Tag Archives: Koda

Nike, Google, Tonal, Uber, Peloton: How Whipsaw’s Global Vision as a Design Studio is Changing Brands and Worlds

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Dubbed “Design’s Secret Weapon” by Fast Company, Whipsaw’s designs are so ubiquitous they simply can’t be ignored. With over 300 design awards, and nearly a hundred clients comprising the likes of Meta, Google, Samsung, Dell, Ford, Sony, and Peloton, Whipsaw’s work exists across multiple industries, covering the kind of breadth that most design studios only dream of. The studio was founded by Dan Harden in 1999, headquartering in San Francisco, where Whisaw established inroads into what would eventually become the Silicon Valley of the world… However, its impact can be seen across diverse industries including consumer electronics, housewares, computing, robotics, medical, scientific, and commercial products.

This spotlight hopes to capture Whipsaw’s approach to design by chronicling some of its latest work and analyzing the design trends that emerge from them. Whipsaw’s multidisciplinary team of strategists, designers, and engineers work across four categories, covering all aspects of a product journey from research & strategy to industrial design, visual design, and mechanical engineering. In October last year, Harden even announced the formation of the Whipsaw Design Lab (WDL) – a space for designers to truly explore the potential of creative thinking without the constraint of technology, budget, or a ‘client concern’. “WDL has no requirements, clients, timelines, or limits. Just pure Design spelled with a capital D. And most of all, no compromises,” he says.

View More Projects on Whipsaw’s Website
Click Here to see Careers at Whipsaw

Tonal Strength Training System

Created over a period of 3 years, Tonal combines exercise with technology and machine learning to bring the gym trainer to your home. Tonal is a wall-mounted fitness device that offers a unique combination of modern hardware and personalized coaching. Unlike traditional gym equipment that relies on large metal plates and gravity, Tonal uses an electromagnetic resistance engine to provide smooth and precise weight in single-pound increments. This is supplemented by an intelligent touch-sensitive display that acts as your feedback machine, allowing you to measure every ounce of progress as you get through your reps.

The device was a result of a 3-year collaboration between Whipsaw and Tonal. Every aspect of its design was meticulously crafted to ensure optimal performance, durability, and aesthetics. When not in use, Tonal is sleek and unobtrusive, blending seamlessly into any wall. However, when activated, its arms pivot out on vertical columns, allowing for a wide range of exercises, including standing lat pulldowns, low squats, and lateral chest flys. Tonal marks a steady shift in home-based exercise, an emerging trend in the fitness space that also propelled companies like Peloton to fame.

Kabata Smart Weights

Yet another innovation in the fitness space, Kabata smart weights are a revolutionary set of adjustable-weight dumbbells designed for strength training. With just a simple turn of a knob, the weights can be instantly adjusted from 5 to 60 pounds. The weight plates are locked or unlocked together using a hidden camshaft mechanism, allowing you to assemble the desired total weight in 5-pound increments. The Kabata weight handles are equipped with advanced sensors that can detect movement, acceleration, angular velocity, and position, making it easier for you to optimize your workouts. Additionally, the handles feature haptic drivers that vibrate to correct your physical form and motivate you during your workout.

The Kabata isn’t your average pair of weights. The Kabata system is fully connected and comes with a mobile app that incorporates data analytics and predictive AI to automatically adjust the weights for you in tailored workout programs. The app pulls data from the weights to your smartphone, allowing you to access training programs, monitor key performance metrics, and share your workout with your community. This sleek system is a great example of how Whipsaw aims at modernizing a conventional product category by relying on bleeding-edge technology to truly uplift a product’s UX.

Tile Bluetooth Trackers

Creating a Bluetooth Tracker isn’t easy when it’s an absolutely new category. Tile’s first devices were sold in 2013, giving it a significant edge over other trackers like the AirTag, which came nearly 8 years later. This meant pretty much starting with an entirely blank page, which was the challenge for Whipsaw and Tile. The companies have been close collaborators ever since, working on all the newer SKUs like the Mate, Sticker, Slim, Pro, and Ultra. Each Tile device offers a greatly increased finding range of up to 400 feet, a louder ring, and voice-enabled finding through Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. “We designed these trackers in several form factors with optional attachment methods in order to fit every use case, whether attached to a key chain, in a wallet, or directly adhered to your favorite items,” say the folks at Whipsaw. “There are many design improvements from our previous 2018 line, including smaller dimensions, lighter weight, and softer forms that feel great in the hand.” Tile was recently awarded #5 on Fast Company‘s list of Most Innovative Companies 2021.

