The act of gardening provides many proven physical and mental health benefits that alone make cultivating your own garden worth it. Taking it one step further, community gardens carry the same benefits and then some. Interacting with members of your own community while growing plant life, crops, and flowers not only makes fresh food available for all of those who help cultivate it but also brings people closer together in the process. Enrich Group, a team of designers with Virginia Tech University, created their own community greenhouse to help forge human connections and bridge generational gaps within the community.
Gardening promotes many physical and mental health benefits, including an increase in physical activity, relaxation, and access to fresh food. Enrich Group aimed to combine physical activity and mental relaxation with an environment that cultivates multi-generational relationships with their community greenhouse. Following a year of social isolation, Enrich Group built their own community greenhouse because they believe age is nothing but a number and doesn’t change each aging individual’s desire to connect and build meaningful relationships within their own community. Cultivating genuine relationships between people from different generations through the act of gardening is the “embodiment of purposeful living,” notes Enrich Group, ensuring that “we all have the chance to grow, together.”
The greenhouse’s interior is designed to feel similar to traditional meeting spaces, with an island or table in its center that contains the garden’s main communal herb garden. The main island is also multi-tiered to optimize the greenhouse’s interior space. Hanging plant fixtures form an outer ring above the island’s main communal herb plot. In addition to the plants’ tub, gardening spaces around the pod’s perimeter feature health monitors for each plant, sliding storage bins with open handles for easy accessibility, as well as a general working space. The greenhouse appears as an approachable, modern, and public hub with glass-coated acrylic panels, aluminum ribbing, and a wooden entryway.
Transitioning from working out of the office to working from home has undoubtedly thrown our daily movement routines for a loop. While our days once consisted of walking throughout the office and completing our daily move goal ring by lunchtime, our workdays are now split between slouching at a desk and laying on the couch for short breaks. Turning to smart technology to help incorporate more mobility throughout our days, a team of designers based in Korea developed a smart stretching device called Root.
The team of designers behind Root incorporated smart technology into the handheld device that mimics the experience of movement tracking from other smart devices like the Apple watches or built-in smartphone health monitors. Built to be the size of a large pen, Root is as compact and portable as any other health-tracking smart device. Most of the device’s operability is integrated into its internal structure, coming complete with an elastic strap inside that extends for full-motion stretching and built-in motion sensors and coils that provide the groundwork for smart technology. Root’s accompanying app receives information from the device’s internal sensors to provide stretching exercises that are most appropriate for each user’s limitations and individual needs.
After pairing Root with the app via Bluetooth, users can return to their own profile to view upcoming stretching routines, exercises, as well as activity training throughout the day. Integrated coaching and in-app expertise guide users through each movement that Stretch recommends, depending on the handlebar sensors to ensure correct body placement and movement. In developing Root, the team of designers hoped to create a stretching device that helps users generate a solid foundation for our daily movement that will ultimately turn into a daily routine to open up the day to new possibilities. With the chunk of our days taking place behind screens and hunched over our smartphones, Root’s minimal screen provides the ideal recharge we all need.
Designers: Eric Kim, Jae Hyeon Lee, and Nemin Jin
The designers settled on the name Root after finding inspiration in three words: root, routine, and infinite.
The charging station is as compact as the actual stretching device, offering a minimalist display for busy workspaces.
Root is a stretching smart device that’s as compact as a large pen.
Root can easily pair with your smartphone and accompanying app.
Inside, Root carries an elastic stretching band for full-body movements.
Root has an ergonomic build and intuitive design for optimal usability.
Root’s PUI display on its 2.5D glass screen informs users when and how to exercise.
Root’s main smart technology is integrated into the internal structure of the device itself.
root can be used anywhere, at any time throughout the day.
The main body of Root is composed of a type-C port and coils for charging, motion sensors, and wire sensors.
The home page of Root contains each user’s scheduled routine for stretching.
Users can swap out exercises as they see fit.
Integrated smart technology signals to users when their stretching is correct.
Activity tracking fills out most of the app’s main purpose to ensure productive stretching tailored for each individual.
Built-in coaching guides users through each exercise.
