Tag Archives: Concept Designs

Drone quadcopter concept grips power lines to recharge its batteries

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Although they may be a bit controversial due to privacy and safety concerns, it’s hard to argue that drones, specifically quadcopter models, have introduced big changes in modern life. Taking photos and recording videos can now have some dramatic flair, and deliveries of food and supplies can be made to harder-to-reach places. What these often astounding use cases don’t always say, however, is that drones have very short operating times due to their small batteries. That means they can only fly over short distances with light payloads unless they stop and land somewhere for a recharge. This research concept tries to think of a different system that takes advantage of one of the most ubiquitous power sources found in most urban areas: heavy-duty power lines.

Designers: Viet Duong Hoang, Frederik Falk Nyboe, Nicolaj Haarhøj Malle, Emad Ebeid

Given our current battery technologies, drones have no choice but to pack light. This means most drones have an operating time of around 1 hour or so, and that’s only if they’re not struggling to keep afloat with a heavy load. This drastically shortens the travel time and distance of drones unless they find a way to charge en route, almost like how a car refuels or charges along its way. That, however, would require creating “charging stations” for these drones, which might not always be possible or even economical.

Scientists from the University of Southern Denmark decided to design around a power source that is always there but isn’t solar-powered, which would be too slow and too little for the drone’s use. Instead, the drones clamp onto power lines, the very same thick cables that deliver power from one pole to another. When the drone senses that its battery is too low for comfort, it flies to the nearest power line, flies under a line, and then slowly raises itself until its mechanism grips the line. From there, it uses induction to draw electricity from the line to power that gripping mechanism as well as charge the drone hanging from it.

To test this theory, a drone that was used to inspect power lines was outfitted with custom-made sensors and a gripper before being set to its task without human intervention. The drone recharged itself five times using this method, resulting in an impressive two-hour operation. Although the task put the drone within the immediate vicinity of the electrical line that it needed to recharge, it’s not hard to imagine how delivery drones would likewise have access to nearby lines for the same purpose.

Then again, this recharging system might not be the best solution either, at least given the technologies we have today. Fully autonomous drones are still generally considered to be unreliable, so you can only imagine the fear of one of these flying robots meeting an accident on that power line and taking down a whole block’s electricity. Of course, the better solution would be to have public charging stations like those for cars, but we’re still far from being a drone-centric civilization to warrant such infrastructure.

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Cubicle-like urban car concept envisions commuting havens of the future

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Everyone travels, whether alone or with others, for work, school, or even leisure. Not everyone, however, enjoys traveling in the same way, especially those who prefer some quiet, solitary time during commutes. Unfortunately, most of the self-driving vehicle concepts seem to focus on turning cars into social spaces, practically removing boundaries between passengers. That’s probably fine for families and friends on their way to a vacation destination, but some people going to and from the office might prefer a bit of quiet downtime on the road. In contrast, this forward-looking design offers an alternative experience, one that envelopes the passenger in their own private space, and it seems to take inspiration from one of the most isolating designs man has ever made: the office cubicle.

Designer: Chloe Gao

The idea of self-driving cars is for people to spare themselves the drudgery and exhaustion of driving so that they can spend more time on more important things. For some people, that might be making connections with other people in the vehicle, but others might prefer some “me time” instead. It’s for these people, especially the “Gen Z” group who value independence and personal immersion, that this urban commuting concept was designed.

As its name suggests, the H-BOX concept turns the car into a box-like machine, and the two-seater model the chairs set to the back of the cabin. Unlike most self-driving automobile concepts, however, this seems to still pay heed to the need for manual control from time to time, so the “driver’s seat” can slide forward to take hold of the futuristic steering well if needed. That further widens the separation between the two seats, which might be a preferred configuration for two people who really want to be immersed in their own little corners.

