R1 Radio
November 10, 2009 // Design + Technology





Designers Sam Hecht, Durrell Bishop and Andre Klauser have come up with a concept radio called the R1 Radio that was intended to help the blind. The radio, instead of having traditional knobs and a readout telling you the station, is all contained in one tiny box with four small wheels mounted underneath. The wheels control the tuning and the volume, making it easier to fine tune a station or change the volume level.

This is something on par with Muji, where the essence of the radio has absolutely been distilled to it’s core. I think kids would get a kick out of this, and I’m tempted to add that I’d be inclined to start listening to the radio again if I had something like this in my kitchen. Really great idea.

Found through designboom

Bobby

  1. Pretty cool idea and it looks gorgeous but I just don’t see it being that practical. Seems like it would need some sort of way to lock the current station/volume down so as not to be nudged out of its current settings. Also if it’s meant to be rolled (not exactly sure if that’s the case) along two axis it would need some sort of bearing set up as that thing would not roll very smoothly what with the drag of the of the adjacent wheel and all.

    Still, they’re on to some interesting things here if they continue to fine tune the technical aspects and the radio continues to be a viable form of media.

    Comment by drew — November 11, 2009 #

  2. I want one, looks awesome.

    Comment by adam — November 11, 2009 #

  3. thats awesome

    Comment by ying! — November 11, 2009 #

  4. Hey Bobby, Sam Hecht, Durrell Bishop and Andre Klauser are the tutors from the RCA platform. The designer of the Radio is Cha Il-Gu, an RCA Graduate.

    Comment by Hemi — November 11, 2009 #

  5. [...] R1 Radio [...]

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  6. [...] I don’t personally listen to much radio, though I may be tempted to if I had one of these bad boys. nice and simple via [...]

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