This Self-Driving Hospital Chair Wants to Retire Hollywood’s Dramatic Gurney Sprint

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You know the shot. Double doors bang open, a gurney comes flying down the hallway, and five people in scrubs jog alongside it yelling numbers at each other. Someone’s holding an IV bag over their head like a trophy. Someone else shouts “We’re losing him!” and the camera shakes for extra drama. Every medical show from ER to Grey’s Anatomy has filmed some version of this scene, probably a dozen times a season. It’s great television. It’s also a lot of very expensive people pushing one bed.

Seoul-based studio BDCI looked at that scene and apparently thought, what if the bed just drove itself? Their Autonomous Clinical Mobility concept, a 2026 Red Dot Design Concept winner, is a self-navigating hospital chair that ferries patients between diagnostic rooms, then reclines flat into a bed so you can get scanned, poked and checked without climbing off. It’s built for routine outpatient visits, so nobody’s yelling “Stat!” here. The idea still holds, though. The staff stay put, and the patient comes to them.

Designer: BDCI (Team Leads: Lee Seomin, Lee Gwongak)

Visually, this thing lives a world away from the squeaky beige gurney you’re picturing right now. The base is a soft, rounded pod in warm greige with tiny LED dots and a glowing arch on its flank, a bit like a friendly robot vacuum that started going to the gym. On top sits a seat built from curved shell panels, with little wings that hug your hips like flower petals. Everything is wrapped in a textured burnt orange fabric that feels closer to a boutique hotel lounge than a hospital ward. BDCI says the textile is antibacterial and the cushions are modular, so they can be swapped and cleaned between patients.

The cleverest trick happens when it’s exam time. The backrest drops, the legrest rises, and those hip petals fan outward until the whole chair lies completely flat, looking a lot like a tiny airplane seen head-on. That means no awkward shuffle from wheelchair to exam table, which anyone who has helped an elderly parent through a clinic visit knows is the hardest part of the day. Panasonic tackled a similar headache years ago with Resyone, a care bed that splits in half to become a reclining wheelchair, and it became the first product to earn the ISO 13482 safety certification for personal care robots. BDCI takes that same thinking and puts it on wheels that steer themselves.

Steering is where the AI comes in. The concept plugs into the hospital’s clinical workflow, figures out which tests you need, and plots a route that keeps you out of the longest queues. An orange articulated arm holds a tablet showing your next stop, a live floor map, a progress bar for your entire visit, and a big red SOS button for when you’d like a human, please. Self-driving wheelchairs already roam a few real buildings, too. WHILL brought its autonomous chairs to Keio University Hospital in Tokyo back in 2020 to help patients who found walking a giant hospital difficult or stressful.

Okay, the elephant in the hallway. Patients in matching gowns, reclining on rolling loungers with screens at face level, gliding along glowing lanes… BDCI’s renders look an awful lot like the Axiom from WALL-E. Pixar meant that as a warning about humans who stopped moving, though a sick person in a hospital gown has fairly earned the right to be chauffeured. There are practical wrinkles to sort out, like the fact that a battery-packed robot can’t roll into an MRI scanner room, and that hospitals usually favor wipeable surfaces over fabric. Still, given the choice, I’d take a calm orange chair over a sprinting crowd of extras any day.

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This Japanese hoodie gives your cat a cozy pocket so you can game or work hands-free

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Anyone who owns a cat knows that a laptop, gaming chair, or even an empty lap can quickly become their pet’s favourite place to settle. And when a cat decides it’s time for cuddles, getting back to work or finishing a game can be easier said than done. Japanese brand BIBILAB has found a rather ingenious way to accommodate this feline habit with the Meowgaroo Hoodie 3, a wearable cat bed that lets owners keep their furry companions close without sacrificing the use of their hands.

The standout feature of the unique clothing is a large, box-shaped pouch integrated into the front of the hoodie. Resembling a kangaroo’s pouch, it is designed to accommodate even larger cats comfortably. Unlike an ordinary sweatshirt pocket, the compartment has a structured construction that helps prevent the garment from sagging under the cat’s weight. The thick, brushed interior fabric also provides additional warmth and support, making it a convenient place for a feline companion to settle while the owner works at a computer or plays games.

Designer: BIBILAB

BIBILAB has introduced two additions to make the experience more interactive. The first is a cat teaser attached to the ends of the hood’s drawstrings. Designed to attract a cat’s attention, the playful attachments let owners engage with their pets during gaming breaks or between work tasks without having to leave their seats.

The second addition is a dedicated smartphone pocket on the chest. It can be adjusted using snap buttons to accommodate different phone sizes and keeps the device readily accessible for capturing spontaneous moments. Owners can also position their phones in the pocket with the camera activated to record their cats lounging in the front pouch.

The cat compartment features a removable, fluffy boa-fabric inner lining that can be taken out for cleaning and washing, helping manage accumulated fur. An integrated cushion supports the pouch’s shape, while an adjustable drawstring stopper allows owners to regulate its opening according to their cat’s size. The hood also features decorative cat ears, adding to the garment’s playful character.

