Jithin Raj Mambully Rajan
Integrated Industrial Design
The curiosity to gain knowledge and being creative are my two strong holds. This allows me to become more innovative and deliver quality work. To me design is more than just creating a physical object. I believe in designing an experience for the user. Exploring forms is one thing that I’m passionate about. I am always open to learn more and bring lots of idea together.
Major project
Accessible Sports for Visually Impaired
Accessible Sports for Visually Impaired
‘SENS’, a pair of wearable gloves with integrated vibration motors, electronics, and a control device built right into them. The device's primary objective is to provide visually impaired users with a live translation of a sporting event through vibrations on skin by utilizing the ball tracking technology now used at sporting venues for sports review.
Research and Development
In the initial stage, both secondary and primary research was undertaken to examine the participation of visually impaired people in sports as well as the obstacles that they must overcome to engage in physical activities. The research data was analysed, to identify insights and design opportunities. Five concept directions—travel, training, hand-ear coordination, virtual reality, and sports spectator—were identified from the findings analysis. These were explored through thumbnail sketches. The topic of the visually impaired sport spectator was ultimately picked since there was a design opportunity to enhance their experience.
The idea was to give the user haptic feedback via vibration to use their sense of touch. To examine the final product placement, various positions on the body were explored. The palm position was finally chosen. To validate the concept, vibration motors were attached to people’s hands during tests.
The concept and user scenario
The user just has to wear the device and connect to stadium system using the dedicated app. Once the device is turned on, the app will identify the user’s location and advise a Bluetooth connection to the device. The user will also receive a sound notification once everything is connected. There are total of 3 vibration motors on each gloves, which gives feedback to the user through vibrational pattern assigned for different events in sports (like fault, net hit in Tennis). The user can familiarize these pattern through tutorials in the app.
The gloves has an inner washable layer and an outer detachable layer which is integrated with the electronics.
Product Details
The electronic component of the product will be created utilizing the injection moulding process. To make the controls easier for the user to understand, braille was used in the design. The chosen colors were black with a glossy and matte finish, as well as a green accent TPU layer. The main body is made of ABS, which is durable and easily formed, while the top detail is made of TPU since it needs to be flexible to close and open the charging port. The materials chosen for the gloves are sports polyester and TPR for the tag, with the printed logo.
Product Validation
To ensure that the intended vibration pattern communicates to the user clearly, it must be validated. A code that translated by tracking a match was unable to be produced due to the project’s short schedule. As a result, the motors installed on both gloves were programmed to play a tennis match (“The Best Game Ever? Murray v Federer - YouTube,” n.d.) that had been manually translated. Although the test was initially a little difficult to recognize, after some familiarity using the product, it was possible to understand the game from vibrations. This was regarded as an accomplishment.
Prototype
To gain a sense of the product’s proportion, foam models were built initially after the component casing’s design had been decided upon. This provided a visual impression of the whole product. The 3D CAD model from Solidworks was used to 3D print the part for the prototype. PLA material was used for the prints. A spring mechanism detail was tried to add a button element for the 3D print prototype. The final 3D printed prototype was spray painted matte black and green. It was next attached to a pair of gloves.
Smart Home- Inclusive Design
In the course Inclusive design, the objective was to analyse an existing product of its use case scenario amongst elderly. The product chosen was Amazon Echo Show 10. To comprehend the use of smart home products among the elderly, desk research and basic primary research were undertaken. In addition, we had to design a smart home device using all of the information obtained from the research.
The final product designed is a smart home device which is paired with a smart ring that can be used to control the device using voice commands from anywhere in the house. The target users are elderly people, and the smart ring helps them to control smart devices without moving from the place or closer to the main hub.
3D Surfacing Project- Mask Design
A 3D model of the mask produced in the Industrial Design and technology skills course had to be developed as part of the Advanced CAD design course. A reference 3D scan of the head was used to accomplish this. The finished model was rendered.
Jithin Raj Mambully Rajan
Major project
Accessible Sports for Visually Impaired
Awards
Trends Excellence Award 2019- Accessory Design Winner
A project I worked on at Studio Gritt in Bangalore, called Xtend- a extension power unit, won an accessory design prize in 2019.
https://www.goodhomes.co.in/home-and-design-trends/trendsmakers/trends-awards-2019-meet-the-product-design-winners-6256-16.html
Work Experience
- Industrial Designer at Studio Gritt, Bangalore, India
Worked on a range of products from furniture to India's first home gaming cockpit to be designed and manufactured in India.
Find more about cockpit here- https://www.inracing.in
- Industrial Design Internship at Quolt Design, Hyderabad, India
I worked as an Industrial design intern for four months. I had the opportunity to design a smart stationery organizer during my internship and also to come up with innovative game ideas to pitch to Hasbro.
- Industrial Design Contract Projects
Zanzoon, France (Remote) - Designed a range of toys according to the design brief provided. The company website has updated versions of a few of the projects I worked on.
Unisketch Design, Pune, India (Remote) - Designed and developed a coffee machine. The engineering team further prototyped the concept, which is currently in the manufacturing stage.