These smart homes are designed to adapt to rising sea levels by mimicking a pufferfish!

Puffer Village is a system of smart homes with built-in architectural technology that allows them to adapt to changing water levels and stormy weather conditions.

Sajjad Navidi is a 3D visualizer who uses architecture to prepare for impending climate change-related crises. Upon completing their latest rendering, Puffer Village, Navidi prefaces their project, “One of the major future crises of the world is rising sea levels, which could pose a serious threat to human survival.” To combat the threat of rising sea levels, Puffer Village is conceptualized as a small community of smart homes that adapt to changing tides and rising sea levels by mimicking the defense response of pufferfish.

Designer: Sajjad Navidi

In designing Puffer Village, Navidi looked to areas of the globe that would feel the consequence of sea-level rise sooner than others. Describing the planned location for Puffer Village, Navidi notes, “Ganvie is one of the largest lake villages in Africa in the Benin region. One of the biggest problems for the people of this region is the high sea level.”

As storms sweep the town and tides threaten homes’ foundations, residents of Ganvie have no choice but to face the uncertainty of rising sea levels. Navidi goes on to describe the damaging effects that high tides have on the wooden houses of Ganvie.

Looking to nature, Navidi hoped to find a solution that could adapt to changing water conditions. Finding inspiration in the pufferfish that populate Ganvie’s ​​Lake Nokoué region, Navidi planned out smart homes that would adapt to threatening water and storm conditions the same way pufferfish respond to predatory threats. Describing his findings, Navidi notes, “The biomimetic structure of [the] pufferfish and its strategy [in dealing] with enemies is by inflation with water or air.”

Following periods of research and ideation, Navidi planned a home layout with integrated, automatic inflation and load-bearing smart technology. In its neutral position, each home of Puffer Village remains rooted to the lake’s floor and keeps a flat-roof shape.

Even amidst stormy conditions and high tide, each home of Puffer Village turns into a sort of buoy by filling the home’s bottom compartment with water in order to remain anchored to the lake’s floor.

Navidi also ideated a smart inflation system built into each home of Puffer Village that increases each home’s interior volume by inflating the home’s balloon-skin roof with air. Each home also practices energy efficiency by acquiring the power needed for each smart response system through underwater tidal turbines and photovoltaic panels.

Aquaponics fill out the home’s interior, while solar power is generated from overhead photovoltaic panels and water energy is acquired from underwater tidal turbines.

The home’s layout is inspired by the mating circle created by male pufferfish. 

The post These smart homes are designed to adapt to rising sea levels by mimicking a pufferfish! first appeared on Yanko Design.

This smart kitchen appliance replaces a busy control panel with a single interactive knob to easily weigh your food!

Hoto is a smart kitchen scale for the modern home that scales down its control panel to a single interactive knob and connects other Hoto users from across the world together via an accompanying social media channel.

Smart kitchen appliances have changed the game of cooking. With integrated social media channels, smartphone apps, and haptic sensors, smart technology catapults kitchen appliances into the future. From all-electric coffee brewers with built-in WiFi to Bluetooth-operated smart skillets, the limit does not exist for designers of modern kitchen appliances. Hoto, a smart kitchen scale designed by Lu Zheng, weaves together the best parts of smart technology including accompanied social media channels and interactive control panels.

The best home recipes usually have the most marked instructions, indicating every specificity to the half-ounce. To make sure we get the finished product on par with granny’s, kitchen scales come in handy. Guiding us through the weight of each ingredient, kitchen scales keep tabs on every ingredient in any given recipe and allow us to track what we consume on a daily basis.

Zheng’s smart kitchen scale, Hoto, is minimal by design, adorned with not much more than stainless steel controls and a polished, reflective sheen. The scale scales back on the number of controls and buttons, consolidating every control into one interactive knob that functions as the scale’s, power sensor, weight dial, and net-zero button.

In addition to the appliance’s interactive control switch, Hoto comes with an accompanying social media app that allows other Hoto users to share their recipes and pre-measured weight parameters.

Designer: Lu Zheng

The post This smart kitchen appliance replaces a busy control panel with a single interactive knob to easily weigh your food! first appeared on Yanko Design.

This automated mushroom chamber uses smart technology to grow and harvest your own mushrooms at home!





Mella is a household mushroom fruiting chamber that uses smart technology to automatically grow and harvest a variety of mushrooms.

Over the past couple of years, our homes have become test kitchens for everything from colorful sourdough bread to dalgona coffee. Now it’s time to make some counter space for an at-home smart mushroom fruiting chamber.

Mella, an innovative new kitchen appliance from FirstBuild, a co-creation community backed by GE appliances, uses smart technology to grow and harvest your own mushrooms at home.

Smart technology has made mealtime simpler than ever. With smart technology, we can program our appliances to do the hard parts for us. Mella’s automated programming brings just the right amount of fresh air and humidity into the fruiting chamber to allow mushrooms to mature at the right time and speed, growing into full-size, edible mushrooms. With automated technology running the show, seasoned mycelium harvesters and recreational growers can sit back and enjoy the show.

Located on the outside of Mella’s chamber, the water basin can easily be refilled to funnel in just the right amount of water to combine with fresh air and become humidity for optimal mushroom-growing conditions. Then, the hygrometer indicates the humidity levels inside the chamber so that users can always keep tabs on the best conditions for harvesting mushrooms. Four LED lights also pour light into the chamber to ensure the mushrooms receive the necessary amount. Finally, a WiFi-compatible program controller allows users to adjust Mella’s settings as they see fit to help mushrooms grow.

