88 TIME November 30/December 7, 2020
BEST INVENTIONS 2020BEST INVENTIONS 2020
MEDICAL CARE
THE AIR
CLEANSER
Carrier OptiClean
“Clean” rooms, in which
air remains contained in a
closed system for fi ltering
rather than mixing with
the rest of the facility,
are in high demand at
hospitals. Enter the Opti-
Clean ($2,000–$4,000),
a mobile air purifi er built
by Carrier that has two
air-scrubbing functions.
It can turn any room into
a so-called negative air-
pressure space to prevent
potentially contaminated
air from fl owing out, push-
ing it instead through a
high- effi ciency HEPA fi lter
before releasing it back
into the room. Or, it can
simply fi lter out pathogens
from a room. So far, the
company has 15,000
orders for the units
from hospitals as well
as schools, universities,
offi ces and other build-
ings looking to provide
safe indoor environments.
—ALICE PARK
PRODUCTIVITY
A NEW TAKE ON
NOTE-TAKING
reMarkable 2
In 2013, Magnus Wanberg noticed his
colleagues were still jotting things down on
paper, despite having laptops and smartphones.
“Why hasn’t anyone replaced paper with
technology?” he wondered, a thought that led
him to develop reMarkable Paper. Released in
2016 with a super-thin design that mimicked
the feel of writing on paper, the tablet and note-
taking device allowed users to convert their
handwriting into digital text. Now Wanberg is
back with an even more streamlined product: the
reMarkable 2. At just 0.19 in. thick, the $399
device is 30% skinnier than its predecessor, with
an extended battery life of up to two weeks for
each charge.—MARIAH ESPADACONNECTIVITY
FOLLOWING THE
CONVERSATION
Owl Labs Meeting Owl Pro
Turns out robotics might be
the answer to making virtual
meetings feel more human.
The Meeting Owl Pro is
a 360-degree tabletop
camera that automatically
shifts focus to whomever is
speaking in a room, training
its lens and microphone on
the speaker. In “hybrid”
meetings, this means that
virtual participants have
a better feel for what’s
happening in a meeting
or classroom or wherever
others are gathered in real
life. “It’s able to follow the
conversation just as if you
were in the room,” says
Owl Labs co-founder Max
Makeev. To date, its users
include more than 50,000
companies and universities,
like Stanford, as well as
K-12 schools across the
U.S. —JESSE WILLSOCIAL GOOD
THE PORTABLE
HANDWASHING
STATION
LIXIL Sato Tap
Handwashing is one
of the most effective,
and cheapest, ways to
prevent the spread of
COVID-19 and other
viruses. But some 40%
of the world’s population
lack running water and
soap at home. The U.N.
says it will take years
of investment in water
infrastructure to solve
that problem. In the short
term, Japan’s LIXIL has
created the SATO Tap,
a portable, refi llable
handwashing station with
a holder for soap. The
gadget is expected to hit
retail markets in early
2021 for between $3
and $6. LIXIL is already
working with public and
private partnerships to
roll out 500,000 units
to households in need
around the world in the
next year.
—CIARA NUGENTThe avian-
inspired video-
conferencing
camera retails
for $999