Toyota has announced the five winners in the ‘Ideas for Good’ Challenge, which invited consumers to repurpose Toyota technologies for use outside of an automobile. The winners all receive their choice of three Toyota vehicles, The Highlander Hybrid, Prius, or Venza, along with the opportunity to participate in a rapid prototyping session to fully develop their idea. For the prototyping Toyota is joining forces with Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and Deeplocal experts for a rapid three day session, starting June 2 of this year.
Consumers were given task of rethinking Toyota’s five major break-through technologies: Total Human Model for Safety (T.H.U.M.S.), Solar Powered Ventilation System, Hybrid Synergy Drive (HSD), Advanced Parking Guidance System, and Touch Tracer Display.
A winner was chosen from all categories based on the public’s vote. And the winners are:
• Building a Better Bike Helmet: Inspired by T.H.U.M.S., this idea uses Toyota’s technology to assess the strengths and weaknesses of current bicycle helmets and improves upon these designs to protect riders from traumatic brain injuries.
• Pure Air: Using the Solar Powered Ventilation System, this idea proposes a way to draw smoke from huts in developing nations, ultimately providing improved health conditions in an environmentally-friendly way.
• Power Plant Gym: This idea was inspired by Toyota HSD technology to convert the energy exerted at a gym into electricity. Connecting exercise equipment to a system of resistance cords and turbines, users would put electricity back into their local power grid simply by working out.
• Automated Firefighting Extension Ladder Guidance System: This idea uses the Advanced Parking Guidance System to increase efficiency and precision in emergency situations, reduce risk and decrease the amount of time it takes to accurately position a firefighting ladder.
• Touch Tracer Mouse, Keyboard & Monitor: By integrating Toyota’s Touch Tracer Display into a computer mouse, keyboard and monitor all in one place, this idea allows users to easily toggle between the mouse, keyboard and numerical pad while the heads-up display shows them exactly where their fingers are in relation to the keys.
“The caliber of submissions was impressive,” said Bill Fay, group vice president of marketing for TMS. “The winning ideas truly re-imagine existing Toyota technologies in ways that continue to improve quality of life and positively impact the communities in which they might be used. We look forward to bringing these ideas to fruition alongside the winners and our partner organizations next month.”