"Lampbrella not only lights up the street, but it keeps you dry, too"

Lampbrella

London is very wet at the moment – and someone even mentioned in her Facebook status that someone forgot to place an order for summer this year. Well, it is definitely one of the wetter places on earth, and it would be wise to carry an umbrella with you wherever you go, never mind that it is summer. Since you are unable to predict a downpour, it is always better to be prepared. Designer Mikhail Belyaev has other plans though, coming up with what he calls the Lampbrella. As the name suggests, you can more or less figure out that this is an umbrella that doubles up as a lamp.

Or is it a lamp that doubles up as an umbrella? I think you get the picture, no? Basically, the Lampbrella is a lamp post that has its own rain-sensing umbrella built-in, where this concept will see a standard issue street lamp which has been fitted with an umbrella canopy in addition to an integrated electric motor which will open up or close the umbrella on demand. As mentioned earlier, there are integrated sensors, where these will make sure that the umbrella will be deployed so that pedestrians can enjoy some much needed shelter whenever it starts to rain.

Apart from the rain sensor, there is also a 360 degree motion sensor located on the fiberglass street lamp which is perfect to detect anyone who uses the Lampbrella in order to escape from the rain. When no movement is detected for three minutes, the canopy will then go about closing itself. It would be cooler that the Lampbrella is powered entirely by solar energy, but I guess there is always room for improvement, right?

Mikhail claimed that he was inspired to design the Lampbrella after he saw ordinary folks get wet on streets in Russia when the heavens opened up. Mikhail mentioned, “Once, I was driving on a central Saint Petersburg street – Nevsky Prospect – and saw the street lamps illuminating people trying to hide from the rain. I thought it would be appropriate to have a canopy built into a streetlamp.”

This is still a concept, and there are no plans by any parties to send this into production. Any angel investors out there who are willing to take the risk?