Idea 1:

DOW Health: Sensimed Triggerfish

Speculative Design

Idea:

In future, eye check ups can be done by online ordered contact lenses/store bought lenses, that help to check one’s degree and eye health. Data can be assessed through a site that allows users to view their results. Should anything unusual arise, one can send their data to an eye specialist to receive feedback or notification if they need further physical check ups.

The item is a pair of contacts with sensors and detectors, packaged neatly in box. Users can easily purchase them, sparing them the trouble of having to go to an optical shop to get check ups. In addition to being to tell one’s degree, one will also be able to check their eyes for any problems such as cataract or glaucoma.

How to use:

When wanting to check one’s eyesight or eye health, simply order it online to get it delivered to your home, or go to a nearby clinic to purchase a set of these contacts.

Put on the contacts and wear them for a couple of hours to allow it to gather the essential data it need to help the user. If the user has degrees, they would need to wear spectacles for the day.

After wearing them, one can access their data through the QR code on the box, and then typing in a code for each special pair of lenses to get their individual data.

Should anything arise, they may choose to contact a specialist and book and appointment.

This device allows users to basically check their eyes while continuing their usual daily lives, without anything seeming out of place apart from some who have to wear glasses for the duration. It would be a new step into the future where most things, such as check-ups, are integrated into our lives seamlessly, with little disturbance to the usual activities of one’s day.

People can do check ups anywhere they like, easily, and as mentioned in my post for the DOW, medicine may also end up being distributed in the same seamless way.

 

Idea 2:

DOW Sensory: SensArs’ SENSY

Provotype & Speculative

Idea:

Prosthetic or Limb Sleeve that make u move the opposite of where you want to go to, changing our usual intuitive movements to one we have to make a conscious effort to do. It is meant to be an annoying device, but also serves as an interesting experience in allowing users to feel how it is like to not be able to move their limbs without much thought. Users have to take time to learn how to walk again, like how prosthetic users usually require large amounts of time to get used to their prosthetic.

The device is a simple glove to be worn tight-fittingly, with sensors at the essential points to move the users arms with neuromuscular electrical stimulation. A headband with sensors attached will also worn by the user to note how they initially intended to move, so that the device may make them move otherwise.

How to use:

Users will wear the sleeve and the headgear, then just “move around as they would like to”, though the device funnily prevents them from doing that exact same thing.

 

This device is not only made on provotype grounds, but also speculative design, as I am unsure if there currently are means to do this with quick and instant relay. The device has to capture the intended movement of the user and instantly send pulses to go the other way. One potential way is to train the device the different pulses needed to move in a certain direction and call these pulses when the user’s neural messages say to go a particular direction.