Sunflower-inspired speaker concept lets sound follow you wherever you go

Smart speakers are becoming a common sight in homes these days, even those that have yet to wander into the smart home category. They come in all shapes and sizes, but most of the designs have one thing in common. Given the design of drivers, they can only project sound in one direction, usually forward. You can have a 360-degree speaker, but that requires having more complicated hardware or a cylindrical design that has to be placed somewhere in the middle of the room to make sure the sound reaches you where you are. This concept design, however, offers a simpler but more interesting solution, taking a cue from one of Mother Nature’s more curious creations. This circular speaker turns to make sure that sound is sent in your direction, following you all the time just like a sunflower follows the sun.

Designer: Joon-Yeol Bae

In general, sound travels in the direction an emitter, such as a speaker, is facing. It can bounce off objects or spread a bit in a cone, but on its own, it will never change its forward direction. Omni-directional speakers solve this by having drivers that face multiple directions to cover all possible directions. While effective and a common practice these days, it also means multiplying the number of components used, raising the build cost. In some cases, it also requires that the speaker be placed in an open and unobstructed area of the room, which limits your interior design options.

Solros, named after “sunflower” in Swedish, is a concept that takes an unconventional approach. Employing the same technologies used by self-driving cars and robot vacuums, it can tell where you are and rotate its disc-shaped head to always face in your direction. It can even detect how near or far you are from the speaker and adjust its volume to compensate for the distance. This has the effect of making the sound feel like it’s always following you, wherever you go inside a space.

The speaker is also designed to blend into the background if you need it or become the center of attraction if you want it. Its minimalist design, which can be made available in beige, black, red, and green colors, makes it a perfect fit for almost any interior. Its graceful movements also minimize distractions while, at the same time, becoming a point of curiosity for visitors. Needless to say, it’s going to be a conversation starter, especially when the music starts to play.

As interesting as this design might be, it does raise the question of how effective it will be when there is more than one person in the room. LIDAR alone won’t be able to give priority to certain individuals, say the homeowner, and the speaker might end up getting confused and frozen in place instead of making sure its sound is sent in the right direction. Solros definitely makes the composition of a speaker a bit simpler, but the logic necessary to avoid a deadlock makes it a bit more complicated than a more straightforward 360-degree speaker.

The post Sunflower-inspired speaker concept lets sound follow you wherever you go first appeared on Yanko Design.

Apple meets GoPro in this action camera designed for every adventure enthusiastic influencer!

Conceptualizing new technology using the design language of iconic brands like Apple and GoPro is a hard feat, but when done right, it makes you wonder why the product doesn’t already exist. Apple is known for its minimalist and sleek product designs, with every new generation, the iPhone seems to get even slimmer and glossier than its predecessor. GoPro takes on a more rugged approach to their design, delivering durable, weather-resistant, and pocket-friendly action cams. Varun Anand conceived and visualized the iCam Pro, an Apple and GoPro-inspired minimalist action camera for the modern thrill seeker, merging the two giant brands together.

Inspired by living life on the edge and documenting travels along the way, the iCam Pro was conceptualized using top-grade technology fit for the adventure seeker who isn’t about to be held back by limiting camera setbacks. Equipped with Apple’s A12Z Bionic Chip, the concept of iCam Pro boasts lightning-fast feedback and the same power efficiency we’ve all come to expect from Apple. In addition to its ultra-fast microchip, the iCam Pro comes outfitted with LiDAR sensors, an advancement in camera technology that fills out Apple’s camera to take videography to another level. LiDAR sensors essentially use remote sensing to examine the Earth’s surface, and all of its nooks and crannies to deliver photos that are as close to the real thing as you can get from phone cameras. In a similar vein, a 12 MP ultra-wide sensor expands the camera’s view to deliver fuller photos, while the iCam Pro’s 22 MP wide camera captures crystal clear colors for more realistic documentation.

Today’s social media industry expects vloggers and influencers to come prepared with the most technologically advanced cameras to document their adventures in their truest form. Boasting a waterproof rating of 1 ATM, the iCam Pro was conceptualized to be water-resistant for up to ten meters deep, and the camera’s new underwater camera would allow users to take 60fps underwater shots, the same frequency rate used by sports cameras to capture slow-mo and action footage. Since the iCam Pro was created using Apple’s design language, Anand also thought to include all the perks that come with an iPhone, including access to photos, music, iCloud, as well as Face ID authentication.

Designer: Varun Anand

While Apple is known for more simple, minimalist designs, GoPro is rugged and versatile.

The sleek build of iCam Pro is immediately recognized as an Apple-inspired product, with rounded edges and full screens.

Boasting the speed of an A12Z Micro Bionic Chip, the iCam Pro would deliver lightning-fast feedback.

Anand was sure to include all the perks that come with Apple products, including iCloud, photos, and a music library.

iCam Pro’s ultra-wide cameras would capture fuller footage for more realistic documentation.

With a water resistance level of 1 ATM, the iCam Pro can reach depths of 10 meters and take photos underwater.