Google Trekker Backpack for Google Earth

Google’s Trekker backpack is a mapping device that works in tandem with Street View, Google Maps, and Google Earth. It captures and creates interactive maps of locations that are inaccessible to vehicles, such as nature trails, iconic landmarks like Machu Picchu, and crowded city centers. The Trekker is a valuable tool for cartographers due to its unique mobility, and it is currently being used to document some of the world’s most magnificent places for everyone to learn about and enjoy. It’s even spawned a sub-culture of travelers committed to revealing new frontiers and sharing their experiences with the global community.

The backpack is an all-in-one system that includes a 360-degree camera array, two positioning LIDARS for mapping terrains, a computer with heat sink cooling, and two hot-swap batteries. For Whipsaw, the challenge was to create a portable solution that was waterproof, highly durable, and worked seamlessly. Additionally, it was also prudent to make the Trekker backpack comfortable for extended wear time, ensuring it was well-balanced, lightweight, and easy to put on and take off.

Koda AI Robot Dog

In 2018, Whipsaw was approached by KODA Inc. to collaborate on a project integrating their fusion multi-processor and AI-based software. The result was the KODA Robot Dog, the first high-end domestic robot dog to run on a decentralized blockchain network. Equipped with an 11 teraflop processor capable of A.I. machine-learning, the KODA Robot Dog relied on a hive-mind of sorts to optimize its behavior. It even sported four 3-dimensional surround-view cameras and 14 motors, including in the neck and tail, giving it dog-like gestural qualities. By sharing data with other KODA dogs on the network, the robot was able to learn from experiences it had never encountered before. For example, a KODA dog in Phoenix could learn how to avoid slipping on ice by receiving knowledge from other KODAs based in colder climates like Anchorage, Alaska, or Toronto, Canada. Whipsaw’s design ensured that the KODA Robot Dog retained a friendly, cute demeanor despite its incredible capabilities.

Bear Robotics Servi Food Service Robot

Sort of like a Roomba for hospitality, the Servi automates table-waiting with its unique design that’s built to help with restaurant workflows by both delivering food to tables and clearing the tables at the end of a meal. When guests arrive, Servi promptly welcomes them with a friendly voice and courteous gestures. Customers can easily place their order with Servi, who then transmits it directly to the kitchen. Once the order is prepared, Servi is equipped with one of her two top platforms to efficiently deliver the food to the designated table. While navigating, Servi adeptly avoids any individuals or obstacles in her path. After the meal, diners can conveniently place their dishes in Servi’s bottom bin as she returns to the table.

Whipsaw considered every type of restaurant environment while developing Servi’s custom design—from cramped and crowded rooms to gleaming banquet halls with spotless interiors—and made her as safe, quiet, and washable as possible. “We also packed a ton of technology into her small footprint so she never gets in the way,” the company says.

Hisense Projector

We’ve covered a fair number of projectors on YD, and UHT projectors seem to overwhelmingly be the future of the technology. They require no distance from your projection surface, and are capable of vivid, highly detailed imagery, while also projecting audio from in front of you to match the visuals. Hisense and Whipsaw worked extensively to develop a line of UHT projectors with timeless beauty, quality materials, unique form, and exquisite detailing. “Throughout this project, our primary goals were to innovate on product configurations that would be compact enough to compete with standard TVs and to create aesthetic solutions that would excite internal stakeholders and ultimately end-users,” say the Whipsaw team.

PacBio Revio™ Sequencing System

Proving that there’s really no industry that can’t benefit from Whipsaw’s approach to design innovation, the company worked with PacBio to help design Revio –  a gene sequencing system that can be utilized for various purposes such as human genetic analysis, cancer research, and agricultural genomics. The Revio has the capability to sequence up to 1,300 whole human genomes annually for less than $1,000 per genome. Whipsaw collaborated with PacBio to create a new user interaction model and a stunning industrial design for the instrument, which includes an intuitive user interface.

