LAYER believes the future of communication deserves a literal friendlier face attached to it. Unveiled in Barcelona at Mobile World Congress, the design studio worked in collaboration with Deutsche Telekom to materialize three near-future concepts in the form of a holographic home hub, a modular router, and a mobile smart robot. Under the collection name Concept T, each design is envisioned to soften digital interactions by adding tactile controls, AI-enhanced features, and even a bit of dimensionality via 3D holographic display.
Concept T aren’t just concepts but functional prototypes and we have had to be extremely cross-disciplinary within the LAYER team to deliver. Our technologists, engineers, digital and physical designers, and communications experts have worked together to create an immersive installation that is a showcase for the possible future of home connectivity.
– Benjamin Hubert, Founder, LAYER
First is Buddy, an intelligent AI-based companion and internet router on wheels. Buddy is designed to move around the home to deliver bandwidth where needed, alongside assistive services and notifications. The robot communicates via its circular user interface capable of expressing “emotion and information display,” a concept similar to Samsung’s Ballie and LG’s particularly emotive AI Agent.
View looks like a technologist’s crystal ball, one enhanced by current 3D holographic display technology to re-imagine Deutsche Telekom’s services into a dimensional video call experience. View is not just a one way display; equipped with smart depth cameras tasked to scan the user’s face, the person on the other side of a video call can see a dimensional capture of the “caller.” Additionally the cloche-style design conjures a human face for its AI-equipped “Emma” in the form of a 3D hologram to put a “face” on your virtual assistant.
Level veers beyond the current norms of what we typically imagine of an internet router into a more haptic approach to tech. The four modular element system includes a cylindrical display unit, WiFi-sensing element, mesh repeater, and computational module for Web3 use cases. The modular platform gives users the option to build a router bespoke to their daily internet-connected needs with abstract, almost plaything-like forms.
Prognosticating the future can be a fool’s errand, but all three fully functional Concept T prototypes explore communication technology at a softer level where our senses are already naturally attuned to feel comfortable – via our hands, eyes, and voice – transforming the impersonal into interactions that are almost human.
To learn more about advancements in this technology from LAYER visit layerdesign.com.
