Pop-Sci Core77 Design Challenge S p e e d - 1/20/03

Description of Design

While considering the various connotations of ‘speed’ in our lives, there were so many examples which we looked at in awe due to their advanced technologies and conveniences they provided. However, when we came back to the question of the need for speed, the essential quest, we realized that the culture of speed seems to have done as much harm in terms of poor health, broken families, and the such. The answer to the catch came from the philosophy of our country, which maintains that it is our response to our situations, it is the awareness from which we act that can bring peace to our hearts. And life has no meaning without peace, just like it would have no meaning if we didn’t overtake our achievements. To be aware when and where our minds wander, to be more loving towards our work and thereby be more productive, to forgive people when they are unaware, to be centered, to be… this is like meditation as we understand it. And the concept we have sketched is an attempt to help all of us in the endeavor to realize this centered state of being while we catch up with our wandering minds. TEN COUNT is attached directly to the skin and has a lifetime of about a week. It is water proof and stretchable. The plastic inner membrane contains the sensor membrane, which has three sensors embedded in it; the breath sensor at the solar plexus, just below the rib cage, is attached to the body first, followed by the sensors at the chest and stomach. The power for both the sensors and the thermoelectric strips come from a flexible wafer power source placed in the central membrane. Between the inner and central membrane we have the cooling zone above the stomach region. This is connected to the cool side of the thermoelectric device. Between the central and outer membrane we have the fragrance zone, above the chest region. This has the hot side of the thermoelectric device with a fragrance wafer directly on top of it. The fragrance wafer emits its aroma by absorbing heat from the thermoelectric device. The three thin plastic membranes are sealed together to form the product, TEN COUNT.