The Looxcie vs Google Glasses

We live in the twenty first generation and life is all about communication and media now, this is an unarguable truth, every average being possesses an account to a social media, whether it is Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Instagram, WhatsApp, or even BBM. Everyone wants to share their life and experiences with their friends, family, and possibly the world! While the majority of people are still posting their pictures and uploading their videos to share their experiences with the world, two innovative companies have advanced their game and gave a new definition to ‘sharing your experience’, instead of a static photo or video, why not share your very precise second and have someone else experience it with you simultaneously?

That thought was definitely on the minds of developers working at Looxcie and Google because both of them have achieved just that and got ahead in the social sharing ‘rivalry’. However, only one of them can be the best in providing a friendly user interface for the user while offering the highest quality service in terms of design and utility. So which is better?

The Looxcie is a Small extreme definition camera that is more or less a cuboid with curved edges, the company sells many accessories that simply snatch on to the Looxcie and preform its respective purpose, examples of the accessories includes earphone adapters, latches to stick to a helmet, a shoulder guard with the camera attached on it, parts that hold your Looxcie making it a car’s head-cam, etc… Ultimately the Looxcie’s purpose is to latch on to absolutely anything and record the experience. Using is with the smartphone app enhances the experience, you are able to use the app and alert a partner of your initiation of an activity, and they will simply follow your message and spectate you live. With a Looxcie you can also record the experience directly into cloud so that at a later given time you will be able to edit and cut and post it on a social site.

But at the end of the day, it remains a simple cuboid yet sustaining a sense of elegance, the finishing on the product was perfected. Its simplicity is what permits it to be manipulated and adapted to other ‘holders’ and that is a big bonus for the user. The user will be able to wear the Looxcie is whatever preferable way; a business man could stick it in his ear as an earphone to look stylish and professional while remaining on social connections. A Biker could stick it to his helmet since he wants the Looxcie for its utility not looks. A dancer could attach it so some part of their body that does not interfere with their dancing and such. There are even adaptations to allow it to picture underwater experiences! However, the Looxcie’s durability is questionable, it’s small figure and shape makes it look very fragile but there are versions of this Looxcie that make it a “rugged”(2) durable cam. “The Explore features a much more solid build quality, built with rubber, durable plastic and what looks like some form of metal (but is probably plastic, as well)”(2) “Everything feels very sturdy and in place. I never felt like it was going to break on me or like I was being overly rough with it.”(2) In terms of safety, it’s difficult to imagine a situation in which the Looxcie could bring any harm or injury since it is so lightweight.  The Looxcie has no internal memory but there is an external memory slot for convenience of active users.  The battery life is 1.5-2 continuous hours of footage, which is not very pleasant to hear. Looxcie’s price is 200$-250$.

What about Google glass then? Google class is an interactive set of glasses you wear. It could be thought of as an alternative to smartphones minus the applications. It responds to “ok glass, (Command)” hence it is possible to activate recording and other Glass features by simply talking. The glasses themselves look very futuristic which could be a good thing and a bad thing together; it is arguable whether its design looks sensible to wear in our generation. Some might call it amazing and innovative, while others might say they look like something out of a sci-fi movie, and would be embarrassed to wear one. Perhaps if it was more commonly used people wouldn’t feel so bad about it and start using it (thus causing a worldwide revolution in the way we live!)

Design wise the glasses look like a state-of-art creation.  A top rim that holds everything together made of malleable material and is resistant to breaking, the rim attaches to a cutting-edge gadget on the right side; A Cuboid extending from the eye till the ear, everything that runs the glass is stored here and is elegantly presented without all the complication bursting outside. “it’s rather simple” (3). This ‘cuboid’ is a full touch pad. From its tip the glass itself is seen as well as a miniature camera attached relatively close to it. The microphone is hidden somewhere in this ‘cuboid’. Aesthetically the Google Glass appeals to most people (newer generation to be more specific). No one has reviewed the design as flawed or ugly, rather, reviewers enjoy the experience but feel uncomfortable getting “Looks” (4) from people since it looks out of place. In terms of utility for sport-men it might be an issue as the glass might slide off the users face and fall off, though the design is durable, the ‘cuboid’ might not be. Any damage taken at that point will cause the glasses to malfunction.

