dive into voice commands and sensor integration. For serious tinkering, Petoi offers ‘OpenCat’, their open-source robotic framework to endlessly customize your robot pet, or even build new pets on the same framework.

While most Boston Dynamics presentations involve a man behind the curtains with a massive remote controller, Bittle X goes a step ahead to let you intuitively talk to your dog through voice commands. Preloaded with over 35 tricks, it’ll respond to your orders with surprisingly fluid moves. Tell it to play dead, handstand, or execute that flashy backflip, and it’ll comply like a well-trained pooch—albeit one that runs on battery power. What really makes this feature shine is the option to program custom commands. Imagine having your robotic buddy perform a choreographed sequence to your favorite tune. TikTok would go nuts! If you’re a traditionalist, Bittle X does come with its own remote control and mobile app for an easier UX.

Bittle X is a tad bit more powerful than its sibling, the original Bittle. Its upgraded BiBoard gives it much more potential, including the ability to integrate AI into the dog. One such tinkerer, a data scientist by the name of Ömer Çolakoğlu, integrated ChatGPT’s API right into Bittle X, allowing him to have much more natural language conversations with his pet dog rather than rely purely on fixed voice commands. This AI-enhanced Bittle X could understand different languages, broadening its appeal and allowing people around the world to talk to their robot pets in the language they’re most comfortable with. Dogs, after all, don’t come with language barriers, do they?

For those who prefer to tinker under the hood, assembling Bittle X is half the fun. Available as a DIY kit, it invites you to piece together its limbs, circuits, and sensors like a tech-savvy Dr. Frankenstein. There’s something deeply satisfying about building your own robot, especially when it’s followed by the thrill of watching it take its first (albeit programmed) steps. It’s an educational goldmine, too. Kids and adults alike get a hands-on lesson in electronics, mechanics, programming, and robotics.

If you’re itching to level up, Bittle X is more than happy to oblige. Petoi offers optional add-ons, including a camera module that lets the robot “see” its environment and a sensor pack for detecting light, touch, gestures, and movement. With these upgrades, you can teach it to navigate obstacles or follow hand gestures. Suddenly, your desk-sized dog is doing things that wouldn’t look out of place in a research lab. In fact, universities like Harvard, MIT, and CMU have even used these toy-like quadruped bots in their own research papers.

Petoi also actively cultivates a vibrant community through engaging competitions. Take their Spring 2024 Robotics Challenge, for instance, where enthusiasts showcased their Bittle creations in imaginative scenarios. One standout was Martin Kuba, whose Bittle interacted with household robots, culminating in a delightful twist. Another, Reid Graves from Carnegie Mellon University, programmed his Bittle to autonomously detect and collect acorns – a fairly menial task for something that could become our robot overlord one day?? You decide! Even kids as young as 10 years old participated in creating new dance moves for Bittle X and programmed it to sing birthday songs.

Practicality, as always, comes with trade-offs. Bittle X runs on a rechargeable battery, offering about an hour of continuous walking. While that might not sound like much, real dogs don’t keep walking. It’s more than enough for an afternoon of experimentation or a few rounds of impressing your friends. Charging is easy, too—just plug it into a USB port, and you’re back in business… or build a solar panel onto the back of your dog, there’s an idea for you!

At $236.99 during the holiday sale, Bittle X is an accessible entry point into robotics, coding, and AI. Think of it as man’s best friend—if your best friend could do backflips and teach you to code. Whether you’re raising a future robotics genius or just want a four-legged gadget that doesn’t need feeding, Bittle X delivers. It may not be big enough to fetch your slippers, but it’ll definitely fetch some envy from your friends.

Click Here to Buy Now: $226.99 $279 ($52 off, use coupon code “10yanko” to get extra $10 off). Hurry, deal ends in 48-hours!

The post This $236 Robot Dog Obeys Voice Commands, Does Backflips, and even supports ChatGPT Integration first appeared on Yanko Design.

Saudi Arabia decided to upgrade and improve their transportation network. And they’ve designed a massive new driverless metro system which will be the longest in the world. The Riyadh Metro will begin on December 1 and will include the opening of three lines. Another line will open in January, and two more after that. It will occupy a total length of 109 miles, and it will connect main districts, business centers, and cultural landmarks throughout the capital city.

Designer: Zaha Hadid Architects

The metro will be able to hold 3.6 million daily passengers once fully completed. It will reduce road traffic quite a bit throughout the city and also reduce CO2 emissions by 12.5 million tons annually. The network will include 85 metro systems, the most renowned one is Zaha Hadid Architects’ King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) Metro Station. The station is blessed with a thoughtfully designed and carefully calculated layout that will be easy for passengers to navigate. The exterior is equipped with an attractive latticed curving form that will take the brunt of the harsh summer heat.

69 Alstom Metropolis trains and 47 Innovia Metro trains will be employed. All the trains are electric. They will be classified into three classes – first class, family class, and singles class. They will also include ergonomic seating. The trains will also be equipped with LED lighting, air-conditioning, and a passenger information system. They are automated and have been used in Budapest, Sydney, and Taipei in the driverless transit systems.

“The trains are driverless,” said Alstom. “The train movements are protected by a state-of-the-art signaling system controlling the speed of the trains, ensuring smooth and safe operations including automatic opening of the train doors. The fully air-conditioned stations are equipped with platform screen doors also preventing people to access the track. The trains are also equipped with an advanced passenger information system delivering real-time information to the passengers through screens and loudspeakers on board the train and on the station platforms.”

