AIT firstly carried out a large background research stage into safety features, a report was drafted for the stakeholders outlining suitable materials and suggesting features which would prevent harm and choking without effecting the functionality of the toy. Once agreed, AIT developed 6 early stage concepts of the products. A concept was selected by the stakeholder to be refined in CAD. Dimensional drawings were then supplied to Sandy Sports for approval before prototyping commenced. The prototyping stage was an iterative process. Final deliverables included:
- Report on suitable materials and safety mechanisms.
- Two functional full scale models for usability testing
- Renders of the models in a variety of colours
- 2D production drawings
- 2D patent drawings
- 3D universal step. Files to production costings
CISD feel the real innovation in this project was delivered in the CAD design. The initial design developed in voucher 1 satisfied all the needs of the stakeholder in terms of safety and functionality. However, this design included over 15 separate injection moulding parts, making tooling unaffordable to the start up. In the second voucher, clever design reduced the number of parts to 7 and removed the need for ultrasonic welding considerably reducing the cost of production without compromising safety or functionality.
CHI Environmental