Zero-energy Bio Robot Fridge: the future of refrigeration?
February 14th, 2012
It’s amazing when you think about it – the design of the household refrigerator hasn’t changed very much since its invention in the 1930s. Sure, these days you can get side-by-side or upside-down fridges, but there seems to be no getting around they fact they’re big, bulky, and power hungry.
Russian designer Yuriy Dmitriev set out to revolutionise the humble fridge with the Bio Robot Refrigerator, which is 4 times smaller than a conventional refrigerator and does away with doors and shelves completely.
The Bio Robot features a biopolymer gel which is non-sticky, odourless, and cools through luminescence. When food is inserted into the gel it forms a sealed capsule which suspends the food and contains odours. Each individual item is kept at an optimal temperature by bio robots*.
Because there are no doors, drawers or motors, 90% of this appliance is dedicated to its intended purpose. The fridge can also be hung vertically, horizontally, or even on the ceiling.
Key Benefits
• No expenditure of energy for cooling products
• 4 times smaller than a conventional fridge
• Changes shape depending on how many products are being stored
• Can be positioned vertically or horizontally
• Biopolymer polyethylene gel is not sticky and has no smell
• Food is stored in plain view and is easily accessible
• Completely silent operation, no moving parts
Dmitriev’s design was one of 25 finalists in the Electrolux Design Lab competition, which is an annual competition open to undergraduate and graduate industrial designers. Entrants are encouraged to present innovative ideas for the household appliances of the future. The top finalists are invited to participate in a final global event and present their entries to a jury of high-level designers. The jury reviews the entries based on intuitive design, innovation and consumer insight.
More info can be found here.
* No, we’re not 100% sure what ‘Bio Robots’ are. We’re imagining tiny little dudes that look like Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz carting microscopic wheelbarrows of ice to where it’s needed.
Guess whose mum does not want want to use this company again!!!!!!
More relevant for me how long is a fridge supposed to lasT!!!!I in preparation for my retirement brought a Supposedly good fridge .Only used by me not always opened each day after $2,400 spent 3rd biggest purchase in my life! I am still waiting after 3 weeks for it to be repaired at $800. Not even the curtesy to tell me will take that long, 4 days to get what is called a quote, Not even told it will tale that long, so I could have stored my food! now I am scared to make an other purchase Fridges used to last The two I gave away trying to save space are still workingDoes it mean that a guarantee means 2year life expectancy. What a lot of land fill and wasted resources!
Hi Robyn, if you email our team on facebook@appliancesonline.com.au we will look into this for you.
Is this refrigerator already out in the the market? This looks so interesting. The advantage of using this is zero energy and don’t occupies space and the disadvantage is that we put bigger items.
Hi there, no this fridge is not currently on the market – it was a finallist in the Electrolux Design Lab competition.
I can think of another purpose for that gel. I wonder if they could do it.