A few weeks ago, Asus revealed a line of bamboo-clad computers at CeBit. The thing is, Asus unveiled its EcoBook last year, and as the specs on these new models are hard to come by, it would seem these are just updated versions of last year’s concept. Which is not a criticism in itself, as the Ecobook concept is rather nice, employing modular design with panels that can be individually replaced in case of damage, and labelling for all plastic components. There is also some speculation that the internal components are replaceable, although I’d personally hold off on getting too excited until we see what the internal engineering looks like (it takes a pretty custom design to cram all that componentry into a laptop).

However, even though this is all very interesting from a “new and shiny” perspective, I couldn’t help but think about some questions posed by this use of bamboo.

What is a computer?

The first is our ability to identify computers as computers. Until relatively recently, a consumer “computer” comprised a beige box with a chunky CRT reigning over a desk. Only recently have computers become less beige, and while we may have been forced to re-evaluate our notion of what a computer should look like (this steampunk example is really nice), we haven’t really had to consider the internals of these machines.

The recently revealed Nokia Morph of course challenges this notion of what makes a computer (even if it’s a phone). Here’s a concept phone that utilizes nanotechnology and smart materials, but in doing so it presents quite a gap between the (potential) future and what we experience today in the present. The size of this gap may propose a false sense of progress, however, because bits of the future are already embedded in our present. It’s just that we’re not always ready or equipped to identify them.

Case in point: the MacBook Air and its Solid State Drive (SSD), which has been involved in at least one TSA incident. (For those readers who have not had the pleasure of traveling by air in the US, there is some debate about whether TSA stands for “Transportation Security Administration” or “Thousands Standing Around”.)

The case in question was the result of a TSA employee not being able to recognize an SSD-equipped MacBook Air in the X-Ray machine because it had no identifiable hard drive. I can only imagine what fits a wood-paneled computer might cause in the security line, much less any electronics embedded in wood.

Function v. form

The second trend that sprung to mind was the actual utility of the bamboo. There is something to be said about displacing plastics or other materials in the computer with bamboo, and I can definitely see the utility of selectively replacing a damaged bamboo panel here or there. But beyond these cosmetic applications, I’m a little skeptical about the functional applications of bamboo in computing. Is bamboo a good heat dissipator? Does it provide some level of structural integrity, or is it simply fascia? If that’s the case, then bamboo is simply an iteration of past Asus projects, such as the leather-bound laptop.

Thinking about functional applications of bamboo made me recall its use as scaffolding in Asia since well, forever. And there are certainly other neat applications, such as fishing rods and clothing—did you know they can even make socks out of corn these days?

But I discovered that you can also make bikes out of bamboo. Yes, bikes.

Bamboo bicycles

I first ran across a bamboo frame by Brano Meres, an engineer and industrial designer based in Bratislava, Slovakia. You can see quite clearly how the bamboo is used as tubing. He’s gone even further, apparently, and more recently created a frame from woven bamboo. This frame’s construction is similar in concept to carbon fiber, except it uses bamboo fibers.

Another manufacturer is Calfee Design, which goes so far as to even integrate hemp in the lugs (the bits that hold the tubes together). Again, some very nice, high-end bikes which gain vibration dampening from the inherent material characteristics of the bamboo.

And I was surprised to find an extreme example of a bicycle made from bamboo that’s being promoted as a sustainable transportation method in parts of Africa. (Craig Calfee also made a trip to Ghana in February.) Not as aesthetically refined, but at the end of the day you just want something to get you from point A to point B.

So this is the other extreme of bamboo, that of a critical functional role that also happens to produce some very nice aesthetics.

In recognizing these functional elements of bamboo, I can’t help but wish that manufacturers like Asus would take advantage of the material in ways which move beyond simply using it as a disposable covering. I’m not proposing to make semiconductors out of bamboo, but I do wonder what might happen were bamboo (or some other material) to truly permeate throughout our electronics. Could your iPhone give you splinters? Would our monitors swell and shrink based on the seasons? Would our laptops develop a warm patina from frequent use?