What makes the H-BOX distinctive, however, are the seats themselves. Where most designs would feature reclining seats that seem to offer the ultimate comfort, these surround the passenger from almost all sides except the front. In other words, it boxes them in, shielding them from the other person in the vehicle while still giving them a clear view of their surroundings. Admittedly, it doesn’t look like the most comfortable design, though it wouldn’t be impossible to have the seat move forward and the backrest lean backward for that same reclining effect.

Then again, the purpose of this self-driving vehicle is to quickly get commuters to their destinations with minimum fuss and perhaps minimum interactions. At the same time, however, the interior of the vehicle still offers a convenient and advanced experience complete with a display that wraps around the interior of the cabin. It does seem to cater to a very niche audience, a generation that might no longer even be around by the time self-driving cars fully take root, but it could offer a more solitary experience for people who prefer to travel in peace and quiet.

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Minimalist water dispenser concept sits on your desk or table for easy access

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Water dispensers are essential and well, indespensable, for any office or even homes (if you don’t have a water filtering system). But a lot of times, these dispensers are just functional and a clunky fixture in our kitchens or pantries. We don’t really look for a pretty or well-designed one since we just need it to give us clean water to drink. One challenge though is that you have to walk to and from it several times a day and that those water jugs are pretty hard to replace or refill.

Designer: Lee Yi Chung for Square Design Works

The Metapure Desktop Water Dispenser is a concept for a well-designed dispenser that can actually be stored on your desk, dining table, or your meeting table. It looks like a combination of a coffee maker and a printer’s ink refilling system. The machine itself is minimalist looking and with various controls built in so you can adjust the temperature so the water can fit in with your needs, whether you want it cold or hot or anything in between.

The refilling of water dispensers can sometimes be challenging so for this concept, they thought of something that would be pretty easy and can be done by anyone. You can just put the water inside the device (similar to some coffee makers and coffee capsule machines) and then there is a filter box placed inside. The filters look like those ink cartridges that you use for printers so we assume that taking them out and replacing them is also pretty easy.

If you’re using different kinds of cups and bottles, you will also be able to adjust the tray for these different accessories so there will be no water splashing. As a concept, this one is pretty interesting and is also good looking so you won’t need to hide it in the pantry. As someone who struggles with water dispensers, this is something I will be interested in if it eventually gets made into an actual product.

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Modular cork stool concept offers sustainable seating by turning into a bench

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Sitting is an important part of our daily lives, so it’s not unusual to see different kinds of seating furniture around places where people stay or pass through. Unfortunately, it’s hard to predict when you’d need a single chair or a multi-person bench, so spaces tend to either put multiple chairs together or have a few benches and force people to sit together. That strategy does work, at least until the situation changes and you need to change seats, which often means buying new seats and discarding the old ones. This minimalist stool concept tries to offer a more sustainable solution that helps reduce waste by turning two stools into a single bench and back again, depending on the need.

Designers: Erika Avery, Stu Cole

The requirements for a stool, chair, or bench are pretty simple. At the very least, it needs to be stable enough to support the weight of a human person sitting on it without toppling over or collapsing. Comfort is, of course, ideal, but some designs seem to forego that in exchange for other capabilities. It’s arguable that the “unknown” stool concept is one of these designs, though its modular nature leaves that open to interpretation and implementation.

The core element of this concept is the sturdy column made of cork, a sustainable and easily acquired material. It’s a single cylinder that makes up the center of the stool, but its secret lies in a smaller circle that connects to a removable seat with a hole in its center. It’s a simple system that requires no screws, extra parts, or complex mechanisms, which means maintenance, repair, and replacement will be just as simple as well.

That seat can, in theory, be anything, though the simple shapes of a square and a circle immediately come to mind. However, that doesn’t limit it to a single symmetrical shape either, since you can have a long rectangular seat with holes on each end, forming a bench when set on top of two cork columns. In fact, the design of the actual furniture is determined by the shape of that removable seat, and it can be as simple or as complex as needed.

