Product Development Blog

Early Stage Prototypes

Sam — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:32:59 +0000

iShovel: Early Stage Automated Robotic Snow Shovel

Ever wonder what life would be like if you didn’t have to shovel your driveway? What If you didn’t have to pay someone to shovel your driveway? In the not so distant future, the iShovel may be coming to a store near you. This battery powered shoveling device will begin shoveling at the first detection of snow accumulation. It’s built with two independent motors and an automatic snow sensor. Seriously, how awesome would this robotic shovel be?

This iShovel is the “World’s Smartest Snow Shovel”! Based on, what appears to be a similar platform at the iRobot’s Roomba, the iShovel records the artificial boundaries programmed into the robot. In the harsh New England weather, it would have be great at the first sign of snow to have the iShovel. As robotics become less expensive, it will hopefully become a household item.

Even though the iShovel is in first generation prototype, it has recently been featured on Bob Vila’s home show as well as Good Morning America. The early stage prototype has gotten rave reviews and is hopeful to compete with the gas powered snow blowers within the next year. According to the iShovel’s website, the product is significantly more efficient with regard to clearing the driveway. Because it shovels in short spurts, it manages to shovel every few inches. As a result, it uses less energy in relatively short cycles using battery power.

One of the real tests for this new product is how does it handle fast falling wet snow? But theoretically, if it works as it says it does, snow should never pile about 3 inches. This will be a future product to continue to watch to ease the maintence of living in an area with snowfall.

Although this product is in early stage development, it does suggest a great new concept that will continue to promote robotics in (or outside) the home.

By Jessica Chin, Product Engineering Manager at Flashpoint Development

Are you done with product development when you have a completed design?

Sam — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:00:42 +0000

Many people and companies assume that when a product is designed and engineered that the product development process is complete. That is most certainly not the case for physical assembled products – and not expecting this fact can be very frustrating for the inventor and start-up. The product development process continues with production tooling through volume ramp then right into quality control and product improvement.

Once a product or part is designed in computer-aided-design (CAD) and is prototyped, in order to go into production volume tools need to be constructed (these may be injection molds, dies, stamping tooling, etc.). These tools can take anywhere from 5 – 15 weeks to build. Once they are built, the debugging process begins. And here is where things can get frustrating to individuals and companies trying to get a product to market – expect the unexpected. In the figure below, note the testing and refinement and product production ramp phases. It is common to think that product development is complete once detailed design is complete – it is not.

Figure. 1. Ulrich and Eppinger (2004) NPD process.

Even the most well-thought out design will invariable have issues during the last two phases (fit during assembly, sink marks, reliability issues). For complex products, this fine-tuning can take months or years. For an automobile, it can take two years from first prototype to production ready. During this time, design and manufacturing issues are resolved in an iterative manner. It is the response and quick resolution to these issues that is imperative to get a product to market. Things like tooling issue matrices, daily teleconferences, etc. mean the difference of time and money. For the entrepreneur and start-up – be prepared for the unexpected and realize that it takes time to get something right. Plan for the time and costs of product development AFTER the initial design is completed.

Different Industries, Same Goals… Similar or Different?

Sam — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 20:17:02 +0000

Tucker Marion Presents Case Studies in Santa Cruz, California

Late in 2009, Tucker Marion along with other authors from Northeastern University presented three case studies at the 2009 North American Case Research Association annual meeting.

http://nacra.net/meeting2009/

The three case studies are designed to drive research and curriculum development in the area of technology venture development. The idea was simple: given the technological and industry differences between different types of start-ups (devices, biotech, software) – can you look at them through the same lens? Or, are they so different that they need be researched and taught differently? What we found is that there are some clear differences, but there are also some similarities. We found that start-ups, no matter what industry, are comprised of 2-3 founders that are in essence – omni-functional. These people perform tasks from sales to engineering all within the same day – very different from large companies where people work on specific core tasks. We also found that these firms focus on goals, rather than on processes and paperwork – again, very different from large firms. We also found that device companies, driven by the speed and low cost of prototyping, are beginning to resemble agile software firms in the way they approach development. It is this low cost, fast iterative development process that FlashPoint works to optimize for all client projects. Currently, the research team is working on developing a theory paper to disseminate this research in an academic journal. The research was funded by a grant from NACRA received in 2008.

Logo Creation and the Development Process

Sam — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:44:51 +0000

Logos can make your brand stand out, but how do they get that way? How do inventpreneurs go from ideas, descriptions and emotions to a final product? The featured development of our logo will show you.

The process theory revolves around iterative designs based on refinement and feedback. The process begins with a description of the company / product. The description should include high level functional and emotional statements for example: quality, organized, bringing elements together, which developed into two concepts: “center of the team” and “flow chart process”. For our case, we had our designer read through the existing website and create a first round of designs (left).

We selected our two favorite of the group and encouraged our designer to experiment with colors. We liked logos 4 and 6, but we were looking for some additional work on the logo to expand on the flow chart concept of number 4 and the center of the team concepts in number 6.

We ended up choosing the blue and green flow chart concept and we really liked it. We brought it out into the marketplace and solicited feedback. The feedback that we got was positive, but

we wanted to experiment with adding a little pop to

the logo. The next round contained a lot of pop both with the logo, text and orientation. We liked integrating a circle into the middle of the logo to get back to the center of the team concept.

Of course you knew what we ended up with at the very begining of the post, but I hope that this example of both the logo creation process and the development process as a whole has helped.

Post your Logo Story!

