Photos: Jellyfish inspire the routers of the future

The humble router is getting a serious makeover, thanks to the Routers of the Future project.

The project - a collaboration between the University of London's design department, Goldsmiths, and ISP TalkTalk - aims to come up with different ways of incorporating the humble router into the home or office, making it more a design feature and less an unloved bit of kit tucked away behind a desk.

TalkTalk asked Goldsmiths students to consider four factors in designing the devices: signal strength, home style, energy efficiency and enjoyment.

One of the designs, the Jellyfish, is pictured here. The Jellyfish showcases the inner workings of the router, with each user connecting via the device's tentacles.

According to its designers, the device was inspired by the fluorescent properties of jellyfish and their smooth movements through water. As a result, the router has a glowing breathing sequence that indicates bandwidth strength.

Photo credit: TalkTalk