The Mini Tea Set is a combination of culture and compact design

Quite wonderfully balancing the need to remain traditional and authentic as well as be modern and space-saving, the Mini Tea Set from Pertouch fits a tea brewing set into its small form factor, with quaint, authentic vessels that allow you to brew tea in keeping with oriental culture and norms. The casing comes with 2 kettles and 4 sipping glasses stacked-on/nestled-within one another in a shock-proof case that carries them snugly, protecting them from breakage. The case comes with a decorative lid that serves as a tray too, allowing you to brew, present, and serve your tea with flair.

Its design also comes backed by a great deal of design thinking. The kettles come without any handles (that would otherwise occupy space) and instead opt for a dual-walled construction near where your fingers would grip it, for effective insulation and heat-prevention. The cups and kettles are all made from ceramic, while the tray is made from ABS, giving it impact-resistance and resistance to high temperatures. Moreover, the ridges on it, aside from providing a calming effect of resembling ripples, act as drainage outlets for any water/tea that may accidentally spill on the tray. The design details are tied together wonderfully with cultural sensitivity, to create a tea set that looks authentic, but is, in fact, incredibly well designed!

The T1 Mini Tea Set is a winner of the Design Intelligence Awards for the year 2018.

Designer: Pertouch

An object-holding tray that looks like wood, behaves like fabric

With a fractured wooden surface held together by a layer of flexible silicon rubber, the Stretch Board remains deceptively flat when there’s nothing placed on it… but the second you put an object with weight down on the surface, it begins dipping, displaying a property that feels almost like a taut fabric, and not like wood. This is the Stretch Board, a special material-type designed for a rather fun interaction with its share of benefits.

The Stretch Board can warp to the weight and shape of the objects you place on it. It adds an element of dynamism, turning any flat surface into a vessel, preventing items from rolling off. Place a couple of fruits or a tennis ball on it and they stay put, rather than rolling off. You can even use the Stretch Board’s unique properties in a tray, that may prevent things from sliding off or collapsing. Works best with items like saucers instead of wine glasses (given their higher CG). The interaction could even extend to furniture, turning a hard wooden chair into a comfortable cushion-like experience!

The Stretch Board is a winner of the Design Intelligence Award for the year 2018.

Designer: Taijiro Ishiko

These self-driving robo-palettes will park your car while you go shopping

Perhaps the most useful application for self-driving tech is in the area of driving that annoys most drivers. Parking. Parking is perhaps the one reason I don’t enjoy driving. Looking for a spot, and then struggling to parallel park (and eventually take out) your car from said spot requires patience, skill, and willpower… virtues that I don’t possess, but a robot could.

Hik Vision’s award-winning self-driving palette helps out by doing that task for you. Unlike other parking-assistant-robots that tug your car, the Hik Vision Parking Robot operates your car from underneath it. The robot sits under a metal platform that carries your car. All you do is drive onto the platform, making sure your car is perfectly positioned on it, and parking robot does the rest. Using inertial navigation, visual navigation, and a set of wheels that allow the palette to travel in any direction, including rotating in place, the robot carries your car to the nearest parking spot and gingerly lowers the platform down onto the ground. Once summoned, the robot lifts the platform and your car up, and carries it back to you, eliminating pretty much any undesirable parking experience you’d otherwise have if you were parking the car yourself.

The Hik Vision Parking Robot is a Gold Winner of the Design Intelligence Award for the year 2018.

Designer: HikRobotics