Striving to become ‘Earth’s Safest Place to Work,’ in 2021, Amazon pumped $300 million into safety projects. Intending to cut annual recordable incidents rates– or work-related injuries that result in loss of consciousness, days away from work, restricted work, or transferring of job in half, the giant corporation says in a press release that the new safety programs “will help prevent injuries, provide wellness services, and offer quality healthcare for employees while at work and at home.” Dubbing it WorkingWell, the new overarching safety effort consists of a comprehensive program that provides employees with physical and mental activities, wellness exercises, and healthier food options at work and home.
Coming out of a record-breaking year, accruing an annual revenue of $386 billion, Amazon shelled out $300 million for safety projects in 2021. In Amazon’s press release, it said that WorkingWell incorporates “scientifically proven health and safety education and exercises,” such as health and safety huddles where groups of employees learn in collaboration about rotating topics that range from gripping and handling machinery to health and wellness. Wellness Zones “provide employees with voluntary stretching and muscle recovery via easily accessible, dedicated spaces within Amazon’s operations buildings”. AmaZen brings employees into interactive kiosks that are dotted throughout Amazon’s factories to guide them through meditation and mindfulness practices. Keeping the press release aside, these tiny rooms or “individual interactive kiosks,” look too small to provide any actual relief. In fact, the company faced quite a backlash over their release, with Amazon actually deleting a video of Amazen they initially shared on Twitter.
EatWell positions employees to develop healthier eating habits by “increasing the availability of healthier [food] options.” Another safety effort, Amazon’s Neighborhood Health Center, manifests as a partnership with Crossover Health, providing employees with access to comprehensive primary care services that “focus on acute, chronic, and preventive primary healthcare needs.” Employees situated behind workstations will also be notified of hourly computer prompts that guide them through “scientifically proven physical and mental activities to help recharge and re-energize.” In 2019, Amazon fulfillment centers reported 14,000 severe injuries, which increased by 33% since 2016. By integrating WorkingWell into their factories and safety measures, Amazon announces a goal of cutting that number in half by 2025.
Physical therapy is a crucial step in the journey towards functional recovery for amputees. Taking place soon after surgery, physical therapy lasts as long as the wound takes to heal, most often somewhere between four and eight weeks, but then it’s up to the patient to keep up with the road towards functional recovery. Learning that at-home physical therapy regimens hold a 10% compliance rate, designer Sydney Lang created Adapt, an in-home physical therapy equipment smart system specifically for amputees.
Physiotherapists who specialize in amputee rehabilitation help patients through general conditioning exercises, inflammation, and compression issues, as well as possible endurance routines. Following their time spent with the physiotherapists, patients are expected to continue with their workout regimens at home, which Adapt makes easier. Just before leaving the physical therapy office, patients can have their physiotherapists program their Adapt recovery plan so they can move forward with their at-home rehabilitation.
Following in-depth interviews and comprehensive research, Lang learned that guidance, transparency, consistency, and structure are some of the most important factors when it comes to following through with at-home physical therapy. In designing Adapt, Lang understood that the most important parts of functional recovery ranged from motivation and range of motion to strength and alignment. To help with patients’ motivation levels, Adapt includes a motion-tracking camera that visually monitors the progress of patients. To ensure that range of motion exercises are still worked on, the interactive, digital foot mat conditions the patient’s lower body through stepping patterns that simulate the uncertainty of daily movement.
Comprising three essential components, the physical product includes an interactive foot mat, motion-tracking camera, and versatile support bar in order to facilitate familiar physical therapy at home. In addition to the physical product, Adapt has an app compatible with smart devices that introduces Adapt users to a larger community of those on the road towards functional recovery, allowing users to organize, store, and monitor their personal recovery on a public digital domain.
Adapt includes an interactive digital foot mat, support bar, mirror, and motion-tracking camera.
Following patient’s physical therapy sessions, their PTs can program Adapt to continue on towards functional recovery.
“Adapt enables users to take control of their recovery once the structure of physical therapy ends, by tracking progress, and visualizing the road ahead.”
“The digitally interactive mat more effectively prepares amputees with the ability to create randomized patterns which more accurately simulate the uncertainty of daily life.”