The concept doesn’t exactly define what the seat has to be made of, so it can use wood, metal, plastic, or any other material. It can be bare or it can have some cushioning or upholstery to add a bit of comfort. More importantly, the seats can be changed, repaired, or replaced without throwing away the cork core, or vice versa. It’s a simple yet effective design that limits the waste of fixed chairs and stools while leaving the door open for combinations that deliver what’s needed at any given time.

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Electric inversion table concept makes back therapy more comfortable (and pretty)

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If you’ve never seen an inversion table before, you might be shocked when you walk into a room and you see someone lying upside down on this table. It brings some Silence of the Lambs vibes with Hannibal Lecter strapped into a bed, only this table is upside down. But it’s actually a thing that people with back problems do alongside other therapies to treat their back problems without having to resort to surgery. But most of the ones in the market don’t look very comfortable and may even be difficult to operate on your own.

Designer: Eui Ju Lee

This concept for an electric inversion table for Lime, a company that manufactures healthcare equipment, aims to solve those issues. Aside from looking clunky, most of these tables look like they belong in a hospital or a public gym and not your living room. The designer did use exercise equipment as basis for how such a table can fit in your environment but the renders show a much more homey looking device that can rotate in 180 angles to help your back issues.

They also tried to solve some issues that users had with operating inversion tables on their own. The handle is normally attached to the motor but is a bit hard to reach when you’re lying on the table. But with this concept, they put it in a place where it’s easy to reach and turn the inversion table to whatever angle is comfortable and useful for you. And since you’ll be lying on it for a few minutes, it should be pretty comfortable. The backrest is wide enough to make you feel stable and the soft square plate shape is the core visual as shown in the renders.

Compared to existing inversion tables, this one will look at home in your living room and your bedroom as it can blend with the other pieces of furniture. The pastel colors and the shapes of the various parts in the renders also adds to the comfort level of the user. In theory, it should work so the next challenge will be to see if this design, as well as the principles like ankle fixation and rotation can be applied.

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Bedside lava lamp concept improves sleep with white noise, warm lights

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People are finally realizing that sleep actually plays an important role in productivity and shouldn’t be sacrificed for its sake. Unfortunately, many people by now have acquired one sleeping disorder or another, or at the very least have developed poor habits that lead to poor-quality sleep. There are plenty of methods being offered these days, from supplements to meditation to aromas, but sometimes the simplest solution is to use our body’s natural faculties to induce sleep and correct bad practices. That’s the kind of answer that this concept lamp tries to give, using light and sound to lull our minds and bodies to a more peaceful slumber and an even more refreshing awakening.

Designer: Alessandro Pennese

There are plenty of reasons why we have trouble sleeping in this day and age, but most of them boil down to our habits and lifestyles. Many of us flood our eyes with harmful blue light from our phones even while lying in bed, or let our ears be hammered by noise and distractions. Supplements rely on chemical changes to the body, which might be effective in the short term but could do more harm than good in the long run. Meditation is a good habit to develop in any context, but it only goes so far into actually inducing a physical change in our bodies.

EPY is a lamp concept that tries to trigger those changes by using white noise and warm lights. White noise has been known to be effective in canceling out ambient noise that could be keeping our brains active, using sounds from nature to lull our minds to sleep. Warm light, which is closer to natural light, also soothes the eyes and helps generate melatonin, mimicking the setting sun’s gentle glow that signals our bodies to slow down as well.

This lava lamp-like design encourages the user to develop good sleeping habits in order to help repair and rejuvenate their bodies. But although good sleep is important, waking up properly is also a significant factor in a good day. Like the sun at dawn, that same warm light helps our body slowly wake up in a more graceful and peaceful manner, ensuring that we’re ready to face the day full of energy and zest each time.

EPY’s very design is also meant to evoke a sense of calm with its minimalist aesthetic and simple controls. The translucent cap of the lamp acts as a timer when you twist it, letting you set the time of playback for up to 45 minutes. Hidden at the bottom of the lamp are two dials, one for setting how long you intend to sleep while the other sets the volume of the white noise playback. It doesn’t have complicated features, nor does it require you to reach for your phone, which would defeat the entire purpose of getting you to sleep swiftly and peacefully.