Revio’s bold monolithic design creates an impression of solid reliability, sophistication, and cutting-edge tech. Meanwhile, the black towering box comes with a hint of color, tying in with PacBio’s own visual branding. “Every detail was meticulously crafted for perfection, from the single sheet of back-painted Gorilla glass on the sliding door to the Bugatti-inspired woven wire ventilation grill. The fit and finish are exemplary, with premium materials and textures throughout.”

View More Projects on Whipsaw’s Website
Click Here to see Careers at Whipsaw

The post Nike, Google, Tonal, Uber, Peloton: How Whipsaw’s Global Vision as a Design Studio is Changing Brands and Worlds first appeared on Yanko Design.

Top modern gifts for people who love great design – YD Holiday Gift Guide 2021

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We took the thinking and planning out of gift-giving so you don’t have to worry about what to buy for yourself or for a loved one this holiday season! Here’s a list of great home, kitchen, and lifestyle products to spark joy in your life and the lives of the people around you. The one thing that’s common across all of them? The fact that they’re clever and innovative products that get the stamp of approval from the design-elves at the YD headquarters.

Be sure to snag some of these products while they’re around (and on discount), or share them with a friend/relative/partner if you want to give them hints!

Air6+ Air Purifier by YFLife

The AIR6Plus purifier by YFLife is about the size of a smart speaker and can be placed anywhere within the house… yet within it is air purifying technology so advanced, it’s even used by NASA. Referred to as photocatalytic oxidation or PCO, this technology obliterates any kind of germ or organic compound, turning it into CO2 and water. The technology would normally sound like overkill for using inside our homes on planet earth, but considering deteriorating air quality, the presence of pathogens, and a whole host of other organic compounds (smoke even) … it actually makes for a rather advanced air purifier that gives you the cleanest breathable air possible. Operating with a simple touch of a button, the AIR6Plus comes with 3 fan modes, and can sanitize the air down to 0.001 micrometers within a space of 360 sqft without generating any sound or even any waste… and with a ridiculously energy-efficient power consumption of 13W (that’s about as much as an LED bulb). Grab one for a YD-special discount below!
Click Here to Buy Now. 15% Discount Code YankoHolidays15

Nanopresso Handheld Espresso Maker by Wacaco

An espresso-maker that’s smaller than a Starbucks cup, the Nanopresso from Wacaco is designed to give you the most luxuriously rich and crema-laden coffee wherever you go. Just load hot water into the Nanopresso, pack coffee grounds into the pod (or use a Nespresso pod of your own), and the Nanopresso’s custom-designed pumping system can generate a whopping 18 bars (261 PSI) of pressure, pushing the hot water right through the tightly packed coffee grounds to produce up to 80ml (or two shots) of pure concentrated espresso. The Nanopresso also comes with a cup to dispense your fresh coffee in, and requires no electricity to use, making it perfect both at home or even outdoors. Once you’re caffeinated for the day, the Nanopresso is easy to clean, and even comes with a nifty EVA foam case to carry it around in!
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Koda 12 Compact Pizza Oven by Ooni

Imagine never having to stand for hours outside Lucali’s to get some crazy good Neapolitan-style pizza. Or rather, imagine being able to make that pizza right at home! That’s what the Koda by Ooni promises, with its ridiculously compact design that can frankly sit on most outdoor tabletops, letting you turn any table into an instant pizzeria. The Koda 12 is small enough to make a 12-inch pizza or calzone, and comes with a foldable design that you can flat-pack and carry home with you once you’re done (and once the pizza oven’s cooled down, obviously). The compact little gas-powered oven takes mere minutes to set up, and can heat up to ripping dough-baking temperatures in just 15 minutes. Use it to make pizzas, breads, babkas, steaks, or even grill veggies!
Click Here to Buy Now