“The patient is able to review their exercise plan for the day by watching a tutorial ahead of time to help prevent distractions and mistakes later.”
A motion-tracking camera records the progress of patients to help them, monitor their improvements and trouble spots.
“Through the use of custom plans for each patient, users are able to focus on problem areas in their recovery, bringing recovery times down and more noticeable improvements.”
“The user is able to visualize where their body is in space by focusing on their movements in the mirror while their phone is off to the side.”
Visualizers help to keep patients on track towards functional recovery.
Lang learned that guidance, transparency, consistency, and structure were some important aspects of continuing with at-home physical therapy.
The stress and impact that ICUs can have on the mental health of patients typically result in prolonged hospital stays. Troubling cycles typically ensue as soon as patients experience trauma either before entering the ICU or while they’re being treated. The trauma is usually born from the lack of communication between the patient and medical personnel or general miscommunication. Acknowledging the mental stressors within the ICU, a team of designers created SOVA, an ICU medical aid device that tracks the patient’s health progress and allows the patient to communicate their needs by simply directing their eyes.
Either before, during, or following their visit to the ICU, almost half of the patients who receive medical treatment experience some form of trauma or suffer from mental stressors that make it difficult to communicate their needs. SOVA is a medical device that tracks and registers early signs of physical or mental pain so that medical personnel within the ICU can provide the patient with proper treatment. While physical pain, insomnia, and anxiety are only a few of the stressors in the ICU, SOVA operates as a system to track these stressors for real-time support and treatment.
Comprising three main components, SOVA comes equipped with a doctor’s interface, a patient’s interface, and sensors for the patient to wear and for their interface to register. The sensors work to monitor the patient’s brain activity and sleep patterns, while an integrated camera in the patient’s interface surveils their hospital room. Through integrated eye-tracking software, SOVA allows patients to answer health-related questions and communicate their needs, which ends up displayed on their doctor’s interface. This seamless train of communication allows medical staff to act quickly and help patients out of discomfort and pain, shortening their overall stay.
A curved display screen enhances SOVA’s ergonomic appeal.
The 360° arm structure allows SOVA to turn and meet the patient where they rest.
An integrated camera tracks the visual progress of patients in the ICU.
SOVA comes equipped with speakers and easy-to-grip sides for optimal usability.
Similar to the notifications we’re used to seeing on our smartphones, SOVA sends alerts to the patients that range from future visits to health progress statistics.
Each SOVA unit also comes with a locking feature that keeps the device from turning or unhinging from its position.
Each patient also wears a sensor that tracks brain activity as well as sleeping habits.
The medical staff’s interface receives all communication from the patient’s interface for real-time support and medical treatment.
Ever felt like life would be complete if only our pets could talk? I always wonder how that would go – they would be able to express what they want to eat, how they are feeling, if they want to go out to play, and when they are feeling sick. As a cat owner myself, one of the biggest worries is that my cat can’t tell me when he’s feeling ill. Naturally, I would want to help as soon as he feels low but realistically we can’t be there monitoring them 24×7. Enter LuluPet – a smart litter box that uses AI recognition to detect symptoms of the top 7 common cat illnesses! Designs like this bridge the language barrier between our cats and us (for obvious reasons)!
LuluPet is the first smart cat litter box that uses excretory image recognition to track your cat’s health with 95% accuracy – yes, it means through their potty habits. More than 30% of the cats suffer from urinary tract diseases in their life and pet owners don’t catch it till it’s late. Cats inherently hide their pain so it makes it even more difficult to spot what is wrong especially with illnesses like kidney disease, heart disease, and urinary tract problems early on. With LuluPet you have more control over your cat’s health and you will be alerted of any irregularity in real-time whether it is a minor issue or a potentially major one. LuluPet uses AI image recognition to help identify urinary tract problems and a built-in camera, infrared sensor, and AI chips to analyze different types of feces. It distinguishes feces using the Bristol Stool Scale and combines with medical data from pet hospitals to identify symptoms of cat diseases which sets it apart from the traditional litter boxes that simply detect the weight of the feces.
