Praying for a Mantis

If like me you've got four kids then you'll know how difficult it can be to keep track of where the TV remote has gone. Is it down the back of the sofa? Under the sofa? In the toy box? Maybe the baby has finally managed to eat the entire thing, rather than just gnawing at the edge and dribbling on it. Who knows?



Well up and coming talented industrial designer Siona Ward perhaps has the answer. Her initial Apple Mac like concept is now taking shape in the form of "Mantis" a foot operated remote control.



The design has evolved in to an advanced concept
that has realistic prospects of being manufactured and marketed is the guise shown with a bent acrylic coffee table and the remote control unit clipped over the top. Of course the unit could be engineered to be something of a universal fit to a variety off coffee table styles, thus opening up the opportunities to sell to a wider target audience.

Furthermore, with a good user interface I can see this project having advance menu driven actions that could control not only the TV, but also a plethora of consumer electronics that fill the average home.

Siona has entered her Mantis remote control coffee table for the James Dyson Award and I'm sure she would appreciate it if you readers (are there any?) would take a look and perhaps consider voting for her.

I hope this hits the shops; because if it does I'm heading straight down to the electricals store to get me one, then I don't have to hide the remote from the kids anymore, because when I do I can never remember where I put the flipping think, so I'm praying for a Mantis.