Spherical bottle opener concept adds a playful touch to your dining table

Many of our everyday tools at home have designs that go back decades or even centuries. Although they might not be inherently broken, there’s no reason why they can’t be changed or improved as long as functionality isn’t compromised. Just taking a look at the dozens of screwdriver designs and laser-based measuring tools shows there’s definitely room for improvement and experimentation.

The bottle opener, for example, has a head that provides the actual functionality and a handle that adds leverage. But what if you can ditch that long handle for something more interesting but equally useful? That’s what this concept design tries to offer, resulting in a version that’s not only functional but also decorative when not in use.

Designer: Younghyun Kim

The current conventional bottle opener design isn’t exactly bad. It’s practical, easy to make, and leaves some room to use different materials for the handle. At the same time, however, they can be longer or bigger than they need to be, and the majority of designs are pretty uninspiring. There’s a reason why bottle openers are often stored in drawers, lying in wait until they need to be used.

This bottle opener design concept, on the other hand, is something you might want to keep on top of the table or the kitchen countertop even after you’ve used it. Rather than a long handle and a head with a hole in the middle, the concept uses a dome for the opener and a sphere for the handle. That means it also won’t take up space in the unfortunate event that you do want to put it away.

More importantly, however, this spherical bottle opener becomes more than just another tool in the drawer. Because of its interesting shape, and the fact that it can stand upright, it becomes a sort of decoration that adds some aesthetic value to your table or kitchen. It can even be used as a paperweight to keep paper napkins from flying away.

In theory, it doesn’t lose any of the benefits of the traditional bottle opener design. The ball-shaped handle can still be made from different materials that can change its character. It might be questionable, however, if the design provides the same leverage as a conventional long handle does, but it probably wouldn’t take too much effort to pop a cap.

The post Spherical bottle opener concept adds a playful touch to your dining table first appeared on Yanko Design.

Spherical bottle opener concept adds a playful touch to your dining table

Many of our everyday tools at home have designs that go back decades or even centuries. Although they might not be inherently broken, there’s no reason why they can’t be changed or improved as long as functionality isn’t compromised. Just taking a look at the dozens of screwdriver designs and laser-based measuring tools shows there’s definitely room for improvement and experimentation.

The bottle opener, for example, has a head that provides the actual functionality and a handle that adds leverage. But what if you can ditch that long handle for something more interesting but equally useful? That’s what this concept design tries to offer, resulting in a version that’s not only functional but also decorative when not in use.

Designer: Younghyun Kim

The current conventional bottle opener design isn’t exactly bad. It’s practical, easy to make, and leaves some room to use different materials for the handle. At the same time, however, they can be longer or bigger than they need to be, and the majority of designs are pretty uninspiring. There’s a reason why bottle openers are often stored in drawers, lying in wait until they need to be used.

This bottle opener design concept, on the other hand, is something you might want to keep on top of the table or the kitchen countertop even after you’ve used it. Rather than a long handle and a head with a hole in the middle, the concept uses a dome for the opener and a sphere for the handle. That means it also won’t take up space in the unfortunate event that you do want to put it away.

More importantly, however, this spherical bottle opener becomes more than just another tool in the drawer. Because of its interesting shape, and the fact that it can stand upright, it becomes a sort of decoration that adds some aesthetic value to your table or kitchen. It can even be used as a paperweight to keep paper napkins from flying away.

In theory, it doesn’t lose any of the benefits of the traditional bottle opener design. The ball-shaped handle can still be made from different materials that can change its character. It might be questionable, however, if the design provides the same leverage as a conventional long handle does, but it probably wouldn’t take too much effort to pop a cap.

The post Spherical bottle opener concept adds a playful touch to your dining table first appeared on Yanko Design.

The Nissan Dodgy looks like a pod-vehicle designed for terraformed Mars

Henry Ford famously said about his car “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” The car itself was a big shift from horse-pulled chariots that existed before, and it took a shift in thinking to achieve the cars we have today. Look at the Nissan Dodgy concept and it looks like the next paradigm shift in transportation.

The Nissan Dodgy by Burov Design resembles a car no doubt, in that it has space for a driver and runs on four wheels, but it visually looks nothing like the cars we see on the roads. For starters, it’s dominated by an unusual affinity for spherical forms. The car itself is spherical in shape, and even has spherical wheels that rotate in all directions, giving the car freedom to move in any direction without rotating. (Remember the Audi RSQ from the film I, Robot?)

The car’s spherical cabin provides ample space for one person, with a panoramic windscreen that stretches all the way to the top, and large glass panels on the doors that give the Dodgy’s driver increased visibility in almost all directions (perhaps because the car can move in multiple directions too). The dashboard features a standard steering wheel system, although a slight glimpse of it shows multiple icons on the wheel, suggesting that the steering is actually a circular display.

So where would one drive the Nissan Dodgy? Well, that isn’t entirely apparent right now, considering the car is just conceptual… but I do see it being the norm in a distant future where motors, batteries, and components can fit right into the underbelly of a vehicle, resulting in a smaller vehicle that’s less car-shaped and more pod-shaped. The overall circular design? That seems like an aesthetic flair… but something does make me think the pod would look better in a futuristic setup. Perhaps on a red planet?

Designer: Burov Design

The Luna Wash

The future of washing clothes foresees us putting the washing machine between the dirty clothes and not the other way around. Interestingly, the Luna is an electrostatic spherical washing machine where the metallic sphere loads a little dose of water and is placed into the pile of dirty clothes. It then creates a cloud of fine particles of steam electrostatically charged. The steam oozes out through pores of the metal surface, wrapping and pervading all the fibers of the clothes.

This is how it works:

  • Luna flows between clothes through vibrations and pulses that control their movements, to scrub and shake tissues, detect dirt foci and detach it.
  • The metallic surface of the sphere acts as a magnet: electrostatically charged, attracts dirt particles impregnated with steam and sucks these towards the core of the sphere.
  • Finally, Luna dries with hot air the residual damp in the tissues.

Luna is 2014 Electrolux Design Lab Top 100 entry, you can vote for this or any other entry here. Voting closes on May 16, 2014.

Designer: Juan Camilo Restrepo Villamizar

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(The Luna Wash was originally posted on Yanko Design)

Related posts:

  1. Luna Time
  2. Luna, Future Robot Overlord?
  3. Wash And Dry At Once







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Mighty morphing hexapod bot is back, now rolls with the punches

Image
It's been awhile since we last saw Kåre Halvorsen's morphing hexapod ball-shaped bot, and in the interim it picked up some new tricks. Before, the MorpHex could only maneuver by scurrying around on its six legs, but now it can move around while still in spherical form. It works by periodically protruding its polycarbonate panels to get rolling, and it stops and turns in similar fashion. Additionally, it's learned some nifty new dance moves and acquired the ability to flummox small children. Don't take our word for it, though, see the thing in action after the break.

Continue reading Mighty morphing hexapod bot is back, now rolls with the punches

Mighty morphing hexapod bot is back, now rolls with the punches originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Apr 2012 04:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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