Buzz Box
/Personal comms device for people with hearing-impairment or in loud environments
Marble helped develop a portable signalling device for hearing-impaired people based on LoRa, a wireless modulation technique derived from Chirp Spread Spectrum (CSS) technology.
Problem Definition
As a qualified sailing instructor our colleague Sonia has direct experience of teaching sailing to people with hearing-impairment. The challenge of communicating with novice sailors on a large lake in windy and inclement conditions is not to be underestimated - especially when you're not even in the same boat. Being a practical person Sonia took it upon herself to find a solution.
Concept development through practical experimentation
Using her expertise in electronics and software, Sonia prototyped simple proof-of-principle devices to test her ideas. Re-purposing everyday items and off the shelf electronics to rapidly enable practical testing to de-bug and improve her concepts. Just don't ask what happened to the kids pack lunch box?
Industrial Design
Having proven the concept Sonia wanted to develop the concept to the next level, and naturally came to her Marble colleagues for help. Marble's design team developed a range of concepts that would meet the physical, technical and usability challenges that the Buzz Box will face, whilst also being desirable and easy to manufacture and assemble.
Detailed Product Engineering
Following selection of an industrial design concept Marble moved forward with detailed design and development of the physical caseworks and the internal hardware and electronics, including charging circuits for contactless charging, etc...
Electronics Prototyping
Using her early prototypes and breadboard Sonia optimised the PCB layout and specified additional components before building hardware prototypes for use in a looks like, works like, device.
Working Prototypes
Using Marble's in-house resources we rapidly built 'Looks Like, Works Like' prototypes for further testing and evaluation with Sonia's novice sailors.
