2019 Galleries

The Spark Gallery pages are one of our most popular design destinations, with thousands of visitors each year. Check out some of the latest Spark entries, in the galleries below.

Cobalt

Finalist

Competition: Spark:Product
Designer: Yves Behar & Fuseproject Design Team
Design Type: Electronics—telecom, mobile, AV, PCs, tablets., Imaging & Photography, Robotics, Security, Privacy, Sensors
Company / Organization / School: fuseproject
Website: http://fuseproject.com
Team Members: Yves Behar, Qin Li & Dan Semo

As robotics and AI touch more areas of our daily lives, the role of the designer is to make these technologies accessible, augment our abilities and create our best possible future. The Cobalt founders came to us with a robot that has the intelligence of a self-driving car and advanced sensing and computational skills. By designing the robot in ways more akin to office furniture, with a friendly interface and brand, we saw an opportunity to improve workspaces and their security in a way that utilizes both humans and robots. Cobalt is a rented service alongside human security guards; its autonomous capabilities make an office space safe while also providing concierge and information services. Creating the right form for Cobalt was crucial to its successful design. The balance between approachability and discretion was a thematic challenge throughout the design process. We decided that the robot should not adopt a humanoid personality, but should aesthetically align with the décor of the office environment. Cobalt is a stark contrast to the Hollywood dystopian Robocop – its design discreetly fits into its environment and provides a platform to grow with our needs. Cobalt is taking workplace safety to the next level.