ORBIS Cycle: Your Answer to the City’s Traffic Jams

The most frustrating part of living in a city are the countless traffic jams that occur on almost every street you seem to go, and the ORBIS might be the new age solution to this new age problem. ORBIS is the modern compact electric vehicle of the future; A single wheeled self balancing vehicle to reduce the traffic congestion in the city.

ORBIS is an eco-friendly vehicle similar to the Segway Scooter which runs on an internal hub motor powered by lithium ion batteries, proving a boon to the environment. Weighing about 25lbs and made completely out of aluminum it has a top speed of about 22km/hr. The wheel could not be compromised on in any way, so as any ingenious design would have it, they made the other parts to fold up around the wheel. This makes the ORBIS extremely portable and easy to carry, not to mention the parking is a lot easier too.

Slightly resembling the Segway, the ORBIS is a completely new design such as the Segway GM and has a new gyroscopic stabilization device that enables it to stand upright on only one wheel. Long gone are the days when one would be stuck in traffic for hours and thus contribute to the global warming phenomenon. Thanks to the new and improved ORBIS we can provide the future generations a healthy planet.

Guess what? you do not have to be a well trained unicyclist to ride this thing either, it’s so advanced that it can balance itself!. The perfect Geeky Motor Vehicle.

Solar Powered Security Courtesy Light

The Solar Powered Courtesy Light is a perfect solution for lighting dark passages and walk-ways at night time. During the day, the solar panels charge the internal batteries. At night, the light switches on when you walk past its 100 degree motion detection field. When the light is triggered, it gives you 60 seconds of light to see where you’re going. The LED light is so bright that you get up to 8 metres of light too.

The kit is completely isolated, so you don’t need to do any wiring to the unit. The light is affixed to a wall with rawplugs and screws, but detaches quickly and easily via a secure lock. This means you can use the solar lights in shaded passage ways, as long as you charge the light up in bright sunlight once a week. The light output is roughly equivalent to that of a 60W light bulb, so its pretty bright!

The Security Light measures (H)15.5cm x (D)15cm x (W)11cm. Each light is available for £19.95 each.

Turn Your Water Bottle Into A Solar-Powered Lamp

The LightCap 200 is a smartly designed solar-powered light that converts standard-sized water bottles (such as those made by Nalgene®, Camelbak® and GSI®) into a useful and safe lamp.

The LightCap 200 is a great little green gadget, completely waterproof, uses no batteries, and weighs only 74 grams. The LightCap uses four small but bright white LEDs that switch on automatically when it gets dark. The LightCap is screwed onto a water bottle filled with water and will diffuse the light if the water is sufficiently cloudy. Adding a fruit squash or cordial to the water will turn the light different colours too.

If you need a supply of water or light in an emergency, you have both!

Blight

The sun provides us with energy every day. How can we use it directly for indoor applications? Blight is an optimal indoor lighting solution that is able to replace current lamps without any need of electric supply. With Blight we have not produced a new object; we have just created the design of an everlasting product: the Venetian blind. We use all the current functions of this object and add a little technology to give it a new function – to catch solar energy and convert it into electricity.

This solar blind creates a link between indoor and outdoor, taking the daylight during the day and giving it back at night. The advantage of the Venetian blind is to have a large surface exposed to sunlight in a small, cumbersome object. With the revolving blades we can follow the course of the sun in order to catch a maximum of energy. Moreover we can adjust the position of the lamp to obtain various lighting effects. The produced energy can be used to supply a computer or other devices, by means of an inverter.

The object will combine two newly-discovered technologies: Flexible solar cells, and electroluminescent foil which requires little energy. Blight is durable and ecological because power cables are not needed and solar power is clean. This improved Venetian blind could be used in the household as well as in office applications.

Zeer-FoodStorage

In Nigeria a simple device called a Zeer is used to store and cool food. It is incredibly simple yet effective method of refrigeration. A Zeer is made by placing one earthenware pot into another slightly larger earthenware pot. A layer of sand is placed in between the pots to which water is added. Then a damp cloth is placed on top of the pots. The water is drawn through the outer earthenware pot by capillary action. Evaporation of the water from the outside pot causes the temperature of the inside pot to naturally cool down.

A prototype was built to test if this simple method could be adapted for use in the modern kitchen. The results were positive establishing a temperature of around 10 degrees Celsius was attainable. Although this temperature is not suitable for storing foods such as meat and fish further research showed that it is perfect for a variety of fruit, vegetables and some other foods that are normally and incorrectly stored in a fridge or a cupboard. The project was then able to develop around consumer interaction, the overall aesthetic and the manufacturing restrictions of earthenware ceramic to create a new product solution that hopes to drastically reduce energy consumption required for storing food.