Nanoleaf Shapes Modular Wall Lights by Nanoleaf

The year is 2021 and wallpaper has just been rendered obsolete. Meet the Nanoleaf Shapes, a series of slim, smart LED panels that come in geometric shapes and can be connected to one another to create a dynamic work of art on your walls. The modular panels can be used to create shapes, patterns, textures, even text, and they add a touch of color to spaces when off, but completely transform the ambiance of a room when switched on! The smart LED panels work via touch, and can instantly be transformed into an interactive installation that changes hues when you touch any of the panels. Alternatively, they can connect to your smart speaker and change colors to the rhythm of the music you play, or better still, hook them to your television and activate Match Mode, which lets the Nanoleaf panels light up to match the colors on your TV screen, creating an immersive experience that’s nonpareil!
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Bradley Element Tactile Wristwatch by Eone

Easily one of the most iconic watches of modern time, the Bradley watch from Eone comes with a spectacular design that’s backed by an even more incredible story. Named after former naval officer and Paralympic Gold medalist Bradley Snyder, the watch hopes to champion inclusive design by being a timepiece that you can read not just with your eyes, but with your hands too. The watch hopes to celebrate the brave legacy of officer Bradley, who lost his vision while diffusing bombs during his time stationed in Afghanistan. Championing Bradley’s no-can-do attitude, the watch features two ball-bearings that magnetically travel around the timepiece’s face to read the time (one bearing on the front tells the minutes, and another on the rim tells the hours). The wearer can simply run their finger across the watch to feel for the bearings and get an immediate sense of what the time is. If the bearings shift position while you touch them, they can slide immediately back thanks to the underlying magnets… which make the award-winning tactile timepiece double up as a nifty toy too!
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Millo Wireless Blender by Millo

Designed like something out of Apple’s or Dyson’s design studio, the Millo is a smart, sophisticated, and silent blender, that makes 4x lesser noise than your conventional blender, generates twice as less heat, and 2x more energy efficient. Moreover, using it is bafflingly futuristic. Just load your smoothie ingredients into the Millo, screw the top on, and rest it inverted on the base… and just like a phone starts charging the moment you rest it on a wireless-charging surface, the Millo begins whirring and blitzing all your ingredients into a fine smoothie. You can control the Millo’s intensity by sliding your finger around the rim of the base, as lights under the surface come to life, letting you see what power you’re running the blender at. When you’re done, lift the blender up and the blade magically stops spinning. It’s a sight to absolutely admire! Yes, this blender is everything Steve Jobs would love. It’s sleek, wireless, quiet, and removes any ugly mechanical details that would blemish the blender’s pristine design. Oh, and the base is made out of Aluminium too!
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ZenBeam Latte L1 Portable Projector by ASUS

Rather adorably named the Latte, this coffee-glass-shaped device from ASUS is actually a portable projector, capable of delivering 720p content while also functioning as a speaker-system. The ZenBeam Latte blends 720p HD projection and Harman/Kardon audio performance into a compact, lightweight, and ultra-portable design that’s similar in size, shape, and weight to a grande cup of coffee. The tiny projector can project screens measuring up to 120-inches in size, and works seamlessly with iOS and Android devices. Go ahead and Netflix & Chill in style!
Click Here to Buy Now

Levitating Smart Moon Lamp by Gingko

Dim the lights and switch the Gingko Smart Moon Lamp on and it quite literally looks like you’ve got a supermoon inside your home! Having gone certifiably viral on TikTok, its gravity-defying levitating design completes the illusion, creating a pretty remarkable-looking prop that’s great for decor as well as photography! The floating moon comes 3D printed from translucent PLA, complete with craters and undulating surface details to make it look like the real thing, and it floats on its base too, gently rotating as a planetary object would. 140mm (5.5 inches) in diameter, the moon floats on a wooden base made of dark walnut or light ash wood, suspended in place by a strong rare-earth magnet. It comes with built-in LEDs that give the moon its signature glow, with 3 light temperatures to choose from – warm white (3500k) and white (5000k), and a special yellow warm (2700k) for that rare blood moon effect! Each Smart Moon Lamp comes with its base and a 12V- 1A AD adapter to power the entire experience. Plus, Gingko offers a cool 2-year warranty that should quite literally send you ‘over the moon!’
Click Here to Buy Now

The post Top modern gifts for people who love great design – YD Holiday Gift Guide 2021 first appeared on Yanko Design.