Meowgaroo Hoodie 3 is the latest version of a concept BIBILAB first introduced in 2015. According to the company, the series has sold more than 40,000 units, with this new iteration arriving after a five-year gap. This one is part of the brand’s BIBI-NYAO collection, which explores furniture and apparel designed around living with cats.

Available in grey in medium and large sizes, the hoodie weighs approximately 800 grams. Its main body combines 70 percent polyester and 30 percent cotton, while the ribbed sections use a polyester, cotton, and polyurethane blend. Meowgaroo Hoodie 3 is listed at ¥8,900 (approximately $56) on Amazon Japan, although pricing may vary depending on the region.

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The coolest thing about Polestar’s futuristic concept might be its physical button dashboard

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Polestar has a habit of turning its concept cars into real cars, which makes its show cars worth a closer look. The Precept, a sleek four-door GT revealed online in 2020 after the Geneva Motor Show was canceled, grew up into the Polestar 5. Nahum Escobedo, the designer who gave the Precept its shark-and-airplane lines, now runs exterior design for the whole brand. So when Polestar shows a new concept and says pieces of it are headed for showrooms, I believe them. Meet the Formula 2030, a low-slung four-door sports car that previews the next Polestar 2 and the upcoming Polestar 7.

The Formula 2030 is also the first show car from head of design Philipp Römers, who came over from Audi in 2024. It sits just 53 inches tall, lower than the Polestar 5. It wears a new color Polestar calls Nitrogen that shifts with natural light, plus Swedish Gold on everything from the Brembo calipers to the seatbelts. Inside, Polestar brings back eight physical controls, and you can swap each one between a rocker switch and a rotary knob. One catch for US readers: Polestar is barred from selling new models here starting with model year 2027, so you’ll be enjoying this future from a distance.

Designer: Polestar

Lower Than a Model 3, Shaped Like a Coupe

Polestar lists the Formula 2030 at 184.3 inches long, 79.6 inches wide, and 53 inches tall (4,680 x 2,021 x 1,350 mm), riding on a 109.4-inch (2,780 mm) wheelbase. That makes it slightly shorter than a Tesla Model 3 and about 3.5 inches lower. The cabin sits pushed back over fat rear haunches, with a long hood and short overhangs, a cab-rearward recipe usually reserved for two-door coupes. From above, Polestar describes coke-bottle hips with the visual weight piled onto the rear wheels. The brand says the car lands somewhere between the next Polestar 2 and the Polestar 7 in size, so think of it as the family sketchbook in physical form.

Up front, the Dual Blade headlights borrow from the Polestar 3 and get tucked into a front aero wing above a shark nose and a deep splitter. A central spine anchors that splitter to the body and runs up the hood to a single, vertically mounted windshield wiper, a motorsport trick that looks fantastic even parked. The wraparound, visor-style windscreen is a deliberate nod to the original Polestar 2. My favorite detail is the LiDAR, which hides under an aero shroud and only pops up when the car is driving itself. After years of roof-mounted sensor humps on cars like Volvo’s EX90, a sensor that knows when to disappear feels like good manners.

The Light Bar Is Dead, and the Trunk Has Nothing to Hide

Around back, Polestar drops the full-width light bar found on nearly every EV and replaces it with Single Blade taillights, which the brand says are arriving ahead of series production. The lights trace a graphic that angles down toward the road, evolving the sharp geometric shapes Polestar has used before. Polestar itself calls the rear UFO-esque, and the glass backs that up by wrapping into the shallow side windows, broken only by a chunky C-pillar. A wing sits centrally on illuminated mounts, with a diffuser below doing the aero work. Escobedo says the goal was to keep the brand instantly recognizable while challenging expectations, and the taillights are where that tension shows most.

The rear doors hinge at the back and there’s no B-pillar, so opening both sides exposes the entire cabin and its four individual seats, a trick the Precept also pulled. Pop the rear clamshell and you find a transparent trunk floor, with custom Polestar bags strapped underneath by gold luggage straps. It’s luggage displayed like a museum exhibit, which I find both ridiculous and delightful. The race-inspired Öhlins dampers are on show back there too. Up front, the frunk is fitted for two racing helmets and a fire extinguisher, framed by a gold strut brace, which pretty much spells out Polestar’s idea of a good weekend.

Eight Buttons and a Cabin That Moves Around You

The driver faces the 20-inch HyperDIM, a curved display mounted directly on the steering column so it travels with the wheel. A 12.2-inch center screen rises out of a gently sloping center tunnel. You pick drive modes by sliding a selector forward through the console, and the cabin physically rearranges itself to match. In Autonomous, the center screen stands upright while the seat and steering wheel move away from each other, giving you room to lounge. Slide into Performance and the center screen sinks flush into the console as the wheel and HyperDIM pull toward your chest, which is about as close as an interior gets to rolling up its sleeves.

Below that center screen sits the panel that made me want to applaud: eight physical controls built on what Polestar calls a mechatronics solution. Owners can pick rocker switches or rotary controllers for each slot, then program individual hot keys for the functions they use most. Interior design chief Juan Pablo Bernal says the brand is rebalancing digital and physical in pursuit of a “tactile harmony.” The timing lines up with Euro NCAP, whose 2026 protocols reward physical controls for basics like indicators, hazards, and wipers, and Europe is where Polestar sells most of its cars. Google Gemini handles voice commands, so the screens keep the deep stuff while your fingers handle the everyday.

