Designer : Michael Rall

mPower consists of 2 units: Generation and Collection.

mPower Generation is a plant-shaped human-powered unit that produces electricity for immediate and future use. Users access their account using fingerprint recognition, stand on two pads at the base of the unit, and shift their weight from one pad to the other every ten seconds. The system, developed to take up the least amount of a user’s time and effort, can be adapted for the handicapped. A small portion of the electricity generated is used to power the interactive touch-screen at the top of the unit, which offers a broad range of informational services pre-customised by each user. The remaining majority of the electricity generated is sent to the city’s main power plant, to be used or stored. At their convenience, users receive payment for the electricity they generated by accessing their account at mPower Collection.

mPower Collection is a unit that, using the same fingerprint recognition technology, distributes payment and allows for account customisation to users of mPower Generation.

mPower taps into our greatest natural resource: people. Rather than expending energy to create more, mPower harnesses the excess energy we generate by providing a platform for individuals and companies to create electricity, make money, and improve lives. By offering payment to individuals, including those that are homeless, in exchange for a few minutes of minimal movement via a free-to-use system available to everyone, economic and environmental sustainability and empowerment is made available by involving citizens in generating what has become one of our most essential needs: electricity.

mPower units are established by electric companies. Businesses pay electric companies to advertise on mPower Generation touch-screens; these ads are geared to individuals who previously expressed interest in particular products/services as per information entered upon account set-up, thus negating . This negates the need for expensive market research, PR and advertising campaigns. Electric companies pay consumers for generating electricity via mPower; these payments are competitive with fees paid by consumers for power provided by the same electric companies.

The base of the unit consists of two pads, each mounted on a hydraulic cylinder. The cylinders are connected by a micro-hydro turbine. When a person steps onto one of the pads, the resulting pressure forces fluid from one cylinder into the other, causing it to rise. The more a person repeats the movement of shifting his/her weight from one pad to the other, the more electricity is generated. This system can be replaced with piezoelectric pads or other technologies as appropriate.

In addition to the exercise users get while generating electricity, they can also benefit from services available on Generation’s interactive network, including news, community events, traffic information, public transportation information, calendar, time, date, music, weather, radio, product and service information, mobile device charging, internet, widgets, city maps, games, phone calling services.

mPower fits into our daily activities and ways of life without disrupting them. Generation and Collection units can be placed on, in, or near streets and pavements, public transportation waiting areas, airports and other areas where waiting is involved, parks and community areas, schools and universities, libraries, common areas in apartment blocks, and countless other places.

The concept of mPower can be modified to fit into homes, casinos, gyms, phone booths, internet cafes, and wherever generated energy can be used as direct power or in exchange for services and products such as climate control, public lighting, charging mobile phones and other devices. Other generation methods can also be implemented, such as walking, pedaling and running, see-sawing, swinging, and using body weight/heat. The possibilities are endless, sustainable, and empowering.

Designer : Sofian Tallal

On demand the airship can be steered in the aspired direction. The vertical shape and a fold out stand allows landing in many areas far from airports. People can travel to exotic and untouched places without leaving traces. The concept is not about a fast arrival but about sensibility to the environment and traveling.

Designer : Christopher Ottersbach

Designer : HappyBicycle via SlipperyBrick

Press Release :

Toyota Develops Personal Transport Assistance Robot ‘Winglet’
Aug 1, 2008 Tokyo — TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC) announced today development of the “Winglet”, a personal transport assistance robot ridden in a standing position.

The Winglet—still being refined—is one of TMC’s people-assisting Toyota Partner Robots. Designed to contribute to society by helping people enjoy a safe and fully mobile life, the Winglet is a compact next-generation everyday transport tool that offers advanced ease of use and expands the user’s range of mobility.

The Winglet consists of a body (with a projected area the size of an A3 sheet of paper) that houses an electric motor, two wheels and internal sensors that constantly monitor the user’s position and make adjustments in power to ensure stability. Meanwhile, a unique parallel link mechanism allows the rider to go forward, backward and turn simply by shifting body weight, making the vehicle safe and useful even in tight spaces or crowded environments.

TMC has created three models, the “L”, “M” and “S”, each having different handling features that allow consumers to select a model appropriate to their needs—from “practical” to “hands-free sporty”.

