Change the Channels with your Eyes

daisypope
Jun 23, 2019
5 min read

One of my favourite things about design is the ability to change people's live who are living with disabilities. This week Comcast have releases a remote control that can be controlled by your eyes for those who have disabilities such as ALS. We also have packaging you can plant, cyborg plants, a new timber material and lighting decorated with coffee grounds.

Comcast Eye Remote Control - From Multichannel

Eye-controlled Remote Control

This week Comcast have unveiled at remote control that can be controlled by using your eyes. The control has been developed for people who have disabilities such as ALS and muscular dystrophy. You must be thinking, what state of the art equipment does this amazing invention require?... Well it doesn't. The control is simply made from an off-the-shelf eye-tracker, a tablet/computer and the Comcast internet connected Xfinity X Cloud DVR, making it accessible and inexpensive for everyone to use. The eye tracker is connected to a table or computer using a USB port and the user logs in to their Xfinity account which then shows the interface on the users screen. The interface uses all the same buttons that your standard remote control has. The user simply has to calibrate their eyes on the first use and can then stare for a few seconds at the button they want to press. When your eyes are focused on the button you desire a small magnifying glass appears to show where your gaze is directed. After a few more seconds looking at the button the computer will select the button you are staring at which will feedback to the TV to do what you desire. I think designs like this can be revolutionary. Innovation at it's best, and really it's quite a simple idea. What other applications could this idea have? Perhaps opening the door for you using your eyes, pressing the buttons on the lift, or even flushing the toilet? This technology really has the possibility to change the lives of those living with disabilities and can give them a great sense of independence. See more at https://www.fastcompany.com/90364476/comcast-unveils-a-remote-for-changing-channels-with-your-eyes?partner=rss&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss?cid=search

Packaging that Grows

We are always told to recycle as much as we can. In fact with the new crack down on single use plastics recycling seems to be more relevant than ever. More and more companies are trying to swap plastics to paper. However, all this encouragement to recycle has me wondering, how does recycling actually affect the environment? Is it really as good as we are made to believe? Well I'm not the only one with these thoughts, Greek Designer George Bosnas questions this too. In fact he believes that recycling is a high energy and costly process, so in response he has created Biopack. Biopack is an egg bx that is made from clear paper pulp, flour, starch and biological seeds. Rather then recycle the packaging after use the consumer can plant it, and within 30 days the seeds will sprout in to legume plants. The idea behind the packaging is to create something that doesn't need to be recycled and that can help the environment at an even deeper level. It would be interesting to see what other foods could be packaged in this way. Perhaps vegetables and fruit?.... It is certainly a great idea, but maybe you'd run out of space in our garden. Or what if you didn't even have a garden?... Biopack highlights the idea of alternatives to just recycling packaging though and perhaps it could benefit the environment even further. See more at https://www.designboom.com/design/george-bosnas-biopack-sustainable-packaging-06-14-2019/ .

Cyborg Plants

Nature is good for you and technolgoy can be bad for you... apparently. Put your phones away and go outside in nature and enjoy the plants to clear your mind. But what if the plants are the technology? Even more, what if the plant is your phone? Researchers at MIT have create cyborg plants that can sense what is going on around them and display this as a notification to the owner. Cyborg Botany has been created by placing the plant in a beaker of water-soluble polymer ProDOT. The plant absorbs the water and polymer which creates a conductive wire through the stem of the plant. This allows the plant to be connected to external devices to create a sensor or alert. The plant could sense a person or even pet walking past it and send a notification to the home owner. Another bonus of using plants is that they are self-repairing and regenerating. You wouldn't need to get a plant's screen replaced or buy a new charger for it. I could be useful to leave your phone in your bag whilst working, and perhaps when an important notification comes through the plant will move around to notify you. It would look fairly inconspicuous and is a lot less distracting that having your phone buzzing every 5 minutes. I'm not sure exactly how useful Cyborg Botany will be but it is certainly and interesting concept to merge organic material and technology. See the video at https://www.dezeen.com/2019/06/17/mit-researchers-engineer-cyborg-plants/ .

Wooden Textile

This week Tesler and Mendelovitch have debuted their results of a 10 year project to create a flexible timber. They have transformed planks of timber in to a flexible and sculptable material suitable for a number of applications including interiors and furniture. The timber has been created with a diagonal cross-hatching on the surface to make it flexible. They material is available in a variety of flexibility and finishes which cater for a large range of customers and their needs. It is envisioned that the material will be used not only for intricate interior curves but also sculptures, furniture and even clothing. This project is a great example of where perseverance wins. After ten years a very innovative material has been created that will certainly be beneficial to many, particularly in interiors. It would be interesting to see new applications of the material as it reaches the consumer market. See more at https://www.designboom.com/design/tesler-mendelovitch-bendable-3d-wooden-textile-sculptural-interiors-06-18-2019/ .

Flexible Timber - From Material District

Coffire

Have you ever thought about reusing or recycling your coffee grounds once you've finished with them? Sometimes I use mine as a body scrub in the shower, but that's as far as it goes. However Designer Zhekai Zhang has used discarded coffee grounds as a sustainable method to colour lighting pendents. The pendents are made from a high quality white porcelain which are fired at a low temperature of 700-1000 degrees. The coffee grounds are then applied to the fired porcelain. The biodiesel and sugar in the coffee grounds oxidises on the porcelain to create a reddish colour and and forms a random texture, making each lighting pendent unique and one-offs. Traditional methods of colouring ceramics are often toxic also and use a wasteful sand pit firing technique. Where as coffee grounds are not harmful to the environment and use a kiln firing technique which reduces waste. Overall Coffire is a sustainable way of colour ceramic and creating a very interesting colour and pattern. It would be interesting to see what other organic materials could be used to colour ceramics in this way too. See more at https://www.designboom.com/design/zhekai-zhang-coffee-grounds-color-coffire-porcelain-pendant-light-06-19-2019/ .