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James Dyson Award finalists announced

James Dyson Award finalists announced
The 15 finalists in this year's James Dyson Award competition have now been announced
The 15 finalists in this year's James Dyson Award competition have now been announced
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The Pure UV sterilization water bottle
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The Pure UV sterilization water bottle
The Mantis portable dentist chair and dolly
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The Mantis portable dentist chair and dolly
The 15 finalists in this year's James Dyson Award competition have now been announced
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The 15 finalists in this year's James Dyson Award competition have now been announced
The Longreach Buoyancy Deployment System
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The Longreach Buoyancy Deployment System
The Wanderest lamp post seating system
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The Wanderest lamp post seating system
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The wait is almost over. From close to 500 entries representing 18 countries, the judges in this year's James Dyson Award competition are now pawing over the final 15 projects. Amongst the finalists are reader favorites as well as projects not yet featured in Gizmag. So, let's take one last look at all of the designs that have impressed the panel of experts, ahead of the winner being announced in early October.

The overall international winner of this year's James Dyson Award competition will be awarded GBP10,000 (US$15,470 at the time of writing) in prize money and a visit to a Dyson research and development center in either the UK or Malaysia. If the winner belongs to a university, then the department to which they belong will also receive GBP10,000.

Without further ado, and in no particular order of preference, this year's finalists are...

The Tablet Seed

Japan's Tablet Seed aims to make home vegetable cultivation as easy as possible by surrounding a foursome of seeds in a fertilizer coat and shaping the food parcel like a pill. The would-be horticulturalist simply plants the tablet in some available ground and waits for the bumper crop to appear.

The Wanderest by Nichola Trudgen

New Zealand's Trudgen says that the Wanderest was "designed to allow elderly people who need light exercise to stay healthy, break up their walks into manageable lamp post-to-lamp post distances." It's already taken a prize at the 2009 International Design Awards and been on show at the 2010 Imm Cologne Furniture Fair. More of the designer's work can be seen at her website.

The Wanderest lamp post seating system
The Wanderest lamp post seating system

The Copenhagen Wheel

Already a favorite with readers, MIT's Copenhagen Wheel electric hub was designed to give just about any ordinary bicycle electric assist. Of course, as you might expect from MIT, there's a lot more to this design than a big red disk in the middle of the back wheel - an array of sensors provide the rider with information relating the surroundings and can even inform owners if any friends are in the locale.

Riding the Copenhagen Wheel...

SeaKettle life raft

Another popular design is Kim Hoffman's SeaKettle life raft. As well as giving shelter from the cruel sea, this innovative raft also includes its own desalination plant that turns sea water into something drinkable.

Pure UV sterilization water bottle

Inspired by a trip through Zambia, where Timothy Whitehead saw the locals relying on chlorine and iodine tablets to cleanse water, he decided that there must be an easier and faster way of making water safe to drink. The Pure water bottle combines a filter and wind-up UV sterilization to make water safe to drink in a fraction of the time taken using tablets.

The Pure UV sterilization water bottle
The Pure UV sterilization water bottle

WaterDonut and UltraPipe

Another water treatment system, albeit a little larger than the Pure design, is the WaterDonut by Germany's Verena Brückner. Using something called the SODIS effect, water is disinfected by placing the two WaterDonut containers in the sun for six hours. Then the UltraPipe filters the water through a membrane.

Have a look for yourself:

REAX re-animation system

This system replaces manual cardiac massage with mechanical delivery that is said to result in a more efficient and evenly distributed experience. The Swiss designer reports that REAX "can be installed quickly by a single person on the patient and adapts to the upper body."

U.S.A.'s Mantis portable dentist chair

Industrial design student Lee Kenttämaa-Squires proposes a portable, lightweight dentist chair that doubles as a dolly for carrying bulky equipment. The Mantis is currently in working prototype form and is made from steel tubing and aluminum joints. The chair can be inclined and adjusted to suit patient need and also includes a moveable headrest.

The Mantis portable dentist chair and dolly
The Mantis portable dentist chair and dolly

Butterfly Micro-Scooter

Cool Butterfly

The Butterfly is a portable mobility solution that collapses into a handy, lightweight box-like unit when not in use. The designers say that: "while Butterfly is closed, it fits into any bag or backpack. By pulling the steering-knob, Butterfly pops open instantly and is ready to ride. After usage, push the two casings together and the folded plate disappears smoothly in-between the shell. This way dirt and bulky parts are elegantly enclosed inside the product."

Flo2w oxygen delivery system

Instead of having patients don a full-face mask when they are in need of oxygen, James D'Arcy's Flo2w system runs a breathing tube under the nose. The respiratory assist is secured by a headband and "integrates a new form of regulating oxygen in an innovative and easy way for both the patient and health care professional."

Move-it

Designed by the UK's David Graham, Move-It is a modular transport system that makes the process of carrying home those big screen TVs, hi-fi units or mini-ovens a lot less arduous. It's made up of a kit containing a couple of wheels that are attached to the outside of whatever cardboard box you happen to be hauling. A user then chooses from different types of handles to make the trip home an easier one.

Austria's BIQUATTRO cargo bike

Testing Biquattro electric bike-trike, in London, 2009

The Longreach Buoyancy Deployment System

The brainchild of University of New South Wales industrial design graduate, Samuel Adeloju's LONGREACH system shoots a water-activated buoyancy aid to someone at risk of drowning. Adeloju explains that: "It is designed to allow a victim to remain buoyant while rescue personnel prepare the appropriate response to the situation."

The Longreach Buoyancy Deployment System
The Longreach Buoyancy Deployment System

The Minotaur Fire Nozzle

Minotaur Fire Nozzle - Dyson Awards 2010

Air Free Intravenous Infusions

Air Free IV Infusions.mov

Now that you've had a chance to give all 15 finalists a thorough going-over, which project do you think will be crowned winner on October 5? We'll let you know the outcome as soon as it's announced...

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3 comments
3 comments
Facebook User
Not too impressed with the Dyson finalists. (A folding dental chair?) Gizmag has featured a whole whack of inventions more deserving of the award than most of these.
waltinseattle
1001 and one things I did not know i needed, and still don\'t believe i do. Plus a couple good ideas.

Seriously, if I need to exercise, but need to rest at each lampost, how in tarnation do they expect me to lug that \"chair along?

Remember the old ragman coming down the alley in a horsedrawn? I do. I will someday remember itinerant dentists lugging the chair down the street, calling out \"dentist! Need the service?\" and then , just as soon as he/she unloads the lugage and sanitizes things...I get to be street theatre. wowswer, who would have known the dentist was such fun. Personally I am concerned with the dentists technique, not his decor. My least favorite word at the dentist is \"ooops.\"

Portable colapsable scooter, for well paved sidewalks only. O gee. ditto the trike that cleverly has a place for a briefcase. Sure beats locking a bike downstairs, when I can lug it up the stsairs or ellevator. (what happened to \"baskets\" and racks? or does the current generation find them quaint? not!)
Anindya Roy
The Biquattro will be very difficult to ride like a bicycle at all. Anormal cycling speeds, two wheels so close to each other will neither allow natural banking on turns, and neither provide enough track width to keep the vehicle planted upright. What it\'ll do very well is scare the hell out of you, the rider. And it shows - the video carefully avoids showing any quick turns. Stick those two wheels bang next to each other, so they behave like one slightly wider wheel, and it would make much more sense to me.
Funny video for the butterfly micro-scooter, neat concept too. What keeps it from using slightly bigger wheels though? I wouldn\'t want to hit even a stray bottle cap on the pavement riding that.