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Kohler brutalist smart toilet conveys the transformative power of water

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It’s almost too easy to take for granted what a toilet looks like, especially considering what we use it for. At the same time, that’s the very reason why these fixtures need to not only be well-designed but also aesthetic, providing a sense of comfort and maybe even delight despite and in spite of the context. That is why the majority of toilets are designed with shiny white surfaces and smooth curves in an attempt to provide a visual and tactile contrast to their purpose. That said, that is hardly the only way to design a striking product, and this rather unique toilet design concept uses a different strategy that still manages to capture the eyes and the mind with its brutalist form inspired by the powerful waters that course through it.

Designer: Kohler x SR_A

There’s really no hard rule on what a toilet should look like as long as it functions as intended and is more or less comfortable to use. That toilets are often white, smooth, and curvy is simply a matter of convention and convenience. There are, of course, exceptions to these that add a bit of flair to the bathroom, and the Formation 02 is one design that immediately stands out from the crowd both in its shape and its unconventional color.

As if its orange paint weren’t enough to get it noticed, the Formation 02’s blocky and faceted form evokes a different imagery from typical toilets. It has a rough sort of character as if the whole body was hewn from stone, giving it a brutalist aesthetic you won’t find in any toilet. It’s a design chosen not merely for the sake of being different but for the message it tries to convey.

In particular, it tries to demonstrate the effects of moving water on its environment, shaping and changing the way things look. Sometimes it can smooth out rocks into pebbles, but sometimes it can also wear them down to rough surfaces. The Formation 02 represents both possibilities, with some sides smooth while others left rough and raw.

While it might indeed look rough on the outside, the Formation 02 is still a functional toilet that brings comfort and convenience once the lid is lifted, which can be done without even touching it. It’s a smart toilet, after all, and it offers a heated seat, customizable bidet cleansing, and more, allowing you to do your thing neatly and cleanly while appreciating the distinctive design of this one-of-a-kind toilet concept.

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Concept laptop and tablet adapts to your mobile working needs

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As we continue to be more mobile in terms of where we work and study, gadgets and devices are adjusting to users’ needs and wants. More often than not, laptops and tablets are the devices of choice as it allows us to work wherever we want, oftentimes at cafes and shared or co-working spaces or sometimes even while commuting. There are already a lot of options out there but we continue to look at concepts that can bring even more improvements to our nomad working lifestyle.

Designer: Lee Seung-Hee

This concept laptop called LT-1 aims to solve the pain point of having a disorganized work environment when you’re working outside or having several gadgets with you even as you have limited space and are continuously mobile. What we need is to have a device that is efficient, practical, can adjust to our needs, and can multi-task just like what we’re probably doing. What they came up with is a minimalist looking laptop that has several functionalities built into it.

What’s unique about this concept is that you have a sub-display in the keyboard area which can show things that don’t need much of your attention but may be important to know. This includes your music playlist, preview of messages, and even a scheduler if you need to take a quick look at those things. Taking up 1/3 of your keyboard is the multi tablet section which basically serves as your trackpad and a multi-touch surface where you can use your pencil or stylus. It also has something called Mode Change LED although it’s not fully explained what it does. The keyboard itself has shortcut keys and there’s a function bar at the top where you have power key, switch to tablet mode, sound control, and something called “behavioral recording”.

They assume that you’ll use the LT-1 a lot so there’s a chance of overheating. There’s a back vent and a side vent to help with that as one of the ideas for this laptop and tablet in one is that it will remain cool. As a concept, this is pretty interesting but the actual execution may be challenging, and maybe even expensive. Let’s see how far the LT-1 Concept Laptop can get and if we’ll eventually see it in the market.