The double door design helps reduce fallen litter when cats finish their business and the front entry is ideal for kittens and senior cats who are unable to jump constantly. It has an easy to clean drawer and works with all kinds of poop be it scented, unscented, clumpy, or not clumpy. Lulupet also has enough room for your pet, the hexagonal shape creates the most internal space for your cat while keeping it manageable for every size household. A nice detail is that you can keep the litter box completely closed or semi-open depending on what you and your cat prefer (maybe you both love the blue litter box more?). LuluPet makes it easier for you to keep your pet’s health in top condition without feeling guilty or being constantly worried about them not being able to tell you what is wrong and nipping issues in the bud if any. It is also compatible with Google Home and Alexa so even if you forget to check the app, your virtual assistant will send you a reminder.
The litter box is integrated with a smart app so you will get real-time alerts from the LuluPet and can act quickly when needed. This also saved pet owners from excessive vet visits and the constant worry is your cat is alright, but with LuluPet both you and your feline friend can sleep easy. Stool and urine analysis is the most straightforward way of detecting a wide range of feline diseases. LuluPet has an in-depth, cat pathology database with clinical data from more than 6,000 cats and automatically cross-references the details to ensure your cat’s health is in the normal range. Health data varies for different breeds depending on cat age, but our AI Autonomous Learning Mechanism gives a custom data model for each cat so they get a report uniquely tailored to their situation. AI accurately monitors cat weight, urine volume, stool volume, excretion duration, excretion frequency, excretion appearance, and color type – so you know what is truly happening on the inside even if they can’t express it.
LuluPet is the first smart cat litter box using excretory image recognition to monitor your cat’s health through their potty habits with 95% accuracy. You get real-time alerts from the LuluPet App so you know if there’s an irregularity in your pet’s loo time as soon as possible.
Early Detection Can Increase Your Cat’s Lifespan
Cats have a deeply-rooted natural instinct to hide their pain, making it difficult to spot the signs of illnesses like kidney disease, heart disease and urinary tract problems early on. Lulupet gives you more control over your cat’s wellbeing by alerting you of potential issues the moment it detects an irregularity. Early treatment can help prevent a minor health issue from developing into an irreversible condition.
Stool and urine analysis has become the most straightforward way of detecting a wide range of feline diseases. LuLuPet uses artificial intelligence to monitor and analyze your cat’s health through stool image, weight change and excretory behaviors.
Highly-accurate Excretory Recognition System
LuluPet uses AI image recognition to help identify urinary tract problems and a built-in camera, infrared sensor, and AI chips to analyze different types of feces. It distinguishes feces using the Bristol Stool Scale and combines with medical data from pet hospitals to identify symptoms of cat diseases.
360 View of Your Cat’s Health & Wellbeing
LuluPet keeps a complete record of your cat’s daily toilet schedule and overall health, giving you an extensive health monitoring system.
Real-time Alerts – When the data is abnormal, you get a push notification so you never miss the crucial moment to take your baby to the vet.
Failsafe Poop Discovery System – In the off chance that there’s an unrecognizable condition, each cat’s excretion behavior is also stored in a video for your own review.
Multi-cat Identification
LuluPet identifies up to 15 individual cats by memorizing faces, fur colors and different recorded data per cat, like weight. This way, every cat’s toilet schedule is recorded individually, without each cat needing a special collar or attachment for identification.
If you have two similar looking kitties, no problem! LuluPet uses their weight difference to determine who’s who—as long as it’s more than 0.11 lbs (50 grams), they can be distinguished!
Customizable Box Design for Every Cat
LuluPet developed parts that are easy to assemble and customize so every cat gets its purrfect setup—whether that’s an open-air litter box, semi-closed or closed.
Double-door Design – The top exit helps reduce fallen litter when cats finish their business and the front entry is ideal for kittens and senior cats who are unable to jump constantly.
Works With Any Cat Litter – Scented, unscented, clumping, not clumping—your kitty has preferences and LuluPet works with them all.
Easy-clean Drawer – Cleaning a litter box has never been easier with our handy, pull-out drawer design! No need to disassemble or practically climb inside, just pull out the drawer and scoop or empty.