Nitrogen Paint, Swedish Gold, and the Polestar 2 Coming in 2027

Nitrogen, the concept’s new exterior color, is designed to react to natural light and runs tone-on-tone across the body, side cladding, splitter, diffuser, and 22-inch center-lock four-spoke wheels. Gloss, matte, and satin finishes keep each part distinct, while Swedish Gold lands on the calipers, valve caps, seatbelts, and cabin trim. Structural parts inside, like the seat frames and cross-car beam, are made from low-emission galvanized steel and left exposed on purpose. The seat backs use European flax and bio-based polypropylene in a grid weave, colored after the fields the flax grows in. Bcomp’s natural-fiber composite shows up in the cargo area too, so the sustainability pitch is something you can literally see.

Polestar has confirmed that design elements from the Formula 2030 will reach the next Polestar 2 in 2027 and the Polestar 7 in 2028, with the 7 set to be built in Europe. The Dual Blade face is already earmarked for the new Polestar 2, and the Single Blade taillights are tagged for production too. Power, range, and pricing remain under wraps, so the concept’s job right now is setting the look and the cabin philosophy. Römers inherited a strong design language from Maximilian Missoni, and his first show car keeps that DNA while fixing the biggest gripe about modern EV cabins. If the Precept is any guide, a good chunk of this car will be sitting in European driveways soon.

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Flint’s Rechargeable Paper Battery Works Without Lithium

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Paper is an unexpected starting point for a rechargeable battery, which is part of Flint’s appeal. The Singapore-based company uses cellulose, the plant-derived material in paper, to rethink what goes inside the cells powering our gadgets. Its paper battery targets two problems that rarely make it onto the packaging: the materials batteries depend on and the safety concerns that come with storing energy in everyday objects.

Flint announced on January 2, 2026, that its technology had entered production in Singapore, supplying cells for customer pilots and early commercial integrations. That’s an important distinction from a promising laboratory sample, although it doesn’t mean you can grab a pack at the checkout counter. The company currently focuses on businesses and manufacturers rather than direct consumer sales.

Designer: Flint Labs

The name needs a little unpacking. You aren’t charging a sheet of stationery, and paper alone isn’t supplying the electricity. Flint uses zinc and manganese alongside its cellulose-based architecture and water-based electrolyte. The battery still has the familiar internal arrangement of an anode, cathode, and separator. Flint says cellulose supports ion transfer and gives the design structural flexibility. I like that the material has an actual job here, beyond making the sustainability story sound approachable.

That flexibility gives designers options beyond a rigid cylinder or rectangular block. Flint says its chemistry can accommodate different shapes, and IEEE Spectrum’s reporter handled a thin, bendable version at CES. The technology can also take familiar AA and AAA forms. To me, that’s a more interesting design proposition than making every device thinner: giving the battery more ways to fit the object.

Safety is another major part of the pitch. Flint describes its water-based batteries as non-flammable and resistant to damage, and its website presents demonstrations involving cutting a cell and exposing one to flame. Those demonstrations are attention-grabbing, but I’d put more weight on documented testing for a particular finished product. A dramatic demonstration can make the chemistry understandable; it doesn’t establish every condition a gadget might encounter.

The applications feel most convincing when they stay close to ordinary life. Flint has been piloting its technology with Logitech, including AAA batteries, according to IEEE Spectrum’s reporting. A mouse or keyboard might not have the glamour of an electric vehicle, but that’s a useful place to prove an alternative chemistry. I’d rather see a battery earn its place in an unremarkable daily object than headline an implausibly ambitious concept.

Then comes the composting claim, which deserves more care than the word “paper” suggests. Flint says its metals can be recovered and the remaining material composted. Its explanation also involves removing the vacuum-sealed casing before degradation begins. That isn’t an invitation to toss an intact battery into the backyard. I’d want explicit disposal instructions and a practical recovery route before treating compostability as an everyday convenience.

Performance remains the other test. Flint’s founder has claimed up to 1,000 charge cycles, but IEEE Spectrum reported that the company hadn’t published a white paper detailing its proprietary design. That leaves a gap between promising specifications and evidence readers can examine. I’m interested, but I wouldn’t translate those figures into a promise about how long a future wearable or remote will last between charges.

One less flashy choice may matter just as much: manufacturing. Flint says it deliberately designed the battery to align with existing lithium-ion production processes, while its Singapore facility uses water-based manufacturing methods. Compatibility with familiar equipment could help manufacturers consider a different chemistry without rebuilding everything around it. It’s the kind of practical decision I appreciate because an alternative material has limited value if making it remains prohibitively complicated.

For me, the payoff would be reassuringly uneventful: a gadget that works as expected, with a battery chosen more thoughtfully and a clear destination when it wears out. Flint has made that prospect worth watching. The next persuasive step is letting ordinary products, and their owners, do the demonstrating.

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