Wind-Helmet

Currently, green energy/battery rechargers appear to be one of the most intriguing greener gadgets, but they often have drawbacks. People who own a car can recharge their devices via lighter adaptor easily while driving to work, but people who ride motorbikes or bicycles to work may have difficulty. Although there are many green portable energy/battery rechargers on the market, they require cyclists or bikers to carry more equipment, reducing their convenience.

Wind-Helmet integrates the recharger into the safety helmet, allowing the cyclist and biker to carry fewer portable devices while at the same time providing a means for recharging their portable digital products (such as mobile phone, digital camera, MP3 player) while on the move.

The method of producing energy is similar to the modern windmill system, using wind to produce energy via the propeller and a motor embedded at the rear of the helmet. More energy will be stored in higher velocity rides. The helmet consists of a minimum of parts and components, and the top cover can be opened for necessary maintainance.

The Inlet-Outlet: Harnessing Energy from Everyday life

Nearly every room in our homes and offices has at least one electrical outlet from which we draw power for our gadgets and appliances. What if each of those outlets had an accompanying electrical “inlet” so that we not only drew power from the grid, but could also give some back? We already have solar and wind systems for homes, so why not extend this concept to all our habitable spaces through a system of integrated, easy-to-use plugs and inlets?

In addition to the inlet panels, adapter kits would be made available to easily convert common household products into energy-generating, inlet-ready devices. Applications include obvious kinetic sources such as exercise equipment, and emerging solutions such as cells that convert heat into energy. (Imagine a panel next to your oven or behind the refrigerator to capture the excess heat and convert it into electricity.) In more commercial settings, multiple inlets could be strategically placed. Your the local gym, for example, can become a mini-power plant by pairing each exercise bike to an electrical inlet.

Ultimately, the availability of an inlet panel/plug adapter kit system can encourage the development of new devices that harness energy to feed back into the grid.

Take-Away Sink

Whilst washing vegetables or cleaning the dishes we leave the tap open even though we do not need the water the whole time. Ordinary sinks make us lazy and add to the wastage of water. The “Take-Away Sink” is a flexible device that encourages the saving of water by enabling the re-usage of it. For example, Take-Away Sink offers the possibility to bring the nutritious water from cleaning vegetables to your plants without the need of an extra bucket. Further, it helps you to carry your laundry to the clothes horse after washing it by hand and there is no extra bucket that needs to be stored. (Often it’s too big for filling it conveniently in an ordinary kitchen sink anyway.)

The Take-Away Sink combines different components (like a swivel-mounted child step) which are movable, can rotate, or be removed to suit everyone’s requirements. The bucket rests on a slightly deepened base which can be used as a second sink when the bucket is removed. Consisting of spun aluminium, the sink is lightweight and therefore easy to carry; rubber handles add to the comfort.

RITI Printer

The RITI printer is an eco-friendly printer based on the concept of a new ink system. We focused on the ink cartridge since it is one of the problems when using a printer: it’s often difficult to replace, costly to refill, and can stain your hands if mishandled.

The RITI printer uses coffee or tea dregs. The user places the coffee or tea dregs into the ink case located on the top of the printer, then insert a piece of paper in the middle. Moving the ink case left and right will print your image, and as you draw on the paper, dregs inscript on the paper just like ink.

Using coffee or tea dregs as ink saves the cost buying ink, the burden of wasted things, and users’ work. Furthermore, since the user moves the ink case in order to make a print, the device doesn’t need electricity. Of course, you can smell a whisper of coffee or tea incense from the paper printed by RITI.

Use:

1. Insert a paper in the middle of the printer
2. Put the coffee or tea dregs into the ink case on the top of the printer
3. Move the ink case left and right as you draw on a paper
4. When the print finishes, pull out the paper from the printer and wash the ink case

Laundry POD

The Inspiration

While re-engineering and re-designing a salad spinner, we learned resourceful women were buying salad
spinners to wash their delicates. This sparked the idea that the salad spinner technology we innovated
could be used to create a portable, hand-powered laundry machine that would be far more appropriate
for the task, than a salad spinner.

The Result

The Laundry POD is perfect for the times you need to do a small load quickly but don’t want to waste
the energy or a trip to the Laundromat. It’s terrific for delicates and hand-washables. The spinning
action washes gently, rinses, and then extracts water to improve drying times.

The Benefits

- Eco-conscious
- No wasting of water and energy by using big machines for small loads
- Gray water can be re-used for watering plants, flushing, etc.
- Made from recycled materials
- Ideal for small “in-between” loads and delicates
- Can be used anywhere
- Saves trips to Laundromat and dry cleaner
- Big enough for a small load, but small enough for easy storage

The Laundry POD combines innovation and eco-conscious style to save energy, water and answer
the need for a quick, easy, eco-friendly way to do small loads.