This is ecological design of a completely different sort than our last post. And product design at its most beach-like. The bikini, part of a student project displayed at the ITP Winter Show, "cools your beer and charges your iPod! (With a USB connection!)." ITP, incidentally, is the Interactive Telecommunications Program in the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.
Says, Andrew Schneider , the creator: "The suit is a standard medium-sized bikini swimsuit retrofitted with 1" x 4" photovoltaic film strips sewn together in series with conductive thread. The cells terminate in a 5 volt regulator into a female [of course!] USB connection."
I suppose the engineering design process involved three steps:
1) What are the top three things I daydream about?
2) How can I combine these interests?
3) Solar-celled bikini.
(This is the part of the post where the second bikini was gonna be posted.)
Here is the "User Scenario" (because I know you were wondering):
The suit is worn like a regular bathing suit. Wear it to the beach, find a nice spot in the sun, get out your iPod and plug in to the retractable female USB connection sprouting discreetly from the hip. As soon as your iPod is all charged up, cool that frosty beverage that's been warming in your bag by plugging in the beverage cooler (peltier junction) to the same USB connection. It couldn't be simpler.
Onward and upward? This one somehow offers a strange juxtaposition to yesterday's "women in science" article in the NYT that Tara posted about and that deserves wider attention: i.e., the women and science issue is a subset of the women and society issue, and the iBikini has something to do with the women and society issue.
Comments
Giving them the benefit of the doubt-maybe bet they went with the bikini top because of the smaller surface area to cover with photovoltaic cells-cheaper and easier. Also, unless they've figured out a crush-resistance, bottoms could be tricky...But why not a unisex baseball cap? Or umbrella?
...social implications aside, what if it gets wet?
Actually, maybe the two go together-the designer assumes the wearer (female) would have no interest in the water, surfing, etc...just at the beach to look pretty and listen to the ipod....
Posted by: Robert | December 20, 2006 3:39 PM
Great stuff hehe :)
Posted by: Global Warming | February 9, 2008 12:34 PM
Fantastic post!
Posted by: Photovoltaic Cells | April 28, 2009 7:20 AM
Your good pix of your swimsuit model are actually beautiful. Realize that you have done an admirable job accounting for the latest styles for 2010 and beyond. The summer time is certainly going to be at this point prior to when we know it and we can almost all be in search of bathing suits which includes versions in most of the blog. Sports Illustrated basically announced the actual bathing suit edition and also we will all be struggling to find bikinis like the bikinis of this report.
Posted by: Coy Wysocki | February 6, 2010 2:32 AM
Great post, but what happens when you turn over on your stomach to tan your back?
Jill
http://www.BuySolarPoweredLights.com
Posted by: Jill | June 9, 2010 7:48 PM
I had so much fun reading through this website!
Posted by: Rufina Quintano | September 21, 2010 11:04 PM
Ich war unlängst in eim Möbelgeschäft und habe mir ein Schrank aus Folie gekauft. Das ist fei echt super und verbessert die Wohnung! Hat einer ein Trick wie ich dort eine Schrift hinmalen könnte? Herzlichen Dank!
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Posted by: Louis Linn | November 25, 2011 3:26 PM
Thanks!
Posted by: John Doe | January 29, 2012 9:32 PM