TI Minibar
Spatial sound minibar sales demo kit, Texas Instruments, 2011
Spatial sound minibar sales demo kit, Texas Instruments, 2011
This is one of my favorite projects, for a number of reasons. First, the team was incredible. We worked with some really brilliant engineers, sales and tech people, both in-house and consultants. Second, we all got to step out of, and in some cases over-step, our usual job descriptions.
We had a ridiculous time table on this one - from project scope to first run of manufacturing in a meager 4 months. As if that wasn't tight enough, we had to do this during the midst of a gigantic corporate merger. From week to week, we were unsure what our team would look like or whether the program would get the axe.
We didn't have time for an extensive sketch and ideation process. I knocked out some rough directions in about an hour, and by the next day I was starting the first 3D models. We were knocking out about two 3D printed concepts a week until we had all of our functions nailed down. Some days I would send the same part for 3D printing and injection molding tooling quotes.
The initial manufacturing run was 250 parts, but we had to plan on the design being both successful, and a must-have desktop status symbol within the company. Due to the tight timelines, I ended up becoming a part manufacturer - custom trimming acoustic dampening pads and laser-cutting neoprene and acrylic component parts. I even threw my hand at icon design.
Production had its share of hiccups. We had problems with adhesives, connections, circuit board defects, and massive learning curves. Our first pass had a high failure rate, but we eventually got the process down.
The minibar is used to showcase spatial audio chips. It's like taking stereo audio and taking it up a notch to 3D sound. The demo unit is designed for smart phones and tablets. I can't wait for the technology to find its way into our home theater systems.
