Here’s a hubless bicycle wheel design by some Yale students.  It sounds like it was sort of a time-killing project, but it’s still kind of a cool concept.  I’m not sure what the practical advantages are, though.  One of the students mentioned that the open space created opportunities for things like electric motors and gyroscopically-stabilized baskets, although I’m skeptical.  I’ve never looked at a spoked wheel end thought “Jeez, look at all that wasted space.”  I suppose there would be opportunities for a folding bike to actually pretzel (as long as the wheels were different sizes), rather than simply scissor closed.  I really wonder about the weight and drag a wheel like that would generate.  The frame they’ve attached it to looks heavy as hell.  Also, the drive gear is offset from the pedal crankset, meaning there’s some sort of power-transfer mechanism creating even more drag.  And it’s obviously a fixie.

This is an interesting idea — “skin-on-bone” motorcycle helmets.  The concept is based on the rotational forces experienced by the helmet (and, by extension, the rider’s melon inside) upon impact.  The “skin” is able to stretch and move over the rigid shell, sliding on a layer of gel lubricant, dissipating the rotational force.  Neat!  Depending on what the gel looks like when it comes oozing out, I bet there are going to be more than a couple of freaked out EMT’s who encounter one of these helmets at an accident scene.

Outlet/USB-charger combo.  This would be ideal for public places, particularly airports.  I can’t see making much of an investment in home installation, though.  There’s a lot of focus on developing better ways to charge small electronics and the trend seems to be toward wireless charging.  I’m reminded of the engineers I knew who ran cat-5 throughout their homes and installed network drops in every room, only to see cheap wireless networking hit the market a year or two later.

I’m not sure why this made it onto an industrial design blog, but here’s the “Bacon Cheeseturtle” (which must be why they resorted to the term “biomimetics” as justification).  It’s essentially a cheeseburger with a shell made of basket-weave bacon and a head and legs made of hot dogs.  I generally avoid the whole bacon meme, but this is so obscenely weird that even as a vegetarian I have to admire it.  It’s not industrial, but it is design (albeit a perverse one).  I’m reminded of Cyanide and Happiness’s “Animal Hater’s” pizza from the last Webcomic Wednesday.  Click on the images for the full-sized versions.