Domestic Robots are a new frontier for Industrial Designers: Whipsaw CEO, Dan Harden

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“We are finally seeing an inflection point in the industry”, says Whipsaw CEO and Principal Designer, Dan Harden as he talks about how robots are slowly entering our households. Back at the beginning of the 2000s, the only robots you could find around the house were probably either toys (RC cars, RoboSapiens), or domestic cleaning robots like the vacuum cleaner or the lawn-mower. Today, home service robots are increasingly becoming an emerging trend, creating a unique new opportunity for designers to establish the identity, personality, form, function, and usability factors of these soon-to-emerge home service robots. “It is one of the most exciting design frontiers since the very founding of our profession”, Harden tells Yanko Design.

The west has been rather slow in adopting robots in domestic settings (something I often attribute to films like Terminator, iRobot, or Transformers, which haven’t really made robots look too friendly), while countries in the east like Japan and China (who haven’t been inherently exposed to ‘evil robots’) have traditionally been much more accepting robots in their domestic lives. Obviously, the ‘evil robot’ archetype’s been balanced out by robots like R2D2, Wall.E, and Jarvis, whose prime objective has always been that of a human-serving side-kick. The burgeoning domestic robot movement (domestic as opposed to industrial) has always sought to follow this trend – of serving humans by handling menial repetitive tasks. Boston Dynamics’ robot dog was used to patrol roads during the lockdown in Singapore, the Cafe X Robotic Coffeebar in San Francisco uses a robotic arm to prepare and serve you fresh coffee, and perhaps the most prime example of a domestic robot, your beloved Roomba cleans your floors with more accuracy and efficiency than a human.

Follow Whipsaw’s work and read more on their blog here

The 2021 IDEA Award-winning Bizzy Robot

Human-inspired, pet-like, or alien – What must a Robot look like?

The holy grail of robotics has always been to build a multi-purpose bionic ‘butler’ – a dream that Whipsaw’s been working on for a better part of the past decade, but has been pretty vocal about its elusiveness. “Robots are complex and therefore expensive electro-mechanical machines, unlike toasters and washing machines”, Harden mentions. “For a robot to do just the most basic things like pick up laundry, fetch a drink or clean a countertop, without crashing into furniture, dropping valuables, spilling milk, or running over your dog is tough. It needs to know where itself is in the house, where and when it needs to go to perform a task, how to identify objects, how to retrieve and manipulate those objects, and how to respond to people and pets.” It’s a complicated problem where the hardware and software rely on each other so closely, there’s extremely little room for error.

The 2021 IDEA Award-winning MARTIAN Robot

A robot that performs tasks that a human/animal can do, eventually looks like a human/animal…

The California-based design studio’s tryst with domestic service robots started with robotics research lab Willow Garage who needed a robot that could assist with simple household chores. The funding dried up midway as Willow Garage shut shop in 2013, but it allowed Whipsaw to cement relationships with other clients with a keen interest in robotics, namely SRI (Stanford Research Institute), Rosie Robotics, Bizzy Robotics, and Aeolus Robotics, all of whom envisioned a simple low-cost home service robot. For Whipsaw, however, the design brief was a little more nuanced – “What should this home robot look like?” Was it better to be functional, honest, and minimal, or have it be more expressive or even human-looking? “Our opinion was to make it what it wanted to be – a purposeful and efficient tool with self-explanatory design cues and details”, Harden explained. However, as they started designing it, they soon realized that it was hard not to look like some type of creature. By the time you put cameras where they need to be in order for the robot to see, arms that can reach and lift, and hands to grasp objects, you inevitably end up building some form of ‘animal’. Harden admitted, “We decided to embrace that logical consequence and just let these necessary elements define the robot’s identity.”

