Tag Archives: signal

This pedestrian cross-walk system uses smart technology to ensure a safe flow of traffic

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Smartpass is a universal smart pedestrian cross-walk system.

The language of cross-walk signals is universal. When traveling to a new city, it can feel like such a relief knowing that you won’t have to pull out your pocket translator just to cross the street. While deciphering cross-walk signals is relatively simple, there are different road rules and forms of street etiquette that are unique to each city.

Designer: 2s.design studio

In driving cities like Los Angeles, jaywalking is generally frowned upon, but in New York, it’s an essential skill if you plan on being on time. In Poland, 2s.design studio has been at work on developing a universal smart pedestrian cross-walk system called Smartpass.

Aiming to create a cross-walk system that provides safety and comfort for all traffic participants, 2s.design studio’s Smartpass incorporates assistive features for pedestrians and vehicles that obey the cross-walk signals. When pedestrians approach the cross-walk, a central unit with built-in GSM and detection modules sends alerts to the system’s supplemental modules for pedestrians to cross safely.

Once the internal sensors detect oncoming pedestrian traffic, sound alerts are broadcasted and LED lights to illuminate to guide pedestrians to the other side of the street. Antiskid modules also trace the traffic lanes for cars to come to gradual stops as they let pedestrians walk across the street. While pedestrians cross the street, radar and monitoring modules indicate when it’s safe for cars to keep driving.

Designing Smartpass, 2s.design studio conducted research with the Institute of Roads and Bridges of the Warsaw University of Technology, which revealed that cross-walks can be made 30% safer by integrating smart cross-walk systems like Smartpass. Seeing the success of Smartpass in the city of Warsaw, the team of designers introduced the smart system to other European countries including Germany and Slovakia, holding onto the goal of opening up to manufacturers and representatives abroad.

The post This pedestrian cross-walk system uses smart technology to ensure a safe flow of traffic first appeared on Yanko Design.

Unilever is working on a 100% recyclable toothpaste tube… here’s what it means for the environment

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Unilever 100% Recyclable Toothpaste Tube

The Multi-national FMCG giant plans to convert its entire global toothpaste portfolio to recyclable tubes by 2025, starting with France and India – its two largest markets.

The problem with toothpaste is that there’s hardly any socially acceptable alternative to it. Sure, you could ditch bottled water and straws in a bid to save the environment. You could swear off Coca-Cola *wink-wink Ronaldo* because it’s the world’s biggest plastics polluter. You could even ditch plastic toothbrushes for recycled/bamboo ones… but how do you avoid toothpaste? There isn’t really a concrete, well-accepted alternative to it, and given how toothpaste is something the entire world uses at least once every day, it just results in thousands of tonnes of waste every year in the form of discarded toothpaste tubes. (1.5 billion tubes each year globally, according to some reports)

Unilever seems to be taking heed of this burgeoning waste problem, and after 4 years of research and development, is launching their first entirely recyclable toothpaste tube. Traditionally, toothpaste tubes have been made out of plastic, with an inner aluminum lining, to give it flexibility while keeping it food-safe and allowing it to have a higher shelf life. Unilever’s latest toothpaste tube will be made almost entirely out of HDPE – one of the most recyclable plastics there is. “It will also be the thinnest plastic material available on the toothpaste market at 220-microns, which will reduce the amount of plastic needed for each tube. To encourage wider industry change, the innovation will be made available for other companies to adopt”, mentions Unilever’s website.

Unilever 100% Recyclable Toothpaste Tube

Recycling HDPE is rather simple and can (on a basic level) even be done by consumers. However, Unilever’s approach will involve a much more robust supply and recycling chain. Not only are the tubes designed to be recyclable, but Unilever also claims it is working with multiple global recycling organizations to help ensure that the new tubes are collected and recycled; starting with France, where consumers can put the new tubes in their home recycling bin ready to be collected and turned into new products. The pilot project will begin with France, being implemented with Unilever’s oral-care brand Signal, and will make its way to India by the end of the year with Pepsodent and CloseUp, the company’s India-based brands. Samir Singh, Executive Vice President, Global Skin Cleansing and Oral Care said that Unilever will commit to ensuring that Unilever’s entire toothpaste portfolio shifts to the recyclable tubes by 2025.

Designer: Unilever

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Senator asks social networks, carriers to preserve evidence from Capitol riot

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Tech companies are under pressure to support officials investigating the Capitol Hill riot. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia has sent letters to eleven tech companies urging them to preserve evidence linked to the mob that invaded the House and Senate...

Signal lets you see more info before you accept a message from a stranger

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The encrypted messaging app Signal is making it easier for users to decide who they chat with -- and who they block. Now, when someone who isn’t in your contacts starts a new chat with you, or adds you to a group, you can see the sender’s Signal prof...

The Quilt beacon + app create a virtual mesh network to maintain communication during disasters

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The internet may fail, telecom services may get cut off, but Quilt’s virtual meshing system will help broadcast messages, distress signals, public service announcements, and crucial information anywhere, whenever needed. Quilt is an ad-hoc mesh network built by the Quilt App and Quilt Beacon. In short, it relies on multiple phones with the Quilt app installed, and multiple Quilt beacons to build its own network that operates independently of telecom companies and internet services. If you’ve got the Quilt app installed, or the Quilt beacon device in your home, you’re always alerted when there’s something that needs your attention. If it’s a flood alert, an upcoming storm, an earthquake warning, or even a fire somewhere in the neighborhood, Quilt’s own network of devices will help pass on the message to everyone, keeping them aware.

Quilt’s entire system works on two devices that help it target different users. The app works wonderfully for most people, helping them get updates and alerts on their phone, while also allowing them to request help in terms of services, supplies, or even shelter. The Quilt beacon, on the other hand, is designed more for people who are unable or unwilling to use smartphones. Targeted mainly at the elderly and the disabled, the Quilt beacon is a lot like a smart-speaker, updating you with a notification light and voice alerts, while even allowing you to talk to it to receive aid or to notify others that you’re safe. Being a part of the Quilt network, through the app or the beacon, even helps assistance reach you, whether it’s emergency services, local aid, or even governmental aid. Designed to be like a security blanket that covers the neighborhood (hence the name Quilt), this virtual network works without fail, since it doesn’t depend on a company or any expensive hardware. Instead, it pools in resources by connecting multiple devices together, emblematic of how a society or a neighborhood should really function.

Quilt currently exists as a concept created by New Deal Design, although the project is currently in its research and development phase. The studio is actively looking for partners, both private and public, to help lay the groundwork so we can unite and respond to the next emergency situation with efficiency to save as many lives as possible.

Designer New Deal Design