Designers in the region have submitted their ideas and concepts for the fourth Audi Innovation Award, responding to this year's theme 'Simplification’.
By proposing design solutions to impact the way an object is made, used, moved, or stored, the simplest products can enhance our quality of life by offering the luxury of more time – our most precious resource. The Audi Innovation Award aims to stimulate designers to propose everyday products that are simpler to use, to transport, that use less material or energy to be manufactured, or are easier to operate or store.
The winners of the Audi Innovation Award receive mentoring, publicity and up to $25,000 investment in the winning innovation, as well as a trip to visit the Audi Headquarters in Ingolstadt, Germany.
Following the jury session last month, the shortlist of 6 projects up for the award has been announced, with the winner being announced at Dubai Design Week 2019 within the Audi Innovation Hub.
BENTOS - Ahmad Alameh & Hadi Nassar
Bentos is a super polymer using nanotechnology to hold heavy weight, the innovation is in the cuts applied to the textile allowing it to become rigid when bent and become flexible when contracted. The cut pattern is applied to slits in the textile acting as stoppers when pressed into a particular angle. The resulting material can be used in various applications on the body to support movement, prevent overextension, and bear weight – ideal for athletes, elderly, injured, craftsmen and builders.
Aqua-Vision - Alaa Hammouda
Aqua Vision is a futuristic diving mask allows scientists, rescuers, workers and the visually impaired, to see clearly underwater. The innovation is within existing dive masks by integrating a triple camera system, a dual LCD display and control system into the lenses to correct the diver’s vision and supply supplemental information into the lens display.
Portable Date Harvesting Machine - Mustafa Al Hussain
A portable harvesting robot is designed to substitute the intensive labor required to harvest dates from palm trees. The robot is able to scale the trunks of palm trees irrespective of the diameter, whereby a remote control is manipulated by a user on the ground to cut date branches and place them in harnesses suspended to the body of the robot, and descend to the ground.
Stouff - Marie-Lyne Samaha & Anthony Daher
Stouff is the modernized traditional Lebanese stove. Baboor, Stoof, Soobya, Wjek, are all names referring to the staple of Lebanese living rooms. The Stouff has always been a multi-purpose central element used to cook a meal, brew tea but essentially heat the home, its social function plays a more significant role in that it brings families together.
Pincher - Twelve Degrees
Pincher is the physical interpretation of the cooking phrase, “a pinch of salt”. Rather than shaking salt and pepper out of a dispenser, the process has been represented through the motion of pinching a lightweight silicon device whereby the opening of the nozzle is precisely the amount that would be released from between your own fingertips. This allows the user to control the flow of seasoning for a simpler and more intuitive user experience.
Di_Wrapp - Omar Al-Dimassi
Di_Wrapp is a patented digital skin for the automotive industry. The skin is adhered to the surface of any vehicle body and can be transformed through the use of a mobile app. This interface serves as a billboard for advertising, alerts, general information or for personal customization. Given the number of vehicle surfaces in our urban environment, this opens up a new horizon in communication.