KODA Robot Dog

KODA Robot Dog – The first consumer-based robot dog to run on a Blockchain Network

Around 2018, Whipsaw was also approached by KODA Inc. to help integrate their revolutionary fusion multi-processor and AI-based software into a robot. The KODA Robot Dog holds the title for being the first high-end domestic robot-dog running on a decentralized blockchain network, with its ‘own brain’ – an 11 teraflop processor capable of A.I. machine-learning. The dog-type quadruped robot relied on a decentralized network to share data and optimize behavior, making all KODA dogs smarter by relying on a hive-mind of sorts. “For example, a KODA dog in Phoenix can use the knowledge it automatically receives from other KODAs that are based in colder climates, like Anchorage, Alaska or Toronto, Canada”, Harden mentions to Yanko Design. “Without ever having set foot on ice, the KODA in Phoenix will learn how to avoid slipping. This includes warning its owner as well.” Armed with that incredibly powerful software, Whipsaw’s design took an interesting-yet-logical decision of ensuring the KODA robot dog (as intelligent and capable as it was) still retained a friendly, cute demeanor.

Functionally, KODA was designed to assist the human condition. Fulfilling the myriad of roles and responsibilities of dogs, the KODA monitor and protect properties; help disabled people see and navigate safely; play with and teach children; and serves as a tech learning platform for individuals, schools, and robotic research institutions. For Whipsaw though, the roles and responsibilities of KODA set a variety of constraints. The aesthetics of KODA had to be just right. If it looked too dog-like it would be weird. If it was not dog-like at all, it would be an unfriendly machine. Every aesthetic decision had to be respectful of this perception, while at the same time taking on the mammoth task of integrating all the components and sensors into the robot’s animal form. The result was an incredibly sleek canine-inspired bot with four 3D surround-view cameras and 14 motors, including in the neck and tail, which gave it dog-like gestural qualities. If you had to assign a breed to KODA, Whipsaw’s team says it’s a cross between a friendly labrador and an athletic and slightly intimidating Doberman. It can run at a respectable speed of 2 meters a second, climb stairs, monitor large areas with its sensors and cameras, and even respond to its owner’s commands as well as their emotions – a testament to the dog’s incredible AI brain. Whipsaw even designed the dog’s body in a way that put the battery pack in its abdomen… so when KODA needed to recharge, it could simply walk over to its charging station and lay down (quite like a dog resting), bringing its belly in contact with the charge nodes. KODA was unveiled this January 2021 at the virtual CES, and even secured the iF Design Award this year. Today, over 850 people own KODA dogs, either as pets, surveillance dogs, or guide dogs. Yanko Design covered the KODA Robot Dog back in January and you can read more about it here.

The bright future of Domestic Service Robots… and how Industrial Designers can seize this new opportunity

Robots are more than just basic products, they’re entities – this provides Industrial Designers with a massive variety of opportunities that go beyond simply just designing an exterior or ‘solving a problem’. “The mere fact that a robot moves on its own and its scale is close to a human makes it seem alive, including the feeling like it even has emotion. As a designer, you have the opportunity to not only design the thing itself but that emotion too. It’s like adding a fourth “E” dimension to your XYZ design problem”, Harden mentions. It’s a unique and expansive region that covers a lot of different aspects, because robots are inherently very complex systems, and we perceive them differently from a ‘lifeless’ product. As the Industrial Design profession evolves, transitioning from tangible products to intangible ones (I completely fault UI/UX designers for stealing the phrase ‘Product Design’), the area of robotics has a redeeming quality to it, providing a dizzying number of areas of intervention, from form-giving to functional problem solving, user experience, technology integration, machine anthropology, emotional design, and purpose. Harden calls it “a veritable feast of design challenges.”

Bizzy Robot

It’s something Whipsaw’s passionately involved in too. Prior to designing KODA, Whipsaw even worked on the Aeolus R1, a humanoid helper which debuted at CES 2018, the MARTIAN robot, a one-handed robot on wheels, and the BIZZY, another single-armed robot that could be controlled by touch or even respond to voice commands. A winner of the IDEA Award in 2021, Bizzy was equipped with a wide range of motions thanks to the way it was designed, featuring a height-adjusting arm that could reach on countertops to clear up for you and arrange your tables before meals, or even ‘bend down’ to pick up objects from the floor or water your plants.