Works With Google Home or Amazon Alexa
You can connect it with your Google Home or Amazon Alexa and get daily updates on your cat’s health without even pressing a button.
You can call me a fan of Fulden Dehneli’s work because everything she has designed so far always has a personal story or deeper meaning apart from improved functionality. Her designs, be it TV or a face mask, always leave you feeling good and the latest one to evoke that emotion is BOOP – an aromatherapy oil diffuser that has been specifically made for kids!
When you hear the word ‘boop’ you would usually associate it with a gentle, swift touch on the nose. The oil diffuser was called so because Dehneli wanted it to embody that ‘boop’ feeling in a physical product that made you feel as if someone gave you a loving pat. Aromatherapy is a proven natural solution to create a healthy environment while enhancing the mood. It adds to the ambiance while soothing the nervous system with the essential oil blend. Aromatherapy is known to induce calm, reduce discomfort, and promote good sleep for every user but usually, the diffusers’ aesthetics are chosen for grown-ups. This product combines an oil diffuser with a white noise machine for a more multidimensional effect.
The oil diffuser features interchangeable magnetic ear and nose parts so children can easily transform it into a cuddly bear, a sweet bunny, or a playful fox within seconds. This little modular detail lets little ones come up with their own stories and form a bond with a product – it’s as simple as “This is mine, this stays in my room, this is not my mom’s thing,” which inculcates a sense of personal space as well. Its friendly form, calming sound selections, and the gentle glowing light in the belly add to the warmth of the product. BOOP aims to make kids feel comfortable and protected by giving them something that kickstarts their own self-care routine early on.
Few industries have changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic like the fitness industry has changed. Acclimating to the increasingly strange times, home gym designers have taken to the drawing boards by storm. Working out at home is possible, yes. Fun? Depends. Comfortable? Hard to say. What’s definite is that the team at G-Wall turned the everchanging state of 2020 into the well-knit, conceptual core of their sleek, modular home gym design. Recently, the designers behind the G-Wall Home Fitness System were presented with 2020’s K-Design Award.
Instead of answering the unanswerable (really, who can say what’s up next for 2020), the team behind G-Wall designed their home gym specifically so that it could be stored behind a closet or armoire cabinet’s door. That way the time that you would have spent making room for your home fitness system, instead is spent actually putting it to use. G-Wall’s Home Fitness System has several standout features: variable modules, user-adjustability, and compatibility, to name a few. Each user decides on which modules they want to comprise the larger system. This means that despite the amount of space in your home, G-Wall’s design makes it possible to incorporate a home gym anywhere. The different modules that users can decide on range from cardiovascular equipment, to free weights and even heavy training. The gear that comes with each module is stored in cabinets or racks that easily hang behind doors or however the user deems appropriate for their personal space.
Once quarantine started, many of us twiddled our thumbs while figuring out how to stay healthy and active within the confines of our respective homes. Fitness and health remained a top priority for many global citizens. It was never a question of compromise or adjustment when it came to working out during quarantine. Rather, designers and gym-goers took to the drawing boards to concoct their own solutions. That’s all to say that while the fitness industry has indeed changed with 2020’s unpredictable timeline, some of the most innovative new designs have been devised. Such deliberate and convenient designs like G-Wall prove that as unanswerable as some questions may be, as uncertain as the time may feel, design’s practical and adaptive nature is one thing on which we can always depend.
Amazon has been revolutionary in more ways than one and has pioneered change right from the way businesses work to consumer behavior – love it, hate it, you can’t live without it, and certainly not in a pandemic! Now, it is not the first to make a fitness band but it has launched it’s own called Halo and it certainly stands out from the competition not because of the brand name but because of some distinctive features. The Halo Band will cost $99.99 and the service (which is required for Halo’s more advanced features) costs $3.99 per month.