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In the ideal world scenario, we are still awaiting a hybrid camper that allows us to drive it for everyday chores and also take it for an escape into the countryside without worrying about returning before the heart is contented with nature and tranquillity. Scottish conversion specialist Campervan Co. has conjured up something along the lines of the delightful conversion of the Toyota Estima Hybrid.

The ride called the Eco Escape is a hybrid camper van that’s apt for everyday city usage, is compliant with Euro emissions standards, affordable to own, and eventually a home away from home. The converter has given the hybrid family car a living space that is modular enough to accommodate some gear, has a pop-up roof to increase sleeping space, is outfitted with a necessary kitchen, and has a battery backup for living uninterrupted for a long time. All this while inherently being an all-wheel drive, five-seat van for city driving and daily commuting.

Designer: Campervan Co

The five-seat Eco Escape camper van has been designed to sleep four people in its customized interior where the cockpit seats swivel and the three-seat bench on the back is completely adjustable to become a full-width bed or a cozy dining area. It is designed to be a full camper yet without the need for the user to rearrange much or remove anything from the Estima to take it on city roads to drive to work, take children to school, or go shopping with family.

In the base model, the Eco Escape sleeps two on the main floor, while the company gives you the option to customize it with an add-on pop-up sleeper roof. This is TentBox Lite XL roof tent comprising a double mattress, you can access using a telescopic ladder. It can also be customized with a handful of other add-ons including a portable toilet, solar panels, bike racks, and more.

Besides the optional fittings, the camper van comes ready with a rare kitchen pod complete with a small sink with a folding faucet, induction cooktop, compressor fridge box, a few storage compartments and an integrated water tank. Campervan Co is currently retailing the base model of the Eco Escape built on a 2006 model of the Toyota Estima Hybrid for as little as £19,995.

The post Toyota Hybrid Eco Escape camper van is a daily driver prepared to take you to the countryside for days together first appeared on Yanko Design.

There are a few iconic Seiko watches that can make heads turn. The H-Timetron from the late 90s being one of them. No wonder then, the timeless classic – designed back in the day with consideration of affinity and a sense of technology – is a motivation for a designer to interpret the watch in 3D. The contemporary interpretation of the Seiko H-Timetron digital watch is as close as it can be in representation, functionality, digital display, and style.

The idea of the H-Timeteon kicked off two decades back with the vision to develop a new brand of watch targeting young people. Going through the renders, chief designer Hiramatsu was impressed by a dot-matrix caliber that reminded him of an old PC from his childhood. Immediately, the dial and the complete structure of the Timetron with dot matrix display were born and developed by Seiko.

Designer: Artem Rudenko

Undoubtedly, groundbreaking tech for the time, the matrix display was the main highlight of the watch, which was well complemented by its accompanying polyurethane strap. The modern take on the watch carries that look and feel with clean lines, vibrant color palate, and a minimalist composition.

The idea of visualizing the H-Timetron in 3D is more than just recreating the watch. The project intends to reintroduce the timeless Seiko H-Timetron classic watch to the Gen-Z. The 3D design preserves the retro charm of the display and the aesthetics. The letter “h” in “h-timetron” is said to stand for happy. And this representation of the iconic watch would really make many in the modern audience happy to own one.

The minimalistic recreation displays the concise digital dial with green matrix typography. The time, date, and other functions displayed on the liquid crystal dial rest within a case with rounded corners and are reminiscent of the PC in the 80s, which essentially gives the watch its distinctive personality. The watch comes in a vibrant teal finish from dial to strap with a contrasting center pusher. On pushing the orange button, the watch changes the size of the characters displayed, while the other two – on either side of it – can help change modes and different settings on the watch, which may include alarm, reminder, stopwatch, and even health tracking, maybe!

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Photos taken by Dezeen show the Jaguar electric concept car Type 00, unveiled during the Copy Nothing Reveal event at Miami art week.

Unveiled yesterday to mixed review, the car is on show in two colours – Miami Pink and London Blue.

Captured by Dezeen co-CEO Wai Shin Li, the photos show the car as it was presented to an audience in Miami.

The car, which Jaguar says will embody its new creative philosophy of “exuberant modernism”, has a boxy and angular front and a sweeping fastback rear.

At the Miami art week event, the car’s butterfly doors were opened to showcase the interior of the Type 00, which features brass, travertine stone and wool-blend woven textiles from Danish brand Kvadrat.

It also features hidden technologies including a live display replacing the rearview mirror, screens that glide across the dashboard and powered stowage areas that slide open on demand.

The car has faced mixed reception, with British journalist Alexander Larman calling the concept cars “ugly, clunky behemoths”.

However, many of those who saw the Type 00 in person in Miami were more positive, with Forbs’s James Morris calling it “stunning”.

“The car actually unveiled in Miami has slightly smoother lines, and the side profile is gobsmacking,” he said.

Dezeen readers were divided on the car’s design, with commenter Clean D saying: “There will be buyers lining up purely because of the Instagram appeal to passers-by on the street”.

Eric Schneider, meanwhile, said: “This is just awful. The design looks like someone asked AI to illustrate the Chrysler 300 of the future. No surface development, horrible proportions and all of the current EV design cliches. As bad as the Cybertruck.”

The concept car follows the reveal of Jaguar’s updated logo in November, which forms part of the company’s rebrand to mark its move into electric-only cars.

German car brand Audi also recently unveiled an updated logo, switching its four-ring logo for an all-caps AUDI wordmark for its new Chinese EV brand.

The photography is by Wai Shin Li.

Miami art week takes place from 2 to 8 December in Miami, US. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

The post Exclusive photos reveal Jaguar Type 00 concept car at Miami art week appeared first on Dezeen.