BIO ROBOT FRIDGE

The concept of using a box to cool food is one that’s been in existence since the mid 1700s and one that’s not going to change any time soon. One thing that may change by the year 2050, however, is the way that food is cooled.
Electrolux Design Lab holds a yearly competition to create home appliances, and each year there’s a particular theme. The theme for 2010 was “The 2nd Space Age,” where students were tasked to redesign household appliances  for the year 2050 that will not only take up less space but also use less energy, both of which will be at a premium in the future. All products have to stick with “Scandinavian Design values,” which Electrolux says includes environmental sensitivity, intuitive use, and pleasing to the eyes. Think IKEA.
Russian student Yuriy Dmitriev came up with the Bio Robot Refrigerator which uses a “biopolymer gel through luminescence” to keep its food cold. This device doesn’t look like a normal fridge with a door and separate compartments. The Bio Fridge would be made of a lime-green-colored odorless non-sticky gel that literally morphs around each item placed into the fridge. It looks like something out of a 90s Nickelodeon commercial or something you’d expect to see in a sci-fi flick. When you’re ready to get your food, you simply reach through the gel and grab the product.

It’s just one large piece of gel surrounded by a frame, so there are no drawers or doors. It can be hung vertically, horizontally, or even on the ceiling, which seems a little strange, but if we’re really going to be so hard up for space in 40 years, it may be necessary. The Bio Fridge is four times smaller than a normal-sized fridge. It also doesn’t have any moving parts, which means you’ll no longer hear that annoying hum of your old fridge when you’re trying to sleep at night.
In the second video below, Electrolux design director Lars Erikson says that the fridge “encapsulates the objects” and the gives it the right temperature to keep each object cold. Erikson says that we’ll probably need to have products that are more decorative since we won’t have the space to hide them away in the future. Skip to the 1:03 mark in the first video to hear about the Bio Fridge.
Though this is still a concept, it will be interesting to see how the Bio Fridge shapes up in the future. At least you’ll be able to see everything in your fridge in plain view so you won’t wonder what that nasty smell is for days and finally go searching through your fridge and find that old block of cheese rotting in the back.
The deadline for the 2011 competition was Sunday, May 1, so we should be seeing some new designs soon. The theme for the 2011 competition was “Intelligent Mobility,” so let your imaginations run wild with that one.