wanted your help for an idea

[psycho_fling]

Hi

For a uni interview i have to design either a product to make cleaning more efficent or a new transport design - all for the year of 2050

i'm pretty stumped by this the 2050 element is the hard bit

just wondering what for you are the problems with transport devices or cleaning products which i could then work on

would be great to have your help

alex

[cliveb]

The problem i have with my cleaning device is the bad moods and constant changing of her mind.

[woody]

You need to extrapolate the probable advances in the technology related to your proposed product .

Battery size / cost / efficiency and Artificial inteligence in the year 2050 might perhaps make a house keeping robot possible and practical....cost wise ...and you could even programme it's mood

[muchalucha]

id have a look into roomba's for the cleaning thing , there very futuristic and theres certainly room for improvement , the noise battery life , stupidity.

[RogueTwoRobots]

I'd opt for the new transport design but rather than designing a vehicle, I'd go for a different approach and discuss the transport infrastructure of the United Kingdom and its need for serious improvement. On a small-ish scale, I'm talking major cities whose roads struggle to deal with rush-hour traffic yet intend to accomodate a severe influx of commuters brought on by the staging of a major international events in only a few years; on a larger scale we're looking at a country whose major transport services and links are brought to a standstill by a few inches of this new phenomenon called snow (well it must be new as there appears to be no plans in place to deal with the onset of such weather conditions)

OK, so that might not be quite what the uni are looking for. But whatever category you choose to design for, consider future developments:

Components: size has decreased dramatically over the last decade allowing for much smaller products to be made. But things can't continue to get smaller and smaller so the chances are by the end of the next decade, things will have stopped decreasing in size since they will be as small as they can possibly be.

Materials: obviously it's difficult to predict how materials will develop in the next forty years, or what new materials will be discovered, but one of the main aims of material choice is getting the most strength out of a material for the lightest weight.

Technological advancements: currently we've got full electric cars, hybrid cars etc all lining up to be the future of environmentally friendly (at least more than current fuel cars) personal transport. Some technology is still in its infancy, and there is currently not a country-wide infrastructure in place that makes it just as easy and quick to charge your electric car as it does to fill a petrol tank. But think about what developments could occur or may have occured in the next forty years; hybrids/electrics could have achieved a high level of performance, making them as flexible as petrol cars. Petrol cars could even have significantly decreased in numbers by then.

Obviously no one knows how things are going to develop in the future, but if you look at the pattern of developments in the past, use that to predict how things might develop in the future and then explain to the uni that your design is based upon your idea of how things may develop, it should provide you with a solid presentation.

And on a side note, I'll be 63 in 2050 - two years off retirement

[geeza]

It is possible that a room temperature superconductor may be discovered by 2050. This, if it could be produced cheap(ish) and be made in to wire, could produce electronic devices that use very little power making electric cars a very realistic thing.

[frag]

How about building in some global warming, adding the stp superconductor, and changing the 'need for speed'.

Haulage by futuristic airship, a the balloon skin made from an aerodynamic superconductor solar cell powering very efficient motors. Energy consumption is in manufacture and maintainence only.

[psycho_fling]

thanks guys

got some things to think about now i appreicate the help