Health and wellness is one of the few industries still thriving in unprecedented times because physical and mental well-being is of utmost priority for everyone right now. Halo’s most exclusive feature is the fact that it creates a 3D model of your body and tracks the emotional tone in your voice for an even more personalized wellness journey. Technology with EQ (emotional quotient) capabilities are rare and mostly seen in experimental robots. The existing trackers can probably get an idea about your feeling through heart rate but evaluating your emotions through your voice is new in wearables. Another thing that sets it apart from others in the market is that it doesn’t have a screen which indicates that Amazon wants to focus less on sports and more on lifestyle changes. “Alongside cardio, sleep, body fat, and voice tone tracking, a Halo subscription will offer a suite of ‘labs’ developed by partners. They’re short challenges designed to improve your health habits — like meditation, improving your sleep habits, or starting up basic exercise routines,” says the team. To be clear, it is not a medical device!
While it provides the basic functions of a fitness tracker, it does lack some common advance features like GPS, cellular capabilities, and WiFi which strengthens the point that it is not meant to be yet another device giving you notifications, but a personal gadget that focuses on your well-being and healthy habits. The band connects with your phone via Bluetooth and has an app to track + store all your data. Halo includes an accelerometer, a temperature sensor, a heart rate monitor, two microphones with on/off controls, an LED indicator light. Interestingly, the microphones are not to speak to Alexa but to track the emotional tone of the user’s voice which is what makes it so special in the realm of fitness bands. It has also been stated that the user’s voice will not be heard by any human or stored in any server. “It picks up on the pitch, intensity, rhythm, and tempo of your voice and then categorizes them into “notable moments” that you can go back and review throughout the day. Some of the emotional states include words like hopeful, elated, hesitant, bored, apologetic, happy, worried, confused, and affectionate,” says the team.
Amazon did an internal study before it made the claim that smart scales that try to measure body fat using bioelectrical impedance are not as accurate as their scan. The other amazing feature is the 3D body model – uses your smartphone camera to capture a 3D scan of your body and calculate your body fat for more accurate reports. As soon as the scan is ready, your data (the photos you click for the scan) are permanently deleted from Amazon’s servers ensuring privacy and safety. The body scan feature is advised to be used carefully for people with body dysmorphic disorder, anorexia, or other self-image issues. The body scan feature will also only be allowed for those who are above 18 and to make sure that people don’t develop an obsession it only allows you to scan yourself every two weeks. Amazon also won’t allow the slider to show dangerously low levels of body fat and it has information about how low body fat can increase your risk for certain health problems. It is designed in a way that users can wear the Halo Band all the time: the battery should last a full week and the sensor is water-resistant up to 5ATM or how Amazon calls it – “swimproof.”
Halo seems to be the perfect middle-ground for those looking to start their health and wellness journeys without being too focused on exercises alone. Halo does offer all functions of tracking activities as well as sleep, but it adds another dimension with its emotional appeal.
I love a floating cabin but when it comes with a floating spa?! That is the ULTIMATE off-the-grid holiday. This luxury getaway is everything you can dream of post-pandemic! Designed to completely immerse you in nature, Nimmo Bay Resorts gives you a wholesome health and wellness experience.
Nestled in the wilderness of British Columbia, Nimmo Bay gives you the best of Candian scenery with soaring pine trees and beautiful lakes. One of the most interesting parts of the resort is a floating cedar sauna — a serene, meditative cabin that can be used as a personal wellness space or as a room for group yoga classes. To reach the wooden spa you have to take a kayak or a canoe. The floating wooden platform holds the cabin on one end and an intimate socialization area, picnic table, and tub can on the other end. You can book appointments with practitioners that use both therapeutic and relaxation techniques, as well as Shiatsu and Ayurvedic head massage with 100% natural products. The resort lets you explore the outdoors and enjoy activities like diving, horseback riding, fly fishing, and hiking.
The love for nature goes beyond the location, Nimmo Bay also focuses on building a sustainable community. “From the beginning, the Murray family has strived to create and share their dream of living off the land, while minimizing their footprint on the environment itself. That’s why you’ll find landmark innovations like our hydropower system fueled by streams and waterfalls, providing clean drinking water and up to 80% of our resort’s power needs, as well as floating docks in lieu of deforested land,” says the team. Dive deep into the Pacific ocean, the waterfall, the cedar tubs, or yourself for a journey that will leave you refreshed and rejuvenated. Nimmo Bay Resorts show us that luxury can have a symbiotic relationship with our environment and actually contribute to protecting it.
