When a child has a disorder, such as cerebral palsy, it’s common that they take part in physical therapy sessions to help gain strength over how they’ve been affected.  As a freelancer in collaboration between the Lifespan Medical Group, Hasbro, and the Rhode Island School of Design, I designed, developed and prototyped a few electro-mechanical toys intended to introduce more fun into a child’s rehabilitation exercises; making them less of a task and something they actually look forward to.

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The idea behind the SwitchBlade PC was to create a “Ruggedized,” portable, on-the-go alternative to the large and cumbersome server setups that are often used to centralize multiple computers in one space.  With this project, I worked within a given set of parameters to design and fabricate a body for the first generation of prototypes.

In addition to crafting a few elements myself (molding and casting in particular) I worked closely with various sources with the appropriate industrial processes (machining, rapid prototyping, laser cutting, etc) to develop most of the key components used when crafting the prototype.

With this project, I helped give form to concept through the art of prototyping.  The idea was to have a console for police cruisers that centralizes all of the most commonly used functions in the vehicle.  My main focus was in working  side by side with the engineer to design an enclosure for the electronics, as well as create a graphical button interface that makes using the console more intuitive.

With LingoDigital, I created a series of prototypes as part of the product and concept development of a series educational baby toys.

My main focus was “Marvin,” a crib-mounted canopy that digitally projects educational content inside itself.  I built a handful of functional mini projector prototypes and successfully met the challenge of making them show the product’s potential for being inexpensive to produce and baby-safe.

Upon finishing the first “Marvin” prototype, I saw a lot of unexplored potential in the projector I had created for it.  I worked with LingoDigital to evolve the product from an element in a system into the base of a platform, on which an infinite number of systems could be developed- including the initial “Marvin” concept from which this all began.

The result was “LingoMini” a small, inexpensive portable projector with on-board media storage and playback capabilities.  It’s design makes it the core of an interactive digital media platform, and is intended to be an open canvas for hardware, software and content developers to create a virtually limitless variety of innovative digital experiences and market opportunities.

The core elements that define this platform have patents pending in Germany, France, Italy, Russia, the U.S. and Korea.

Brijo is a dashboard replacement that streamlines the integration of components found in police cruisers, creating a less cluttered, less dangerous, more effective, and more officer-friendly environment.  I worked in close collaboration with the designer behind the concept and the lead engineer to create the road-ready prototype, which was installed in and tested with the city of Providence’s Police Department.  I also took on the responsibility of creating Brijo’s first website, which is now archived at:

www.brijovehicle.com

Scunci (creator of the world famous “scrunchie,” now a division of Conair) had interest in launching a line of ethnic hair products and accessories.  Through illustrating product concepts with 3D models, I helped brainstorm and develop what grew to become the “Hype Hair” family of products, which is currently in distribution.

The town of Montclair, NJ is well known for its cultural diversity, unity, and an inherently progressive nature. It was fitting that the town chose to create a public site in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King.  With this project, I created a batch of preliminary site designs and renderings for the monument and memorial garden they wished to dedicate in his name.

The gallery below shows the 3rd and 4th site plan concepts, with the final slide showing the construction that has begun as of May, 2009.

This project’s aim was to revamp an existing prototype of an educational astronomy toy from the ground up. Central to the task was transforming the cold, uninviting, mechanical prototype into one that comes across as a convincing “kid-friendly” product, styled in a way that speaks of science mixed with fun.

In the end, I designed and crafted a half dozen fully functional prototypes. The commercially designed derivative of this work is now on store shelves at vendors of scientific and educational products.

Client: Young Scientists Club LLC

On Sale at Edmund Scientific (click here to visit)

Young Scientist’s Club (click here to visit)