Hersey Clutch - Concept Visualization
Hersey Clutch of Orleans, MA invented this complex engagement clutch. Before starting on a costly prototyping project, we created a three-dimensional solid model of the product to pitch to a potential customer. The computer model showed the mechanisms and how it would fit into the end-customer's application. The customer was impressed by the novel clutch and Hersey Clutch moved into prototyping.
Power Athletics - From Idea to Market
The idea started when a US National Team rower turned crew coach was trying to figure out why a quad (four rowers racing in a shell, "sculling" with two oars per person) was faster than a four (four rowers, but with one oar per person, rowing "sweep"). He concluded that the dominant factor was that the asymmetrically loaded sweep rower was not able to provide as much thrust as the symmetrically loaded sculler. He came up with a simple and effective oar handle that could be used by sweep rowers to significantly reduce the asymmetric loads and prevent much of the potentially hazardous twisting of the back and shoulders. Sweep rowers could now row faster and more safely.
In order to help make the vision a reality, we helped the inventor design, model, prototype and manufacture his new oar handle. From material selection (carbon fiber, fiberglass, or aluminum?) to part selection, we worked with the inventor to find the best path forward.
Materials Science Tutorials - Interactive Learning
Frustrated with the pace of learning dictated by conventional textbooks, Dr. Charles McMahon of the University of Pennsylvania set out to invent a more effective means of communicating the intricacies of materials science to his students.
The project involved creating figures and animations, taking pictures and shooting video, and compiling everything into a multi-media rich presentation that the students could control. Static media was rendered in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, while animations were created in Macromedia Director and Extreme 3D. The application was then authored with Macromedia Director using a novel time-syncing algorithm co-developed by Ransom Weaver.
Phone Bill Estimator - Proof of Concept
This was a proof of concept for another consulting firm specializing in mobile phone cost management. The application was written in Microsoft Visual Basic, and used an easily editable Excel spreadsheet for importing and exporting plan data. Given an input of minutes of service the customer typically uses (broken down into peak and off-peak, mobile-to-mobile, etc.), the program would search all rate plans currently available from major providers and return the most cost effective plans.