With respect to the ‘recording life’ aspect, Google Glass seems to have an issue with the video recording, video recordings cannot exceed a certain limit so it will be unable to record for long durations as opposed to the Looxcie. Nevertheless, the Glass maintains a longer battery life than the Looxcie, the question now remains, which is better at recording life experiences?

The answer is Looxcie! Its simple design enables it to adapt to many different situations as well as record extreme High quality videos while streaming them at the same time! The Glass is only capable of a limited time of streaming and it has a certain fixed shape and place, your face, it cannot be worn anywhere else. Another reason Looxcie wins is its aesthetics; even though it lacks the sophisticated-yet-simple look of the Google Glass its simple design looks consistent with our current generation trends, or in other words, it does not look out-of-place to wear. Surely it lacks the battery time but it is also dramatically more affordable than the Google Glass. Plus, there is a sense of insecurity in the presence of a Google Glass, it is unknown by the people what the user could possibly be doing with the Glass while looking at them, meanwhile the Looxcie usually looks disguised in some way and at most times people don’t realize it’s actually a camera till they take a closer look, even then it’s unknown If the camera is on or off but the sense of insecurity is a absent.

Perhaps in the future the Google Glass will take lead by becoming more affordable to everyone, but until then, the Looxcie will be the pioneer of recording live experiences.

 

References:

http://www.looxcie.com/products/cams/ (1)

http://phandroid.com/2013/05/14/looxcie-hd-review/ (2)

http://www.google.com/glass/start/what-it-does/ (3)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2409512/Google-Glass-review-John-Humphrys-Just-Id-got-grips-smart-phone-.html (4)

ERO – CONCRETE RECYCLING ROBOT!

Demolition is a very chaotic business which involves using heavy-weight machinery and TNT to demolish the structure almost instantly, releasing a colossal amount of harmful dust into the air, usually in cities, which is very serious issue as it harms the pedestrians and at times the workers themselves. It similarly leaves behind residual material such and concrete, steel, tiles, and iron framework. The process involves using a lot of energy and releasing a lot of CO2, and leaving behind tons of waste that is sent directly to landfills. Who has the time to go through such a mess in attempt to salvage recyclable material to be reused when you could save your time and simply go buy more material for cheaper?

A student from Sweden’s Umea Institute of Design, Omer Haciomeroglu, came up with a revolutionary concept. The ERO Concrete recycling robot! The idea put forth got gold place in the IDSA IDEA Design competition. The concept was released in July 2013, subsequently, there has been no real-time use of the product since the concept was only released very recently but chances are, the product use will be implemented on a large scale within the coming years.

So what is this robot exactly? And why is it so ground-breaking? Well, imagine disassembling a whole building without leaving a single trace of its existence. It sounds too good to be true however it is possible! Thus I introduce the ERO Concrete recycling robot:

The ERO Concrete recycling robot is capable of efficiently disassembling entire buildings (concrete structures specifically) without leaving any residue or material behind. The robot is placed near the to-be-removed structure and it strategically creates an optimal route to break down the entire building. It begins by cracking the concrete walls with high-pressure jets, the arm design elegantly fits the jets and the suction tube together in one part, this way the machine is extracting all the concrete that is being broken, shooting water jets, and at the same time reabsorbing the water. All the absorbed materials are then filtered through the machine’s complex interior. The water is recycled and the concrete is filtered from dust and packed on the spot into bags prepared for re-processing and reforming at the factory. What remains is the iron framework and windows which are manually disassembled by the construction team and sent off to factories for reprocessing or immediately available for reuse!

Generally the rubble from demolitions had to be thrashed by pulverizes then sent to plants for packaging and reforming. “In order to overcome later separation and ease the transport of materials,” writes Haciomeroglu, “the process had to start with separation on the spot. It was a challenge to switch from brutal pulverizing to smart deconstruction.” (1)

Not only is the utility of such a concept remarkable but its design is magnificent! The entire product is nothing but a small mobile machine that can become compact and be stored effortlessly. The design features an extendable three-pivot-arm which consists of a ‘forearm’, ‘arm’ and a ‘hand’. Having such a similar idea of the human arm, it is able to extend, compress, sweep and is capable of doing every human arm action in terms of extensions and pivoting but without the human limits.