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Smart crib concept monitors if the baby wets the bed so parents won’t have to

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Having a baby can be a very magical moment, but even the best, most patient, and kindest parents will struggle with some of the aspects of raising an infant. They need constant monitoring, even late at night when even adults should be resting. One of the most problematic things to watch out for is when the baby wets the bed, because it can happen any time, day or night, and even when parents are not paying attention. It might already be too late when the infant cries after having spent long minutes wearing or lying on something wet, which then could bring skin complications and other problems. It’s for that reason that this crib concept was designed, offering a more efficient way to monitor the baby by employing the very same technologies used to monitor plants and their soil’s wetness.

Designers: Anuj Pate, Piyusha Naik

Soil moisture, or the volume of water content in the soil, isn’t exactly the same as determining when a baby wet the bed, but the technology works the same for both cases. The sensor is only able to measure water content indirectly by taking into account other factors like electrical resistance, dielectric constant, and the like. Fortunately, this is enough to also detect if the mattress of a crib is now wet, which is the critical component of the Wee Watch Crib Concept.

In a nutshell, the crib uses copper coils attached to the mattress to implement the moisture detection hardware, since copper is considered to be harmless for the baby in this context. The sensors can sense the wetness of the bed and immediately fire off a notification to parents or caretakers, either audibly or through a phone app. It’s a much more efficient way compared to constantly watching the baby, which is tiring, or waiting for the baby to cry, which could be too late for the infant’s comfort and health.

Of course, the baby crib also has to be comfortable, not just functional, and the Wee Watch design opts to use natural cotton fibers for the mattress as it is gentler on the baby’s skin. The frame is made from laminated timber that’s put together using a moisture-resistant adhesive, and there are tall vents at the bottom to facilitate airflow and regulate temperature. More importantly, the crib is also made to still be useful as the baby grows, about up to two years as long as they still comfortably fit in that space.

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Aesthetic air purifier concept also doubles as a stylish plant pot

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Recent events have made people more concerned about the quality of the air inside their homes, leading to a rise in interest and sales of air purifiers. These appliances, however, haven’t seen much design iteration in the past, which is why many of them look so dated and out of place in modern homes and interiors. Thankfully, that status quo has changed and a new trend is beginning that transforms these cold, impersonal devices into something that looks more at home in your home. Some disguise themselves as pieces of furniture or art objects, while this particular concept functions as a place to grow short plants and flowers, giving a splash of green as it keeps your indoor air green as well.

Designer: Sukchand Saren

In order to maximize airflow and performance, most air purifiers are tall, white boxes or cylinders placed in conspicuous locations, often at the center of a room. This often makes them an eyesore and an obstacle to movement, so some homeowners might end up just storing them away, allowing low-quality air to circulate and put themselves and their families at risk. There isn’t really a need to compromise between function and aesthetics, as this concept tries to prove by fusing air purification with botanical elegance.

FloraPur is technically two separate products designed as one. It is primarily an air purifier, of course, albeit one that is designed for smaller rooms or at least to work in tandem with other similar units spread across the space. Unclean air is sucked into the circular base where it passes through four purification levels, including HEPA, activated carbon, and UV light, before the clean air is blown out of the top half. Given the size of the device, it won’t be effective in large rooms so placing a few of these in strategic locations would be a better idea.

What makes FloraPur different from the majority of air purifiers is its focus on visual appeal without compromising functionality. In addition to this colorful powder-coated metal finish, the container that makes up the bulk of the purifier’s form serves as a convenient pot for growing plants and flowers indoors. The design combines two of the trends that rose during the pandemic, cleaning the air inside while adding natural beauty as well.

Granted, the design also has some shortcomings, not including how it would struggle to cover a very large room on its own. The connection between FloraPur’s two functions is completely superficial, with the plants playing no role in cleaning the air despite being nature’s own air purifiers. And despite having smart features that can monitor air quality around it, the device has no function to monitor the state of the plant growing inside it. The latter shouldn’t be too hard to implement with the right sensors and software algorithms, and a larger air purifier that can house more plants and use those plants to keep the air clean is also possible. All it takes is some creative thinking and ambition to breathe new life and fresh air into an old and tried appliance design.

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