GWIJ TRANSLATING / TEXTING APP

SPEAK- A MY LANGUAGE

Imagine you’re in  high school  and the new super cute Brazilian student arrives in your class and they barely speak English. With GWIJ on your phone you can start communicating with them immediately. You set your primary  language to English (you’re in the USA) and then make your  secondary  language Portuguese. Start babbling, I mean, texting away, and you’ll   be easily understood  ( remember, don’t come on too strong, or they’ll think you’re a weirdo).

GWIJ is a translating and texting App that FUSE helped design.  We did the name, the identity and  key frame design, even the double bubble text holder!  This app is just like your native IOS  messaging app, but allows you to set your primary language and  a secondary language that instantly translates your primary language. You can then send either your primary or secondary language  to whomever you’re texting with. The best part is you can see both your primary and secondary languages in the double bubble text  box.

With GWIJ,  you can see the Portuguese in real time as  you type your  words of love, I mean, your words of your  native  language.  Then, if you want to hear what the pronunciation is, you can hit the speaker icon in the double bubble and the GWIJ Translator Robot (she looks like Nicole Kidman) will speak what you’ve written out loud. This means you can practice saying clever things like,  “Wow,  I ‘d like  to  eat  this bad cafeteria pizza off your beautiful neck”.  OK, don’t say that, you barely know this person.  Ask them something like, “do you have a pet Tapir back home in Brazil?” And, in Portuguese: “Voce tern uma anta de estinacaao no Brasil?”

Get GWIJ in the Apple App store now!

ABOM SBIR PROJECT

SPOOK SPECS

ABOM  won a prestigious  government  contract to leverage their fog fighting technology across multiple military optic platforms.  Beyond the more protective war fighting goggle, the SBIR project included the undercover operator. This is the individual that may  appear to be a good looking Russian speaking petroleum engineer, but is actually a lethal CIA  operative.

The military was looking for  slicker design  that could go from the urban cafe to the battleground. Military operators call these “spectacles”.  This product, of course,  can be used in low temperatures, but also in high temperatures where the wearer may be sweating.  The wearer’s head is  radiating heat at a temperature higher than the ambient air. The result is condensation, fogging.  ABOM’s moisture sensing system will automatically turn on and eviscerate the fog. Because the system is only on when needed, less energy is required so the product is feasible even with the  required smaller batteries.  That said,  an external battery pack can  provide additional runtime.

 

NED (NOT BREAD)

EDIBLE PACKAGING

A few summers ago we were on a camping trip with another couple and one of the partners  had a gluten allergy. We had stopped  at drive-thru for a quick refuel on the way back. The gluten free friend (GFF) had ordered a vegan burger with a lettuce wrap to avoid the bun. What a mess! There were condiments all over her hands and  subsequently, my car!   Not only is the gluten a problem, it’s also the high carbs of that bun. A typical burger bun is some 40 grams of high glycemic index refined white flour. There had to be a better way.

When we got back to or studio, I grabbed ( hang on, not physically)  a colleague and  we brainstormed. I always loved the genius of the edible ice cream cone, especially the  one inaccurately named the “cake” cone.  I did a little research  and these wonders of industrialization, a literal injection  molding  of water and flour are only 6 grams of carbs and that’s with rice flour. And, it gets better…, if you use almond flour, you can bring the carb count down to zero! Not to mention how brilliant the whole  family of edible  packages are!  Taco shells! Sushi! And then.. wholly cow ,  and  start digging in more,  and  did you know  the average common restaurant – remember those , burrito  flour tortilla  can be 80 grams of  carbs!!!

The big idea was to make a small edible piece of luggage, kidding, not luggage but a bread or tortilla  replacement that could be gluten free if needed  and lower carb. This is good for celiacs, diabetics and everyone that wants to lower their ingestion of high glycemic  index carbohydrates.  By the way,  the term “Keto” was Google searched for more than Subaru in the Pacific NW.

In terms of design,  this concept  allows  almost infinite shape, color, texture and flavor. This concept can replace anything where bread is simply a carrier. Think pizza, tacos, burritos, all the bread shapes,  even low carb snacks like crackers can be NED. Best of all if you were brought up by TV like some of  us were, then  you’ll love  the brand-ability of this concept. See the images above.

Knowing there’s a fair amount of tooling (though relatively inexpensive per mold) to make these things, we approached the Joy Cone company with NED. They are biggest  ice cream cone maker in the U.S.  with plants in Pennsylvania and Arizona. Joy makes special branded cones for  some of their largest customers.

I don’t  want to say we’re brilliant, but I think  given the hand friendliness, this qualifies as thumbelievable!

Ok, shutting up now –  have a look!