Unlike other action cameras on the market, the iCam Pro would not be battery-operated. Instead, the iCam Pro would operate on wirelessly charged power.

 

IKEA + Apple redesigned their AR app, improving user experience and playing with your interior styling!

Two things were certain during the pandemic– we all redesigned our homes and shopped online…a lot. While some of us took this time to peruse IKEA and design the home that we’ve been planning for years, the rest of us took a riskier approach and just bought what caught our eyes. To help mitigate the embarrassing effects of buying furniture without seeing how it fits in our room, IKEA in continued partnership with Apple has given their AR app, now called IKEA Studio, a complete overhaul.

Previously called the IKEA Place App, the augmented reality app allowed users to position furniture even outside of the bedroom – landing sofas and armoires in distant factory lots and busy city streets. Nowadays, retail brands across the interweb are implementing AR apps into their online shopping experience– from sunglasses to makeup companies, consumers are more aware than ever of what’s headed for their doorstep. While IKEA largely started the AR app trend four years ago, since more brands are catching on, the retail tech company turned to SPACE10 to transform IKEA Place App into IKEA Studio, a reenergized and sensor-oriented AR experience.

Still operating in beta, IKEA Studio relies on LiDAR sensors in the iPhone to register and analyze rooms, allowing iPhone users to completely redesign their living spaces. Relying on iPhone’s LiDAR sensors to capture physical spaces, IKEA Studio captures complete 3D plans of the user’s living space including the measurements and placement of every piece of furniture from the window sill to the loveseat. Replacing their current furniture with white boxes, users can furnish their virtual room with new IKEA pieces, redesign previous color schemes, and then generate the final rendering in either 3D or 2D to export and share with others. Similar to IKEA Place, IKEA Studio still does not have a shopping feature so users have to exit the AR app to purchase furniture online or just fill up their shopping carts with prospective purchases.

Those interested in following IKEA Studio to its final stages can sign up for beta testing and start the design process as soon as they get approved. While the AR app is currently limited to a mobile application exclusively built for the iPhone, designers at SPACE10 are also envisioning a future AR experience that replaces the mobile application with glasses that users can wear to envision and redecorate their home spaces as they see fit, literally.

Designers: IKEA, Apple, SPACE10

With help from the iPhone’s LiDAR sensors, IKEA Studio captures and registers every piece of furniture’s exact measurement and placement within the room.

Additional functions within the app include features that allow users to redesign previous color schemes of living spaces.

IKEA Studio works by replacing old furniture with blank white spaces that generate virtual space for newly chosen pieces of furniture.

This triple-eye LiDARs robot vacuum cleaner uses advanced AI to navigate and clean your home





If you think about it, there isn’t much difference on a software level between robot vacuum cleaners (or Roombas) and self-driving cars. They both move between locations, sense their surroundings, find efficient movement paths, and avoid obstacles on the way. The only real difference is their situation and context. That being said, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the 360 S10 is guided by the same hardware and software you’d see on cutting-edge self-driving vehicles. The 360 S10 is an ultra-slim robot that sweeps, mops, and vacuum cleans your house, but it’s powered by some extremely impressive technology, including 3 LiDAR sensors that give it incredible spatial awareness, allowing it to distinguish between obstacles, move around them, and even comfortably climb on top of carpets or go under sofas to clean every inch of your home’s floor before autonomously making its way back to its charging dock.

Outwardly, the 360 S10 looks the part of a robotic vacuum cleaner, with its disc-shaped design. At 3.35-inches tall, it slips under virtually any couch with ease, and the integrated LiDAR scanners sit flush within the S10’s body, resulting in a sleek and streamlined design. The three different LiDAR sensors allow the robot to see and scan its surroundings in a much more comprehensive way using advanced dToF detection technology. The Main Laser, Front Laser, and Wall Laser work in tandem to rapidly and accurately create a 3D map of the robot’s surroundings, eliminating any blind-spots and allowing the S10 to more comprehensively understand and avoid obstacles (yes, even dog-poop).

The 360 S10 is powered by a 4-core CPU running autonomous AI navigation algorithms comparable to self-driving vehicles. It maps out your house, allowing you to set up dedicated rooms, no-go spaces, and virtual walls. The device creates a map that allows it to operate in places with low wi-fi too, letting you use it on multiple floors, and in areas with lesser wi-fi access like the basement. The S10 comes outfitted with a powerful vacuum module with 4-stage suction adjustment, going from a relatively quiet 600Pa to a powerful 3300Pa for exceptionally dirty areas. The S10 automatically adjusts its suction power too, picking up everything from dust to furballs, human hair, and even crumbs and food. Meanwhile, it can detect carpets and rugs as well, automatically adjusting its suction power to clean out dirt and debris from in between your carpet’s fibers without damaging it.

When operating on the floor, the S10 senses the floor’s material (differentiating between wooden floors and tiled floors) and uses that data to control its mopping function. Armed with a 520ml water tank, the S10 mops your floor, adjusting the water spray’s intensity based on the floor’s material and how dirty it is. Its 5000mAh internal battery allows the S10 to operate for up to 3 hours at a stretch, and when it begins running low, the robot vacuum cleaner automatically makes its way back to its charging hub (even remembering where it left off and resuming from the same point). Around this time, you can easily access the S10’s 0.5-liter dirt tray, popping it out and emptying it in the trash.