Rosie Robot Maid

Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, Whipsaw’s portfolio of work encompasses a healthy variety of tech and innovation-led products, although the massive smart-home industry is merely a stepping stone for the next evolutionary step – domestic service robots… and Whipsaw’s team believes that designers should really feel excited for all the opportunities it brings to help draft the human-robot dynamic and potentially rewrite civilization. In a blog-post on Whipsaw’s site, Harden says “How the human-robot dynamic ultimately influences and changes our society and culture is to be determined, but in the meantime, the design profession should be excited. It has never had a better quest or more interesting subject than the domestic robot.”

Visit the Whipsaw Website to view their latest projects and read more about Design + Robotics on their blog.

Unveiled at CES 2021, the world’s first robot dog with decentralized AI does everything but walk on water!

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Robot dogs have come a long way since Sega Toys’ Poo-Chi hit the scene. I still remember the day I got my Poo-Chi, whose digital bark soon turned into what sounded like a chain-smoking robot’s panic signal. Since its debut in 2000, Poo-Chi, along with many other robotic dog products have seen some major modifications and upgrades. Today, the world’s first decentralized AI robotic dog has been unveiled at CES 2021 by KODA Inc. Designed to offer both emotional companionship and practical, physical support, KODA, Inc.’s DAI robotic dog “is the perfect combination of function and performance,” as CEO of KODA, Inc., Emma Russell puts it.

Unlike the Poo-Chi, who couldn’t even hold its note singing “Ode to Joy,” KODA, Inc.’s robotic dog comes with four 3-D cameras, a single 13-megapixel front-facing camera, an ergonomic structure that incorporates realistic dog-like features such as a purely aesthetic tail, 14 high-torque motors with two on the neck offering full-range mobility for activities like climbing the stairs or trudging through snow, along with an 11 Teraflop processing unit. Since KODA, Inc. is dedicated to providing technology-based solutions to help people with everyday problems, either chronic or otherwise, the secure blockchain network of KODA robot-dogs is closely monitored and cross-checked for consistent and effective AI improvements. For instance, a KODA, Inc. robot-dog in Detroit might be the first to slip on a patch of ice, but thanks to a “futureproof,” supercomputing network, robot-dogs who find their home in a warmer climate will know not to slip on a patch of ice even if the dog’s home ground temperature might never call for one.

The development of decentralized artificial intelligence is integral to the success of robot-operated emotional and physical support products. Decentralized AI essentially equips the built-in software with the ability to solve the reasoning, planning, learning, and decision-making problems that centralized artificial intelligence does not compute. By endowing the robotic dog with Decentralized AI technological capabilities, KODA, Inc. provides a robotic, smart companion that can offer care and guidance for several different purposes including but not limited to, simple companionship, walking guidance for blind users, protective services as a tech-savvy guard dog, or KODA, Inc.’s robotic dog can operate as an animalistic personal assistant capable of solving ordinarily complex issues.

Designer: KODA, Inc.

The best outdoor gear for the fall

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Fall is finally here. Or fall is already here, depending on your mindset. As the temperatures drop, the great outdoors become more enjoyable -- that is, until the winds of winter set in. To ensure you’re properly equipped for pumpkin spice season, we...

You can pack up this home & take it with you!

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The future of homes is upon us and it isn’t a smart home. It’s a prefab home. Short for prefabricated, these homes come as livable units ready to be assembled and then lived in… like IKEA meets Architecture. The prefab homes became all the rage in 2015 when Muji debuted three ultra-small prefab hut designs for people looking to live the minimalist life away from the city’s hustle and bustle. Their latest hut design is ready for production and costs roughly $27,000. They also sit on a cemented foundation, making them permanent.

The KODA prefab home by Estonian design collective Kodasema however proposes something more head-turning. This fully equipped, quaint hut with a 25 square-meter living space and a mezzanine bedroom can be completely disassembled, and reassembled at another location within a day! The idea is that KODA is a state of mind. It should give you a space to live in wherever you find tranquility, be it in the woods, or a lakeside, or even your backyard. Its design can allow it to become your retreat, or even your personal office space, or a studio or classroom.

The house is constructed with factory-made components, and can be assembled on-site without any need for foundations. The terrace comes equipped with solar-panels, allowing KODA to generate and conserve its own electricity. The KODA is literally the perfect home away from home!
Watch the video below and be amazed!

Designer: Kodasema

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