TMC plans various technical and consumer trials to gain feedback during the Winglet’s lead-up to practical use. Practical tests of its utility as a mobility tool are planned to begin in Autumn 2008 at Central Japan International Airport (Centrair) near Nagoya, and Laguna Gamagori, a seaside marine resort complex in Aichi Prefecture. Testing of its usefulness in crowded and other conditions, and how non-users react to the device, is to be carried out in 2009 at the Tressa Yokohama shopping complex in Yokohama City.

TMC is pursuing sustainability in research and development, manufacturing and social contribution as part of its concept to realize “sustainability in three areas” and to help contribute to the health and comfort of future society. Toyota Partner Robot development is being carried out with this in mind and applies TMC’s approach to monozukuri (”making things”), which includes its mobility, production and other technologies. In a related development, TMC unveiled the “MOBIRO” mobility robot, designed for use in a sitting position, in 2007.

TMC aims to realize the practical use of Toyota Partner Robots in the early 2010s by furthering its robotic development and strengthening collaboration between industry, government and academia.

Source : Toyota

The Blue Planet building site is in Copenhagen, at the island of Amager, right at the coast of Øresund, north of Kastrup Havn, close to the Copenhagen Airport, and viewed from a plane the whirlpool shape will show in its full. Approaching on the ground, one will experience the building as floating in a circular reflection pool, and a walk through its interior is a travel through several organic worlds.

Designing The Blue Planet, the architects team was indeed inspired by nature, says principal of 3XN, Kim Herforth Nielsen. “We wanted to stage a totality of the experience one has visiting an aquarium. The starting point was this magnificent experience of actually watching fish in their element. We wanted to create that adventurous feeling, and we took inspiration in the natural phenomenon of the whirlpool or maelstrom drawing you into the deep. A sculpture at the coast it unites the natural elements of water, air and earth.”

Thus situated in the borderland between the worlds of Poseidon and Zeus, the walls and roofs form a single, continuous flow and are clad in a way which emphasizes the wavy outline of the building, thereby telling a story of this union. The first and longest of the whirlpool’s arms follows the shape of the landscape and the building, moving into the land.

Entering The Blue Planet, the building will convey a sense of the special experience that awaits them inside. Here, the whirlpool has pulled you into another world – a world beneath the surface of the sea. If you tilt your head backwards, you understand that you are really a part of this aquarium because the roof above the foyer is made of glass, and at the same time it is the bottom of a pool. High above, through the pool water, you can see the sky with sunlight being reflected in the water and forming flickering, shimmering sunspots on the floor and walls of this light, welcoming and at the same time mysterious entrance area.

The Round Room is a center of navigation in the aquarium, and this is where visitors choose which river, lake or ocean to explore. Each exhibition has its own face towards the Round Room, each with its own entrance, starting with a buffer zone – a platform where sound and images are used to introduce the atmosphere communicated in the ensuing exhibition room.

Raised a few meters above the terrain, The Blue Planet is a reflection of strong coherence; greatness in the smallest of things, all water in the world being inextricably linked, from the enormous forces of tsunamis to the infinitely tiny, spinning molecules. Overlooking the Øresund, the building connects land and sea, drawing both the great outdoors and visitors inside.

In the landscape, the great whirlpool continues through the terrain, the pools and the sea surrounding the building. Like watery currents, the building is not static – the movement continues into the future by virtue of always allowing possible extensions to add more, simply by letting the lines of the whirlpool grow further out.

Designer : 3XN via Bustler

The basic concept that works on is that a parent can use to locate or keep a track of the child in a crowded location. It has 2 components, a bracelet, which is worn by the child containing a transmitter module that works at a range of up to 100 feet, and the other part is a watch style bracelet which is worn by the parent. This part receives the child’s signal and indicates the direction and the estimated distance on a small LCD display.

Not just that, with this one can keep a track of their child and also set a safe radius of distance as and when the child goes out this comfort zone, the same is indicated on the parent’s along with direction. Thus this gadget is very helpful for all those parents who would like to keep an eye on their kids at all the time.

Designer : DContinuum

That’s not all, with additional features such as video player to make sure that you don’t get bored on the way. You can also play games in there and get entertained all the time, it also has an electronic boarding pass concept and the touch screen enables the traveler to access port information. It provides an easy method to know everything and anything about your flight. It also can be used my more than one user at a time as it is accompanied by duo headphones. It also has a stackable charging system and can be charged by an alternate power source.

Have a nice journey!

Designer : Mason Bonar

Designer: Igor Gurovich, Anna Naumova & Eric Belooussov via yankodesign.com