The S10 can be configured via the 360 Robot app, which lets you do practically everything from designating rooms and no-go spaces, to even setting priority areas that need more cleaning. The app runs on Android as well as iOS, and comes available in 12 different languages, although the S10’s most impressive feature is also its integration with Google Assistant, Alexa, and Clova, so you could literally tell your robot to “clean the kitchen at 10 pm” and the S10 will promptly sweep and mop the floor when you’re done!

Designer: 360 Robot Team

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360 Robot Vacuum Cleaner S10

The S10 robot vacuum cleaner has triple-eye LiDAR sensors allowing it to 3D scan your home effectively. It detects objects as slim as .04 inches, then decides in real-time to steer clear or hoover it up, ensuring a thorough clean without any surprises.

Meanwhile, multi-floor mapping means the S10 can learn the layout of your home in seconds and optimize the most effective cleaning route. And with a 520ml intelligent water tank for mopping hard surfaces, powerful suction capabilities, and a slim 3.35-inch body, the S10 can handle whatever mess your home throws at it.

No More Blind Spots

The 3 powerful LiDAR sensors help the S10 size up your home and remove blind spots, meaning no more bumping into walls, and no problems.

Main Laser – Its main laser focuses on long-distance objects and can detect items from 6-8 meters ahead, meaning it can spot your toddler crawling in the distance or the furniture you moved while remodeling.

Front Laser – It can size up objects in its path taller than 0.4 inches, then navigate away or rollover to hoover them up, helping it steer away from magazines on the floor and surprises from Fido.

Wall Laser – The S10 uses a third laser to measure height, so it knows whether it can squeeze past or under obstacles – or if it should take a detour.

Small Obstacle Detection

Their engineers designed the S10 with a Front LiDAR sensor that can detect more than 100 different objects in your home.

dToF Smart Route Planning

The S10 uses the same navigation technology as NASA’s Mars Rover to learn your entire home in seconds. Its LiDAR sensors use a cutting-edge technology known as dToF – or Direct-Time-of-Flight – to shoot light pulses as it cleans your home. Compared to traditional LDS technology, the S10 offers 4X accuracy when recognizing objects, and 30% faster positioning. It can also handle areas with strong lightings, like balconies or the floor beside your sliding back doors.

3300Pa Max Suction Power

The S10 sucks up dirt and dust at a powerful 3300Pa. That’s around 1,000 Pascals more than the average robot cleaner. So its superior suction will dig in deep to clean the dirt you can’t see, while filtering dust in the process.

The S10 comes with 4 different suction modes to fit your home’s many moods and messes. So whether you’re drowning in dog hair or just want to cut down on cleaning time, you’ll find an option to suit your home.

Forget the Mop

The S10’s smart water tank adjusts the spray pressure depending on your floor’s surface. So it won’t over-soak the floors and damage them over time. And the mop will switch into high gear when it finds a tough floor stain. With an active pressure system that increases force when needed.

And with a 520ml smart water tank – the largest of any robot vacuum on the market – it can handle up to 2153 ft² of flooring in one go. Add your favorite disinfectant to the water tank to kill floor bacteria and give you that clean home smell.

Deep Clean Where You Can’t See

By putting the S10’s LiDAR sensors inside the body, it made it ultra-slim. So there’s no bulky sensor bumping into your furniture. The design allows the S10 to stay at just 3.35-inches high, so it can go all the places your other vacuum cleaner can’t.

Auto Carpet Detection

The S10 uses ultrasonic sensors to know what type of surface it’s on and changes its cleaning strategy. It can increase suction for thicker rugs, then lower power for slick tiles and hardwood.

Multi-floor Mapping Memory

The S10 can memorize up to 10-floor maps at a time. So it remembers your home and cleans every room, every time, even when you’re living large. It can also recognize different floors and switch among the maps automatically.

Set Up No-go Zones

The S10 will only go where you say it can. Just program a no-go zone into the app, and the S10 will stay out of a kid’s bedroom during nap-time or steer clear of the shelf where you keep grandma’s antiques.

Selected Room Cleaning

Simply program it into the app using the ‘Selected Room Cleaning’ feature, and the S10 will go over the area repeatedly until it gets the clean it needs.

500ml Capacity Dust Bin

With a washable 500ml capacity dust bin. It’s large enough that you’ll only have to empty it every two weeks. And one touch opening lets you toss the dirt without getting your hands dirty. Plus a mesh bin filter keeps long hairs from clogging it up.

Patented 10-Stage Noise Reduction

Clocking in at a smooth 60 decibels, the S10 works without making a fuss about it. A 10-stage noise reduction system helps the S10 keep a low-profile even while it’s working overtime. The S10’s patented noise-reduction system is pet-friendly. So it won’t set Fido on edge while making its rounds.

Click Here to Buy Now: $555 $858 (35% off). Hurry, only 18/50 left!