Dubai's public beaches are about to get much cleaner. The company behind the emirate's high-tech palm trees is developing self-charging "turtles" to sweep and maintain public areas as part of its portfolio of smart city concepts.
D Idea Media made headlines last year when it unveiled the Smart Palm, which harnesses the sun's energy to allow people to look up city information, access Wi-Fi and charge their phones for free.
"Our team is currently working to install 21 Smart Palms across Dubai's beaches and parks," CEO Viktor Nelepa told Zawya. Working with Dubai Municipality and telecoms company du, the firm plans to have 107 Smart Palms installed by the end of the year, and up to 400 devices in time for Dubai Expo 2020.
Topped with nine leaf-shaped photovoltaic modules, a six-meter-tall Smart Palm can generate around 7.2 kilowatt hours per day, enough to operate without ever drawing off the grid.
Nelepa said the firm planned to start additive manufacturing technology, or 3D printing, for the smart palms. "We plan to completely transfer the Smart Palm production and to set up the manufacturing facilities in Dubai in the next year."
Palm trees are just the beginning of the company's plans to help Dubai realise its ambition of becoming the world's most connected and sustainable cities within the next few years.
The company is developing Smart Umbrellas, which are designed to incorporate clean-energy principles. "The completely automated system for opening and closing is powered by solar energy and provides extra battery life for smart mobile devices," Nelepa explained.
Happy benches
Joining the Smart Palms and Smart Umbrellas in public recreational areas this year will be the Happy Dubai Smart Bench, showcased by the government at last year's GITEX Technology Week. The bench is designed not only for resting weary legs, but to gauge how happy residents and tourists are through touch screens.
>Also launching this year is Printie, a vending kiosk. Instead of the traditional fast food, Printie will serve up printing, copying and scanning facilities.
Last month, the United Arab Emirates appointed a state minister for happiness to oversee national projects that improve the quality of life and wellbeing in the country.
"We all need to be committed to a greener future through a sustainable approach," Nelepa said. "There is a genuine art to the utilisation of alternative-energy sources for the enhancement of public services."
Smarter beaches D Idea Media is working to make it easier for people to visit public beaches at any time of day or night.
> "In order to provide a night-swimming option for beach visitors, we developed smart changing-rooms at Dubai Municipality's request," Nelepa said.
The Smart Beach concept will use wind poles to capture the shore breeze and turn it into power for around 100 smart changing rooms. The wind poles' power generation will be augmented by solar panels to harness the sun's rays and generate power at night.
The Smart Beach also includes smart lockers and smart bins, which will collect and manage waste, while the wind poles double as information points, giving data about air temperature, and swimming conditions.
Coming soon
D Idea is also creating a new species of turtle. The Smart Turtle is a fully automated cleaning device for "soft" public areas, and which is programmed to re-power by regularly returning to docking stations that are connected to nearby smart green-energy generators.
>As smart city initiatives spring up regionally and globally, D Idea is upbeat about the future of the industry.
Dubai Municipality has commissioned D Idea to implement a Smart Tree project that provides a green solution to power water irrigation systems throughout the emirate's parks, Nelepa said.
The company is also assessing a solar parking system, where roof panels will not only shield vehicles from the heat, but will offer charging for electric cars, through solar panels. Nelepa said the project has seen interest from 60 companies in 32 countries.