 

ANAND SPORT POD

Court Caddy

Serial entrepreneur and avid competitive tennis player, Dr. Rahul Anand (he’s an anesthesiologist),  was annoyed when he saw  college and pro tennis players throwing sweat laden towels on the court after wiping off. Initially, he had hoped this was just a rare occasion, but it continued to happen. Dr. Anand even contacted the players and/or their management teams to make them aware of the hygiene problem this towel discarding was causing.  Still, no change.  Exasperated, Dr. Anand decided to take this problem on. This is where FUSE comes in.

Armed with the problem Dr. Anand  was trying to fix, FUSE got to work.  FUSE retraced the research, and for sure, this problem is a new animal. Not that it’s rare, just that its not been recognized. Lots of products start  this way,  we as humans adapt to  situations. Look at what TESLA is trying to do  with the removal of stalks.

After numerous concepts and a couple of full scale prototypes.  A tight production budget started to provide clarity.  Our team and Dr. Anand settled on the Rocket concept.  Initially the Rocket was a single  part roto-molded creature. It  would hold towels, warm-up clothing, balls, hydration and personal items (phones, keys , wallets, etc.).

While initially designed for tennis,  our team imagines the pod being valuable in multiple venues. The Sport Pod is at home pool side, beach side, in the gym and in the world of hospitality. With available accessory trays, the Anand Sport Pod is the perfect guest at your next barbecue.

In order to ship around the country, the world, and not ship air (or cost more than the product), we  worked with the molder to make the the legs  snap on. It fits into a FEDEX and UPS friendly box and sets up in minutes with no tools.

 

ARIEL CHAIR

When they go low, we go high.

The Ariel chair is an update to the Crane chair. This new version  adds a visually thicker mold-able cellular structure that conforms to the  users’ body.

The Ariel Chair  features that same elastomer powered lift mechanism that allows users to set up standing desks and sit only when needed. Users can sit and lean against the Ariel with its easily locked casters. Ariel’s more minimal i-Back encourages active postures.

Complex only 3D printable structures are super intriguing, but really hard to make. At the moment, 3D printing while compellin,g is unbelievably slow compared to modern injection molding. This design  creates a thermally neutral  cellular surface that is cleanable and most importantly, mold-able.

iBox

ACCESS CONTROL

GE’s Supra division is the leader in providing access control in residential real estate and they came to FUSE to update their realtor’s keybox.   FUSE provided industrial design solutions and  this was the design chosen and recommended.  We worked hand in hand with Supra’s engineering team to integrate the mechanical features with our new design. We’re told this model had sales over 2,000,000 units.

Supra IBox Open Context

REVELAR

Pulse Health had a way to  measure key biomarkers non-invasively.   They were able to  measure this biomarker in exhaled human breath and had a small personal device in their stable but now wanted a clinical version.They came to FUSE for help with this device. FUSE took them all the way through prototyping.

One of our key contributions beyond the industrial design was we created user model scenarios to help the team understand how the device would be used. Once we showed a few of these graphic storyboards the team came alive to determine how best the device would be used.

BANDIT

An orthodontist came to FUSE with an idea  that can speed orthodontia.   The problem is an orthodondist will generally guess at the size of the band he or she needs to use on a particular tooth. More experienced orthodontists are more likely to get this right but they often get this wrong as well. This takes time and wastes bands or these wrong ones need to be autoclaved.  Our client wanted a way to measure teeth that would work for  an unlimited number of  patients. This Orthodontist’s plan was to sell  the eventual product to a large orthodontic supplier like Ormco.

We came up with  what we called the BandIt.  The Bandit was a simple one handed electromechanical device that used a consumable stainless steel loop that would wrap around the tooth and provide a measurement and recommend a particular size band on its built in LCD display.

 

UPS Truck Trike

IN TOWN BROWN

TruckTrike , a company that makes a human powered cargo transport vehicle was approached by  global logistics  leader UPS   to provide a  bicycle based  delivery vehicle. Truck Trike already makes an electric assist trike capable of moving 600 lbs and now they needed a proposal to excite UPS to get the contract.Truck Trike came to FUSE with this problem.   With a very short deadline FUSE developed an industrial design for a lightweight minimal canopy that would meet  a large cargo box  complete with interior illuminating transparent roof.   We rendered the model in UPS  brown with the requisite graphics to help UPS imagine this greener future.

We are happy to report the proposal was successful and UPS  is currently trialing modified Truck Trikes in Portland , Oregon.

Genisys Diagnostic Tool

OTC came to FUSE to essentially repackage a PC into an Automotive diagnotic tool. This main unit has a series  of accessories that plug into the unit, testing a variety of automotive engine attributes.  One of the major design improvement FUSE  made to this category of product was to  build in the toughness required into the housing. Typically this was a plastic box with external elastomer boot  that was an ugly addition. Instead we built a super robust internal chassis and over molded a  shock resistant thermoplastic  external armor. In addition, the design  featured symmetrical controls  suitable for both right and left handed users.

FUSE also did an alternative cosmetic design branded as a MATCO unit.

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