#HTE
1-Hour Design Challenge: Sex Toys of the Future
2016 is the year of the intelligent sex toy.
Once simple products focused solely on ergonomics, sex toys are now enhanced with highly advanced technologies. For example, KIIROO is a teledildonic system that allows long distance couples to simulate intercourse through identically choreographed motion-enabled sex toys. We recently wrote about Comingle’s Mod, an open-source multivibrating dildo. Another sophisticated tech gadget on the market for women is Elvie—"your most personal trainer"— an exerciser meant for strengthening kegel muscles. Women can insert the device and play a game on their phone that responds to the pelvic pressure applied during kegel exercises (these exercises can lead to better orgasms and even improved posture). As the sex and tech become more intertwined, how can we reimagine these products in order to foster better relationships between individuals and make for a more realistic sense of intimacy?
For our latest 1-Hour Design Challenge, we ask Core77 readers to design a sex toy concept for 2050, one that incorporates current or speculative technologies in order to imagine the future of product-enabled intimacy.
How would you design smart sex toys of the future? Connect a vibrator with a dating app for long distance love with strangers! Or maybe it’s a hologram that could also simulate a person’s touch (through robotics? Complex electro-currents?)! The only thing holding you back are the limits of your own imagination and the length of your lunch hour.
Share your ideas and you can win some awesome sketching gear to feed your drafting habit along with homepage glory! Make this Valentine’s Day “sex-tacular” and get to sketching—you’ve got one hour and counting!
Challenge ends on February 24th at 11:59PM EST
ENTER NOW
Two ways of entering your ideas:
1. On the Core77 Discussion Boards
Sign in to your account (or if you don’t have one, create a new account)! Post your sketches and comments on the 1 Hour Design Challenge discussion board.
2. On the 1HDC Facebook Group
Login to your Facebook account and post your sketches and comments on the dedicated 1-Hour Design Challenge group.
Judging Criteria
All entries in compliance with terms and conditions will be judged using the following criteria:
LEVEL OF INTIMACY
We want to think about how intimacy can be improved through technological advancement—how well is this addressed within the design? Does it seem like something that will garner a closer sense of intimacy between ourselves or with the individual using the product? Does the product feel like something that could possibly exist and succeed in the year 2050?
CRAFTSMANSHIP
As this is ultimately a sketching challenge, we want to see your drafting skills. How well rendered is the object? How much is line, shading, and color taken into account?
ORIGINALITY
Perhaps most important in a challenge like this is that unknown factor that brings wonder to designers and consumers alike—how original is the concept? Does the concept contain an interesting element that will put smiles on thoughtful designers’ faces?
Meet the Jury
We have three impressive judges working in the fields of product design, robotics and sex toy design lined up to evaluate your future sex toy concept. Our judges’ expertise range from ergonomics to high concept sensitivity.
• Dan Chen, Designer at MIT Media Lab and robot enthusiast focused on the intersection between robotics and intimacy
• Judith Glover, Industrial Designer and Professor of ‘Future Sex’ sex toy design course at RMIT in Melbourne, Australia
• Jon Winebrenner, Designer and 1-Hour Design Challenge Guru
See full Terms and Conditions here.
Here’s what you can win:
GRAND PRIZE — The Studio Desk Set - $300 Prize Value!!!
RUNNERS-UP— The Work Shop Set - $100 Total Prize Value!!
This article is part of the Core77 Sex-tacular, an editorial series exploring the myriad ways that technology and design are shaping the future of intimacy and sex.
http://www.core77.com/posts/46450/1-Hour-Design-Challenge-Sex-Toys-of-the-Future