Reflecting on Half a Year of Design and Innovation News- Let's Catch Up #26
Silbo Robot Provides Connection, Hydrao utilises SMART Tech to reduce water consumption, solving poverty and pollution with plastic as money, water saving shaving innovation, compostable coffee pucks
I started this substack newsletter as I consume a lot of information, it can be my inspiration but also it can be a distraction!
So I decided to not change my information consuming behaviour… But turn it into something a little more productive!
Let’s Catch Up was also inspired by a desire to connect with a values aligned community and industry as well as my old Monday morning work in progress meetings (WIPs). Where our teams would come together and catch up about their weekends, what’s going on in the world and discuss the work for the upcoming week.
I hope I have brought some Monday connectivity, inspiration, interesting articles and value to all my supporters.
I have enjoyed the conversations with businesses and readers that have reached out, they have made it all worth it.
Half a year in reflection warrants a special edition with one headline article on the theme of connection. The rest of this week's newsletter will highlight a few of my favourite innovation and design news from the last six months.
Silbo Robot Provides Connection and Support for Seniors
TECHNOLOGY
Credit Hongik University
Sibo is a joyful robot created to assist seniors once leaving the workforce as many people can feel isolated, valueless and no longer part of society. Offering more than just assistance by learning emotional cues from the user to become a companion that can engage and interact based on the emotional needs of the user. The design is approachable, with soft contours and edges to promote integration into daily activities and routines. The integration of textiles into the head really improves the warmth and comfort of this particular robot, partnered with the mechanical yet almost childlike hands this design is unintrusive. I always promote technology that improves wellbeing, especially for aging populations that can often be forgotten.
Read more
My Top Highlights Over 6 Months
70% Recycled, Increased User Repairability, Fairphone 5 Shows us the Way (#1)
PRODUCT DESIGN/SUSTAINABILITY
Image: Fairphone
Mobile phones have empowered many groups to access internet and connectivity, discussion and discourse. Over time they have become an unsustainable product through consumption habits, fast fashin and sheer wastage of raw materials, energy and logistics expenditure just to get into our hands. Fairphone is shaking that up making a phone from 70% recyled materials and fair mined sources. Enabling users to make their own repairs easily is another benefit. In the future I hope to see easy upgrades and customisation due to the easy accessibility and changing of componantry rather than buying a complete new phone.
Read more
Source: Design Week
Hydrao Utilises SMART Tech to Reduce Average Shower Consumption (#12)
PRODUCT DESIGN/SUSTAINABILITY
A wonderful product from Hydrao that reduces consumers' water consumption via monitoring, notification and SMART technology. This great product offers a user friendly way to reduce impact of our water usage. Offering multiple heads to retrofit to existing bathroom hardware the Hydrao system monitors you usage via an app as well as using embedded LED’s that change colour to indicate levels of water usage live. As well as providing a notification system to the user, the most innovative part of this wonderful design is that it utilises the water pressure to power the unit via an internal water turbine!
Full Article Here
Solving Poverty and Pollution, Plastic as Money (#15)
SUSTAINABILITY
Credit Plastic Bank
I love novel ways to combat the immense problem of plastic waste. Flipping the narrative by using plastic waste to end poverty, PlasticBank has taken the first step in a green future providing meaningful jobs. Enabling people to collect plastic and cash it in is a great idea that cultivates cleaning incentives in areas where waste capture systems are not present or are ineffective. I think whether this works out for Plastic bank or not, it’s a good example of how we can create future based roles in a transition away from fossil fuels, there will be so many jobs beyond waste collection due to the destructive effect of fossil fuel industries.
Plastic Bank Website
VW Partner With Melbourne University on Roobadge (#15)
PRODUCT DESIGN
Credit Voltswagen Australia
The aim is to reduce car accidents involving kangaroos vai a smart ‘badge’. The badge utilises GPS location data to output alert sounds that are known to the local kangaroos such as predator calls. This partnership between VW and Melbourne University is a great example of technology that benefits both the safety of the car occupants as well as native wildlife. Historically, a lot of development and thought went into protecting people, not so much for our furry friends. This badge brings incredible ability to leverage natural threat noises to drive kangaroos away. As mentioned in the video it's reassuring to see VW open to the application in different countries… Let’s see if they will allow competitors to leverage this technology.
Innovative Shaving With Less Mess, Water and Clogged Razors
PRODUCT DESIGN
Credit The Clean Shave, Yanko Design
Sometimes you think an everyday routine has to just be accepted and cannot be improved, it’s just the way it's been. Razor Rinser by The Clean Shave Co is alleviating a common set of problems when it comes to shaving for men. The biggest issue can be the volume of water used when shaving. Several times per week, multiplied by millions of men globally you can start to see the amazing impact this product can have. Then add the other issues it solves from blocked razors to messy sinks. The Razor Rinser is such a simple solution, utilizing the downward pressure exerted to flush water through the blades is elegant.
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Compostable Coffee Pucks Are the Death Knell For Pods
BEVERAGE
Credit Keurig
It’s wonderful to see innovations in sustainability. Especially for coffee pods, with 2.25 billion cups of coffee being consumed per day. That’s a lot of coffee! Now I incentivise coffee drinking in this newsletter so I am so thrilled to showcase the Keurig coffee pucks that aim to replace plastic pod counterparts. The pucks are used similarly to pods in the loading of a machine to extract coffee, but then they can be disposed of in your local waste green bin rather than creating large amounts of waste plastic. The only addition to this is I wish they wouldn’t require a new machine, retrofitting this solution for existing pod machines is the right thing to do to reduce waste and throwaway of the other machines.
Read More Here
Feast For The Eyes