 

The body itself is conveniently designed to store only the engine inside it and nothing else, the engine is connected to the arm (source) and a pipe that extends to the trucks where all the concrete is stored. Finally the ‘legs’ are possibly the most noticeable part of the design, they consist of several balls that are aligned along a rod and covered with tank-like interlocking shells. The shells are used to keep construction debris / equipment out of its movement system and similarly to a tank it is able to move on any terrain without harming the machine. The legs also have a pivot point which allows the robot to raise its-self upwards or lower itself depending on the situation. Also its ability to draw its legs in makes it a very portable product when it is trying to pass through hallways and doors, easing the process for the construction workers.

Nothing is known of the materials or prices yet since it remains a concept but such a design has solved many of the issues that the current demolishing procedures retain. The only negative outcome perhaps of using this method of disassembly would be the time consumed for the process to be completed. However, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages thus it only makes sense for this concept to be depicted into reality within the soon future.

References:

http://www.core77.com/blog/idsa/2013_idsa_idea_winners_our_gold_faves_omer_haciomeroglus_ero_concrete_recycling_robot_25186.asp (1)

http://inhabitat.com/amazing-ero-concrete-recycling-robot-can-erase-entire-buildings/ (2)

http://www.architizer.com/blog/ero-concrete-recycling-robot/ (3)

http://www.core77designawards.com/2013/recipients/ero-concrete-recycling-robot/ Picture Source

http://www.yankodesign.com/2013/08/06/this-robot-sucks/ Picture Source

Eco-resilient design and sustainability have always been neglected throughout history, only recently has mankind acknowledged their importance and effectiveness in our everyday life and their impact on the environment. Ever since the rise of renewable energy, mankind has invested and worked restlessly towards research, experiments, and analysis to enhance and modify their knowledge of renewable “Green” energy. Due to energy becoming overused and generally wasted, engineering design pioneers work towards designing the ‘Sustainable structure’, a building or structure that is capable of producing and sustaining energy all by itself, and throughout the past decade many concepts and ideas were put forth, some even built into reality, one of which was the Shanghai tower.

The Shanghai tower is a structure that is under-construction, projected to be completed sometime in 2014. It is located in Shanghai, China. Upon completion it will be the second tallest structure in the world only bested by the Burj Khalifa of Dubai, UAE. The Shanghai tower was designed by an American architecture firm, Gensler; a global sustainability-leader in the field of sustainable design and engineering.  With their proposal they featured many new-concept eco-resilient features that make the Shanghai tower stand out amongst the world’s most eco-resilient structures.

Its eco-resilient strategy features a unique spiral design that reduces wind load on the building by “24%”-(1), by reflecting and resisting wind by the external structure alone. The building uses “25%”-(1) less structural steel than that of a building with similar height and that is a quite intriguing feat. By only altering the outer appearance the company was able to lower building costs bringing benefits to both the investors and the environment by consuming less material and being ‘in sync’ with nature as much as possible while remaining an industrial product.  Not only does the spiral design reduce wind load and building costs, but it also lowers electricity bills by its unique facade. The external alignment of advanced re-enforced glass (double-facade) reflects a great amount of heat consequently lowering expenses and need of cooling-systems within the building. Furthermore, the structure also features a very exceptional form of heat management; geothermal energy resources. This is a new adaption to be used on buildings. The geothermal heat management in the building relies on heat absorption from the surroundings to some extent, and the competent use of the flow of air at high altitudes to control the overall heat of the building.

The design also features several wind turbines (Vertical Axis) that are placed at optimal position around the peak of the tower, this renewable energy form will be used to power the building partially (Not completely) and will serve as a secondary means of energy-resource in the structure.

I personally find the entire project fascinating, the technologies and methods used are all cutting-edge innovation, and I can tell that the designer was very ambitious with the spiral design and he pulled it off not only making it look elegant and sophisticated, but also very technical and striking to the highest of expectations yet remaining a relatively ‘Green’ structure. Upon completion this skyscraper will be a masterpiece, an icon, and standard to all skyscraper projects that will follow.

http://inhabitat.com/interview-genslers-chris-chan-on-the-sustainable-shanghai-tower-asias-tallest-skyscraper/  (1)

http://www.prc-magazine.com/shanghai-tower-future-living-today/ (2)

http://www.gensler.com/#expertise/services/13 (3)

http://www.dexigner.com/news/16360 (4)