What if products could protect themselves from threats in their environment the way animals do in nature? Would we take better care of them? Would they last longer? Would we feel sorry for them?
I built these products during my Masters in Design Interactions at the Royal College of Art. They were exhibited at the 2011 Talk to Me exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Prototype 1. The Gesundheit Radio
A radio sits on a shelf, gathering dust. If it goes unused for a long period of time, the dust can ultimately cause it to stop working. The Gesundheit Radio solves this problem by periodically cleaning itself out with a mechanical ‘sneeze’ (the sneeze can also be trigger manually).
To my great delight the Gesundheit Radio has it’s own Wikipedia page.
Prototype 2. Floppy Legs Disk Drive
Portable hard drives are vulnerable to desktop spills. Floppy Legs has a set of moisture triggered legs embedded within its body. If it senses liquid nearby it will quickly ‘stand up’, distancing itself from the threat. This gives the owner time to move the hard drive away from the liquid, out of danger. When the coast is clear the device gently lowers itself back down.
Prototype 3. AntiTouch Lamp
It’s not a good idea to touch a Halogen bulb. a) They’re extremely hot, and b) touching them with bare hands dramatically shortens their lifespan. A motion detector in the base of the Antitouch lamp hopes to address this. When it detects someone nearby it sways away from them to avoid being touched.