Athlete, actor and activist Aimee Mullins talks about her prosthetic legs — she’s got a dozen amazing pairs — and the superpowers they grant her: speed, beauty, an extra 6 inches of height … Quite simply, she redefines what the body can be.

After the talk, several TED.com members looks for new designs that will make artificial limbs available to everyone who needs them. They found an inspiring example from industrial designer Tillmann Beuscher. He built a temporary artificial leg made of cheap materials to “support world-wide victims of land mines and explosive remainings of war”. His design was a winner of the 2009 iF concept award. Check out pictures of the design and the limb at work here. — Bonnie Burkeand the limb at work here.

the concept of a temporary prothetic limb, to support world-wide victims of landmines and explosive remainings of war, became awarded the iF concept award 2009 out of 3200 international entries!

About TedTalk

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.

TEDTalks began as a simple attempt to share what happens at TED with the world. Under the moniker “ideas worth spreading,” talks were released online. They rapidly attracted a global audience in the millions. Indeed, the reaction was so enthusiastic that the entire TED website has been reengineered around TEDTalks, with the goal of giving everyone on-demand access to the world’s most inspiring voices.

We all want to make the world better — but how? Jamais Cascio looks at some specific tools and techniques that can make a difference. It’s a fascinating talk that might just inspire you to act.

About Jamais Cascio

Jamais Cascio follows the threads of civilization’s intended (and unintended) consequences into an unpredictable future, bringing back glimpses of a green world wired beyond our wildest dreams.

About TedTalk

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.

TEDTalks began as a simple attempt to share what happens at TED with the world. Under the moniker “ideas worth spreading,” talks were released online. They rapidly attracted a global audience in the millions. Indeed, the reaction was so enthusiastic that the entire TED website has been reengineered around TEDTalks, with the goal of giving everyone on-demand access to the world’s most inspiring voices.

Deadline: 31 may 2009

The world of materials is developing swiftly and becoming increasingly complex. Designers have known for a long time that the success of a product and its design also depends on the right choice of materials. Pioneering materials can provide functional, aesthetic and production-related impulses. At the same time, engineers and developers are inspired by design requirements to develop new materials and technologies.

To highlight this interrelation, to demonstrate the importance of materials for industrial design-oriented applications and to establish a platform for designers, material manufacturers, developers, engineers and producers for a get-together, MunichExpo has been organizing the MATERIALICA Design + Technology Award for six years. The main focal point of this award is on aerospace, automotive, engineering, sports and technical consumer goods.

Categories and evaluation criteria – Student Award

Categories

Material Category
In this category newly developed or already existing materials can be submitted. In demand are pure materials, for which no applications must have been found.. Also technical materials that are bound to serial production are suitable. A material sample with information on the most important material properties is required. for the jury meeting.

Product Category
This category is for products from all sectors of the economy that are already in production and in which new or familiar materials and material properties are innovatively applied (conductive, luminous, energy-storing, material-saving etc.) Original products or prototypes and scale models are required for the jury session; an accompanying material sample is desirable.

Surface & Technology Category
This category is dedicated to new production processes and novel surfaces. For the jury meeting, contestants need to submit a description of the production process or surface, supported by a material or product sample. An example of use is desirable.

CO2 Efficiency Category
In this category materials, products, surfaces, technologies or processes can be submitted, that are demonstrably reducing CO2 emissions. This may occur e.g. by savings in material components, lower energy costs in manufacturing or processing. But also raw material conservation, recycling or the reduction of manufacturing steps contribute to relive the environment.

Evaluation criteria

These criteria apply to all categories:
- Design quality
- Level of innovation
- Visualisation of use
- Orientation on target group
- Depth of elaboration
- Choice of material
- Environmental compatibility
- Usability
- Functionality
- Ergonomics

- Safety

For more information, please refer to http://www.materialicadesign.com/

A 3D curve sketching system that captures some of the affordances of pen and paper for professional designers, allowing them to iterate directly on concept 3D curve models. The system coherently integrates existing techniques of sketch-based interaction with a number of novel and enhanced features. Novel contributions of the system include automatic view rotation to improve curve sketchability, an axis widget for sketch surface selection, and implicitly inferred changes between sketching techniques. We also improve on a number of existing ideas such as a virtual sketchbook, simplified 2D and 3D view navigation, multi-stroke NURBS curve creation, and a cohesive gesture vocabulary. The system was designed by Seok-Hyung Bae, Ravin Balakrishnan, and Karan Singh. For more information, please refer to http://www.dgp.toronto.edu/~shbae/ilovesketch.htm

NeuroSky has created a wearable biosensor allowing users to control electronic devices with their minds. A red wire feeds brainwaves into a patented device that turns them into commands. The device uses a series of emotion-based algorithms to allow users to push and pull objects (virtual or external) based on an attention or meditation rating. For example, users can levitate virtual objects with a strong meditation rating, or push/pull objects with a strong attention rating.

Their technology allows users to control just about any mechanical system. They plan to expand into brainwave-read robots for the elderly and disabled in the future, as well as diversify their command suite to include more emotions and subtle movements such as eye blinks. For more information, please http://www.neurosky.com/