Lab+Six

Look over examples of her biomimetic principles applied to products in the slideshow located at and write a short, one paragraph synopsis for each of your three favourite product designs. Describe why you like the design in your responses.
 * Scrubbing Bubbles** refers to a Low-Energy Carbon Sequestration system that essentially filters harmful carbon emissions from waste gases. Although CO2 is often identified as a poison, it is actually an important building block used by plants and animals. Based on this fact, the industrial flue scrubber was created to mimic mollusks enzymes by sequestering carbon dioxide from waste gases and converting it into a non-toxic form. I like this design because of its ability to alter and minimize the effects of a harmful waste by-product on our environment. As Annie Leonard describes in the second stage of the Story of Stuff, production results in pollution as toxic chemicals are unleashed into the atmosphere. Thus Scrubbing Bubbles offers production companies the opportunity to responsibly reduce the impact of by-products from production such as carbon dioxide.

The **Sonar-Enabled Cane** is a high-tech cane that enables visually impaired individuals to navigate their space using sonar-like technology. This technology works in a manner that is similar to the way bats navigate in the dark- using sound to avoid collisions with objects in their surroundings. As a user walks along, the cane uses echolocation- emitting sound waves which sense objects or obstacles that are ahead of the person holding it. Feedback is provided to the user in the form of a tactile warning through the handle on the cane so that the user can avoid the object or proceed with caution. This product was selected because I like the way it facilitates and improves the experiences of visually impaired persons with their environment. Throughout society, designers often design products that improve the experiences of a majority of users, but there are some segments of the population with differences - that are overlooked such as those with disabilities.


 * Antibacterial Film ** is a product that prevents bacteria from colonizing by preventing microbes from communicating with each other. This product is different from antibacterial technologies because instead of totally killing bacterial microbes which may cause more resistant and harmful strains to develop over time, this film simply “jams” the signals between microbes so they are unable to gather and do any real damage to an organisms system. I like the concept behind the antibacterial film because it considers how those things which technology is designed to improve can actually have negative consequences. To avoid this, the designers of this antibacterial film have consciously created a product that addresses one issue (bacteria) without creating another (harmful superstrains).