Digestive Car
生物消化車
A new way produces methane?
The world will change dramatically when industrial design is used to create bodily organs. Taking the cow’s digestive system as inspiration, an augmented bio printed organ is used to produce methane to power a vehicle.
The “Digestive Car” explores a new aesthetic of bio-products, to open discussion about the issues surrounding global warming. This speculative, self-sufficient fuel source will provide a new energy future and a cleaner environment while you feed this living vehicle with grass.
Since the Industrial Revolution, vehicles have gradually become the most common mode of transportation. However, ironically, this convenient industrial innovation has also become a symbol of air pollution that accelerates global warming.
Nowadays, Cows, compared with other animals, are known to expel a large amount of methane from their bodies. The amount of methane emitted by this ruminant has already significantly contributed towards global warming.
In a speculative far future world, if biotechnology could spark a new revolution, would a new hybrid industrial product also revolutionise our environment? 3D bioprint is currently used in organ transplants. Through this technique, the cow’s digestive system might be appropriated to become a self-sufficiency way to produce alternative fuel and also a key to green this world.
There are four different contained hybrid stomachs used to fuel vehicles. In order to monitor the health condition while driving, the stomach bags are turned inside-out.
The shape and also the structure are designed to strengthen each bio-function and also replace the function of muscles.
When the driver uses the stomachs to fuel the vehicle, it returns a bio-waste. By collecting the energy from nature it is then contributed back in to the environment. This bio vehicle process itself represents the circulation of ecological systems.
母乳哺育長久以來被視為母愛的象徵。然而，由於男性缺乏乳腺，無法以相同的方式透過哺乳表達對孩子的愛與照顧。本作品探討了一種推測性的可能性：男性是否能以自身的血液生產乳汁來哺育嬰兒？這項設計提出了一個能夠將血液轉化為乳汁的裝置，讓男性也能參與哺乳，並重新詮釋父愛的表達方式。
母乳本質上由血液轉化而成，血液不僅象徵著生命，更代表著家族間的血脈聯繫與遺傳關係。母乳哺育超越了生物層面的功能，更是一種情感上的親密連結，象徵著生命的延續與愛的傳承。母親透過哺乳滋養孩子，孩子成長後成為父母，又將這份愛繼續傳遞下去。
如果父親也能透過自身生產乳汁來哺育孩子，親子關係會產生什麼樣的變化？這個推測性設計挑戰了傳統的性別角色，探索了一個未來：男性能否透過直接的身體行動參與照顧，重新定義父愛？在一個人類壽命不斷延長的未來，情感與生物能力是否也應該隨之擴展？
這項裝置設計如同佩戴在男性手臂上的增強型肌肉，保留了男性特徵，同時實現乳汁生產。血液透過三支針管從手臂抽取，儲存在三個血袋中，隨後流經經過基因克隆的乳腺組織。乳腺將血液轉化為乳汁，再透過一個仿生乳頭傳送給嬰兒。這個仿生乳頭特別設計成能夠讓男性在哺乳時體驗到與女性相似的身體感受。
儘管這項設計看似「反自然」，但它實則延續了人類關愛與親密連結的核心價值。本作品透過重新定義生物能力，試圖探討更深層的家庭關係，並質疑現有的性別分工界線。它以一種創新的視角展示了愛、生命與遺傳的多重可能性，同時挑戰了我們對於親子情感表達的既有認知。
Interview by Dezeen
Project concept: YiWen Tseng
Photography: LiJun Dai
Special thanks:
James Auger, Anthony Dunne
LiJun Dai, Simon King, Hiroki Yokoyama, Jinny Park,
Celine Park, Tony Lien, Lydia Chang, Zara Arshad, Yoshika Yajima
Pressed/intervied/published by Fastcompany, FRAME Magazine, dezeen, PSFK, MOLD, domus, Protein
Exhibited by Sustain RCA 2015 in London Design week
Exhibited by RCA Final Show 2015 in Royal College of Art
June 2015 (6,743 views) Filed under Critical Design, Industrial Design, Speculative Design