Cody Soodeen started out as an architect, but after studying biomimicry, became a product designer instead. Soodeen, who originally hails from Pennsylvania, learned about a bug called the Namibian Desert beetle. Evolved to survive in a harsh, arid environment, the beetle collects water from the air to survive. It angles itself partially upright to capture morning fog. Moisture collects on its bumpy wing surface, eventually forming into droplets that roll down its wings and straight into its mouth.

Image: © Hans Hillewaert, CC BY-SA 3.0

Inspired by the beetle, an obsessed Soodeen spent a decade creating Kara Pure, a freestanding air-to-water device. While its beetle contents are zero, the object uses dessicant technology to absorb water vapor from the air, then sterilizes it, ionizes it, enriches it with minerals (calcium, magnesium, zinc, lithium, selenium, strontium, and metasilicic acid) and finally passes it through a carbon filter. The result is clean, healthful drinking water.

Soodeen's company, Kara Water, launched the Kara Pure in 2021. User feedback has been positive, with one persistent complaint from city dwellers: Size. The Kara Pure is over 42" tall and weighs 71 pounds, a big ask for apartment dwellers. Cost also kept it out of the reach of many, as the asking price was $4,900.

Soodeen subsequently developed this Kara Pod, a more affordable 13-lb object roughly the size of a coffee maker.

For good measure, the more compact Kara Pod not only pulls a gallon of water a day out of the air, but can also brew coffee using Nespresso pods.

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The Kara Pod has been successfully Kickstarted, with 28 days left to pledge at press time. Units start at $459 and are expected to ship in October.