Summing up Mella in their own words, the team behind FirstBuild notes, “Made for those mad about mushrooms Mella controls and automates the inputs necessary to grow delicious, edible mushrooms in the comfort of your home.”

Designer: FirstBuild

 

These IoT pet devices uses smart technology to allow owners to interact with their dogs while away from home!

Named after the Spanish and Portuguese nickname for ‘amigo,’ which means ‘friend,’ Migo’s IoT system consists of four main components: a collar, camera/speaker, door sensor, and smart socket.

Let’s face it–our separation anxiety is just as bad as our dogs. Closing the front door on our crying dog is possibly harder than coming home to a shredded couch and floor filled with ripped-up foam cushioning. What happens at home when the dog’s left alone remains a mystery until our return and then we wish it stayed that way. Created by Norway-based designer Lucas Couto, Migo is a kit of IoT devices that leans on smart technology to provide remote interaction between dogs and their owners while they’re away.

Migo is short for ‘amigo,’ which means ‘friend’ in Spanish. Each component of Migo communicates and connects to one another via Bluetooth, which allows for remote interaction between dogs and their owners. The system’s main appeal is the collar since it comes equipped with a tracking system, temperature sensor, heart rate monitor, audio output, and an LED flashlight. Owners can also have all eyes on their dog at home through the camera unit that functions as a traditional surveillance camera. The camera even comes with a speaker so that owners can speak to their dogs whenever anxiety levels seem to rise.

As soon as owners leave through their front door, Migo’s door sensor instantly sends a signal to another IoT device to turn it on and distract the dog. For example, once the door is opened and then closed, Migo sends a signal to the television to distract the dog. The chief component, however, would probably be the smart socket. The smart socket has audio output capabilities and receives signals from all the other devices to turn them on or off. The owner can keep tabs on their dog’s every movement from the convenience of an accompanying app that allows owners to watch and interact with their pups from anywhere.

Designer: Lucas Couto

The IoT system of smart devices is easy to assemble and comfortable for your dog to wear. Migo consists of four main components: a tracking collar, camera/speaker, smart socket, and door sensor. The devices have an inconspicuous design so they can be placed anywhere throughout the house.

Each component of Migo communicates via Bluetooth connectivity.

Owners can remotely control Migo’s appliances from anywhere, so when your pup feels anxious, a calming song can be broadcasted through the camera speakers.

As soon as the owner closes the front door, Migo sends a signal to the television to turn on and distract your pup from separation.

With built-in temperature sensors, the collar can remotely activate AC units to ensure your dog is always comfortable.

Owners are able to interact with each component of Migo while using the system’s accompanying app.

Migo’s smart collars come in an array of different colors to match your pup’s personality.

Embedded heart rate monitors also come with the smart collar to keep track of your dog’s anxiety levels. The tracking collar comes equipped with an LED flashlight that can either be manually or remotely controlled.

Owners can remove the smart aspect of the tracking collar to charge it between use.

The smart socket works as the chief operator for Migo, controlling and receiving signals from every other IoT device.

The camera can be turned on and off using remote technology so owners can always keep a watchful eye over their dogs no matter where they are.

This personal security wearable uses voice recognition + pressure sensors to keep you safe in an emergency!

Mathilde Blondel, a student of France’s Université de Technologie de Compiègne created EVE, personal security and anti-aggression bracelet, after experiencing an assault on the streets of France. In collaboration with friend and colleague Romaric Delahaie, the duo followed EVE through a ten-month period to design the wearable personal security bracelet that’s encrypted with cutting-edge communication technology to provide efficient defense solutions in the face of street attacks.

Once activated, EVE launches a 10-second alarm meant to discourage the attacker from continuing their assault and instantly calls the local police station, sending operators the location and live audio recordings of the attack. EVE follows a two-step activation process to launch the wristband’s emergency features. First, to unlock EVE and prepare it for activation, the user simply shakes their wrist repeatedly three to five times. Embedded inside the wristband, an accelerometer and gyroscope detect the shaking and rotation of the wrist, awakening the device and gearing it up for activation. Then, either by announcing previously recorded voice triggers or by placing pressure on the wristband’s sensors, the 110dB alarm sounds, and the police are called, sending live recordings of the assault to an emergency operator, along with the GPS location of the EVE user.

Blondel and Delahaie designed EVE to be totally autonomous and independent from smartphones so that the functionality of EVE doesn’t depend on a smartphone’s proximity or battery levels. Over a ten-month long period, Blondel and Delahaie sketched and produced multiple prototypes to ultimately settle on a lightweight, small, and accessible wristband whose emergency triggers are easy to activate. Located in the palm of the hand, the sensors that activate emergency departments are easy to trigger and discreet by design.

Designers: Mathilde Blondel & Romaric Delahaie

Discreet by design, EVE is also easy to use and activate.

One charge of EVE can last up to a whole month.

Once activated, either through vocal recognition or sensor technology, EVE launches emergency help from local police officers.

EVE is encrypted with communication technology that functions to launch protective services in the face of street attacks.

The designers behind EVE ensured that the wristband was lightweight and small by design for a comfortable wear.

EVE can be activated by pressing the sensors located in the band that stretches across the palm of the user.

EVE can be activated either through voice triggers or pressure sensors.

Once the pressure sensors are activated, EVE sends out live audio recordings and GPS location to local police operators.

Wrist movement adaption allows EVE to band when the user chooses to unlock emergency services by shaking their wrist three to five times.

Following a ten-month long period of conceptualization and production, EVE ultimately assumed a lightweight body for accessible use.

EVE is equipped with smart technology for instant feedback.