E-Text Books, eDGe and Gbook

Sam — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:16:05 +0000

Inventors often say, “I thought of that” while product developers say “I worked on that, but put it down”.

eDGe

During 2007-2008 we worked on a dual screen media device aimed at being the e-reader for kids in school, we called it gBook (left). To the right is the new eDGe, which was covered in the NYT on 12,6 is enTourage Systems future release of their e-text book. The feature sets were and are identical, good developers think a like. The project was stopped due to lack of funding, and we moved on.

Have a reason for putting a project down and feel good about moving onto the next opportunity. Just because someone else launched it doesn’t mean it is going to be a success or that stopping was a mistake.

To learn more about our effort in the e-text book space and for a few tips on development, check out our Case Study Presentation.

Redesigning Products For the Stores

Sam — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:21:09 +0000

A bottle of soda and a toothbrush. It is hard to imagine that these products can be made to stand out and even be desired above necessity… I went shopping recently and I was amazed by the pull of two products. The first a coke bottle, but not any coke bottle… it was a ball of joy. Even hidden in the store everyone in my shopping party had to have one, and when the soda was gone it got refilled.

The second product I was impressed with was a new electric tooth brush that was as skinny as a pencil. It stood out dramatically as being significantly thinner than any high quality electric tooth brush I have ever seen.

What product limitations are you ignoring and following the status quo? Are you considering what the product will look like on the shelf next to all the others… now, in 6 months, in 1 year?

Product Development Growth in Comeback

Sam — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:28:38 +0000

Innovation made easy with modern advances in cost efficiencies, lower tool costs and shared spaces.

The new tinkerers use Hackerspaces, a shared tool supply, space and a community. Tool prices including 3D printers, CNC machines and many others have plummeted from hundreds of thousands of dollars to a few thousand.

An article (WSJ) and radio show (NPR).

Craft Fair Marketing Lessons

Sam — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:49:43 +0000

This past weekend I attended the Hampstead Mothers Club Craft Fair to sell my pens and my girl friend’s mothers purses and gooey apples. I’d rather not say that we weren’t prepared, but we didn’t have a sign, business cards or any of the other marketing materials the other vendors had, however we were selling while other vendors were not. Here is how you sell without all that jazz.

Get the Buyers Involved: Gooey Apples: My first walk around the show had at least three other booths with similar candied apples ranging from $6-$10.50, ours were originally priced at $5. To separate ourselves from the competition, we pursued a sampling strategy for the apples which were a main focus to move because they only last for around a month. So we cut up our apples, handed them out to kids and parents, never denying a second sample and word spread throughout the fair. We were able to do this because of our volume, we had 100 our competitors maybe had a dozen similar products in inventory. We held our price for a while, but we did go for 2 for $8 and then for the last hour when it got quiet 2 for $6.

Getting the customer to taste our apples helped with selling, how can your product affect the customers through their senses.

Value is Perceived: The purses sold well too, perhaps second or third in the category of totes which was crowded. This was a perceived value play. The purses were really high quality (felted wool) and the customers knew that they had seen purses like these for much much more $.

Early Sales Outlets: The craft fair I attended and many are a ripe ground to secure some early sales for a product. The craft fairs are always looking for more new items, just make sure that you frame your product correctly in the application. These fairs and even flea markets are great areas to find some real feedback from unbiased consumers.

Make Sales: We were constantly altering our booth, presentation, changing prices and trying new strategies. We were talking to the people walking buy, but focused on making the sale. Many entrepreneurs / inventors that attend shows are much more passive, but getting people involved is exciting.

Innovation around Boston–a historical scavenger hunt around America’s oldest city!

Sam — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:35:18 +0000

Left to Right: Frank Salcie, Dean Paul Zavracky, Tucker Marion and Jessica Chin

A world of text messaging, text alerts and high tech employees on Blackberries and iPhones running around Boston, MA in pursuit of “Quest for Innovation”. This high-tech scavenger hunt focused on Boston’s history and leadership as a city of innovation and entrepreneurship. Not only is Boston the home to the Red Sox, Celtics, and Patriots, but it is also a leader in spurring new ideas, products and technological entrepreneurship.

My team consisted of the Dean and a Professor from Northeastern’s School of Technological Entrepreneurship (STE), a current STE student, a Northeastern MBA student and myself.

This event was one of the first where you saw executives running around the city of Boston texting clues and answers as fast as they can. It was a great experience to learn a little bit about a city that is so rich in history and firsts. Innovation comes in many different forms. For example, the first company to sell mutual funds to the public or the first specific gene discovered to be useful to cancer research. Boston was also home of the inception of Aldo Shoe Co. and a major textile industry.

The Quest for Innovation (http://www.questforinnovation.com) , sponsored by venture capital groups, corporate America, and entrepreneurship foundations brought together C-levels, professors, students, start-ups, engineer, and entrepreneurs to “solve challenges linked to landmark locations in [Boston’s] history for innovation”. Clues and answers were sent via text messages using a local start-up’s gaming platform SCVNGR. The score was kept based on the timeliness of the answers, the number of correct answers and the use of hints and skips.

All proceeds went to local youth programs and universities to encourage engineering, new ideas, and entrepreneurship. Nicely put by SCVNGR’s CEO, it’s not about the companies involved but “bring cool people together to do good things”.

By Jessica Chin, Flashpoint Development’s Product Development Engineer

Product Development on Twitter

Sam — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:42:44 +0000

At Flashpoint Development we have been using Twitter to share opportunities, technology findings and other items of interest.

A few highlights include:

Nice list of disruptive technologies: http://bit.ly/yay95
In Boston 10/9? Sign up for the Quest for Innovation: www.questforinnovation.com. Cell phone scavenger hunt and great networking activity.
Check out Global Entrepreneurship Week: http://www.unleashingideas…. Lots of great events – more to come…

If you are interested in more information join our growing following on Twitter...