When social distancing was first introduced as a measure to prevent corona virus infections, it was clear that not every person practised it properly or even at all. That is a situation that potentially can be endangering to people who are more at risk from the corona virus. To help people visualize and become aware of the importance of social distancing a duo of industrial designers operating under the name of The Incredible Machine built the Social Distance Thing.
For anyone with some technical skills, this is an easy to make laser pointer that marks a circle of the desired distance on the floor around you. On the website Instructables.com a step by step construction manual guides you through the process of making a Social Distance Thing yourself.
Transparent Charging Station
Harm van Beek en Marcel Schouwenaar, the founders of The Incredible Machine, earlier received a Dutch Design Award for their design for a Transparant Charging Station, a system that visualises how the charging of electric cars is prioritized. In future, when there will be so many electric cars that they can't be charged all at the same time, charging algorithms will decide which cars will be charged first. Van Beek and Schouwenaar figured that in time it will be neccessary to have a transparent communication about the algorithm's decisions.
