Peter Alwin from National Institute of Design in India is the winner of the Electrolux Design Lab 2010 competition for inventing The Snail, the Micro Induction Heating. The announcement was made at the finals in London on September 23, 2010, at 100% Design London, the UK’s leading architecture and design event.

The Snail is a portable heating and cooking device based on magnetic induction processes. Such is the size and versatility of the Snail, it can be stuck directly on to a pot, a pan, a mug etc. to heat the contents. This reduces the amount of space required for conventional cooking whilst adding portability to the process. Powered by a high density sugar crystal battery, the Snail converts the energy from the sugar, heating up a coil to conduct the magnetic induction process to the utensil. Integrated sensors detect the food type being heated so as to automatically adjust the time and temperature. A simple touch sensitive display with interface helps to monitor the process.

The Electrolux Design Lab 2010 award is a prize of € 5000 and a six-month paid internship at one of Electrolux global design centers. The award for second place went to The Bio Robot Refrigerator, the Cool, Green, Food Preservation by Yuriy Dmitriev, CSU, Russia. Third place went to The Elements Modular Kitchen, All-In-One Kitchen Shelving by Matthew Gilbride, North Carolina State University, USA. The Bio Robot Refrigerator also received the People’s Choice Award—as voted for online.

For Electrolux Design Lab’s eight edition, undergraduate and graduate industrial design students were invited to create home appliances that consider how people prepare and store food, wash clothes, and do dishes in shrinking domestic spaces. Growing populations living in an urban environment dictate a need for greater space efficiency. The design ideas should address key consumer requirements; being green, adaptive to time and space, and allowing for individualization.

This year over 1,300 entries were submitted from students in more 50 countries.