From teleport fridges to flying water catchers to robotic greenhouses on Mars, Electrolux announces this year’s top eight Design Lab finalists in its global competition themed “Designs for the next 90 years”. View photos of the eight finalists chosen to compete for first place in Electrolux Design Lab ’09 finals in London on 24 September 2009, at 100% Design London, the UK’s leading architecture and design event. We must say some concepts are pretty out there and it is great that new innovations still receiving support in current economic climate. A jury of internationally-recognised designers will judge the entries and select the winners.

In Design Lab’s seventh edition and in honour of the Electrolux 90-year anniversary, the brief was to create thoughtfully-designed products that will shape how people prepare and store food, wash clothes, and do dishes over the next nine decades. This year over 900 entries were submitted from undergraduate and graduate industrial design student in over 50 countries.

The 2009 finalists are:

1. Cocoon by Rickard Hederstierna, Lund Institute of Technology, Sweden
Intelligent food to save the planet “Cocoon” is a sustainable response to the world’s growing population and its desire to eat meat and fish. Similar to heating popcorn in a microwave, Cocoon prepares genetically-engineered and pre-packaged meat and fish by heating muscle cells identified by RFID signals. The signals detect a specific type of meat or fish and then suggest the required cooking time. This process utilises science to create food, lifting a burden on the planet by reducing the need for further intensive farming and fishing. The negative effects of this process, including the mass transportation of food around the world, clearing of land and distortion of ecosystems, are then negated.

2. Le Petit Prince by Martin Miklica, VUT Brno, Czech Republic
One small step for robots, one giant leap for mankind “Le Petit Prince” is a robotic greenhouse designed to facilitate future exploration and population of Mars. Le Petit Prince takes care of the plant it carries inside its glass which is mounted on top of its four legged pod. In search water and sun, the robot is programmed to care for and learn about the optimal treatment for the plant. It also reports its movements and progress to its fellow greenhouse robots via wireless communication so that they can learn from each other.

3. Moléculaire by Nico Kläber, Köln International School oDesign, Germany
Print and eat Nico Kläber takes the marriage of science and cooking to a new level with “Moléculaire”, the molecular food printer. Moléculaire is influenced by chefs that scientifically and painstakingly experiment with food and food states to surprise and provoke fresh ideas in cooking. Nico recognises that this approach, as it currently exists, requires great skill, time and knowledge. The Moléculaire simplifies the process and acts as a cnc-food-printer for both professional and domestic kitchens. It autonomously prepares basic and otherwise difficult to create two and three dimensional parts of meals. It works with a layer by layer printing process using small particles from diverse ingredients. This provides simplicity, accuracy, repeatability and, of course, great tasting food!!

4. Naturewash by Zhenpeng Li, Zhejiang University, China
Washing in the great outdoors “Naturewash” is a waterless washing machine that uses negative ions to wash nano-coated fabrics. Horizontal in shape, the washing machine has three touch-screen settings: cleans clothes, add grass scent, and add flower scent. A user can lie or sit on Naturewash to clean or refresh the clothes they are wearing. For a more thorough clean, clothes can be placed flat on the washer.

5. Renew by Louis Filosa, Purdue University, USA
Steam cleaning coming to a wall near you “Renew” is a smart steamer that refreshes and cleans clothes. With two steam blades, Renew “blasts” garments clean. An infra-red scanner and RF ID gather information about a garment from specifically designed clothing tags. Renew is safe to use and disables the steamer if an unidentified object is detected, like a hand. An OLED touch screen allows the user to interact with Renew and learn about their clothing. At 25% the size of a current washing machine, Renew conserves space and is made of recycled aluminium and glass.

6. Teleport Fridge by Dulyawat Wongnawa, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand Beam me up… Scottish ham Dulyawat Wongnawa envisions a time when the technologies found in science fiction become realitspecifically teleportation. His concept, the “TelepoFridge” teleports food, eliminating the time and distance a person has to travel to buy fresh groceries or products from a store or farm. Using
touchscreen technology as the interface for the teleportation process, the Teleport Fridge simply teleports food to compartments in its refrigeration and freezer units.

7. Water Catcher by Penghao Shan, Zhejiang Sci-tech University, China Flying rain catcher and water purifier Penghao Shan has created a product that addresses two growing issues over the next 90 years: water shortage and an ageing population. Her solution is “Water Catcher”, a flying rain catcher and water purifier. This automated device dispatches small flying balls in the air to catch
rain drops. After the rain drops are collected the balls return to a homing tray that purifies the water for drinking. Once purified, the balls take the drinking water directly to a person to be drunk. The homing tray also reads finger prints to determine what additives should be added to the water to ensure the drinker optimises their health.

8. Bifoliate by Toma Brundzaite, Vilnius Academy of Art, Lithuania
Wall mounted dishwasher putting away those clean dishes from the dishwasher is often a tedious job. That’s why Toma Brundzaite has designed “Bifoliate”, a space-saving, wall-mounted double dishwasher that allows the user to put dirty dishes in one compartment and use the other as a shelf for clean dishes. The dishwasher uses ultrasonic wave technology to clean making it more efficient and eco-friendly than today’s dishwashers.

Design Lab 2009 First Prize includes 5,000 Euro and a six month paid internship at one of the Electrolux global design centres. The Second Prize is 3,000 Euro and Third Prize 2,000 Euro. Previous themes and venues include: Designs for the Internet generation, Zurich, 2008; Green designs, Paris, 2007; Designs for healthy eating, Barcelona, 2006; Designs of the future, Stockholm, 2005; Designs of the future, New York, 2004; User-driven solutions, Budapest, 2003.

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