Product Innovation Archives

Category: Product Innovation

Design 1st 2020: Year in Review

27 Years Experience

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1,000+ Manufactured Products

From Idea to Prototype in as Little as Six Weeks!

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The Design 1st team met the challenges of 2020 head-on. The result was six new staff members, over 68 unique projects and hundreds of Zoom calls. Take a look at our infographic below to see what our hard-working team accomplished last year.

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Published on: July 14, 2023

New Innovations in Mining Equipment Technology

27 Years Experience

75+ Design Awards

1,000+ Manufactured Products

From Idea to Prototype in as Little as Six Weeks!

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Mining technology is moving fast.

The driving forces are worker safety, equipment monitoring and environmental impact. Companies are innovating in these areas to remain competitive and take advantage of new technologies.

Over the past five years, Design 1st has been helping a variety of companies develop new products for the mining, oil, gas industry. Below are some of our clients.

1) SkyX: Remote Drone Charging Station

Toronto-basd SkyX is revolutionizing remote drone monitoring for the oil, gas and mining industries with a long-range autonomous ‘drone-as-a-service’ business. Design 1st helped with the design, engineering and prototyping of the remote charging station.

2) SafeXtract: Connected Underground Mining Safety Helmet

South African based SafeXtract partnered with Design 1st to help bring the dream of a connected miners helmet to life. Features of the helmet include camera, push-to-talk communication, 12 hour battery life, emergency lighting and Wifi connectivity. The purpose was to improve safety of miners when working underground.

3) Instantel: Seismic Monitoring for Blasting and Explosions

The Instantel product family of seismographs monitor ground vibration, air and water over pressure created by blasting, demolition, mining and quarrying. Design 1st helped design the rugged enclosure, interface and packaging alongside the Instantel product development team.

4) Momentum: GPS Remote Equipment Monitoring

California based Momeumtum IoT’s real-time GPS equipment tracking system includes a military grade tracker capable of operating -22° to 170° Fahrenheit. Perfect for the high-impact, rugged mining industry.

5) Neptec: Rugged Real-Time 3D LiDAD Object Detection

Neptec Technologies’ OPAL™ LiDAR system is being across the globe for a varitey of applications including unmanned autonomous navigation and object detection for large mining equipment. Design 1st helped Neptec develop 3D LiDAR sensors into a military grade device that can withstand earth’s harshest conditions.

6) Titan: Surface Seismometer Triaxial Accelerometer

The Titan is a force balance triaxial accelerometer that provides exceptional performance over a wide frequency range from DC to 430 Hz. Design 1st helped design the rugged enclosure of Titan to ensure reliable and constant results during operation

Working on a mining equipment product?

We can help take you from idea to design, prototyping, and volume manufacturing.

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Published on: February 25, 2023

CES 2020 Review: Product Design Perspective

27 Years Experience

75+ Design Awards

1,000+ Manufactured Products

From Idea to Prototype in as Little as Six Weeks!

Ready to Start?

Attending the annual International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas is a product designer’s version of visiting Santa’s workshop.

New gadgets, technology and innovation fresh out of the R&D lab are put on display. This results in a flood of new ideas that can impact the direction of existing and future projects.

To get the most out of CES 2020, you must come prepared. With over 4500 exhibitors and 2.9 million square feet of exhibit space, it is easy to get overwhelmed.

Take a look at some of our favorite highlights:

1) Robotic Hardware Startup Pitches

The hottest startups at CES 2020 were robotic hardware – hands down. This cohort even had their own “robotic hardware pitch” competition which drew thousands of attendees.

Digging into the details it is easy to see why connected hardware is creating a new industrial revolution where sensors, connectivity and artificial-intelligence are being baked into new physical objects. The result? Groundbreaking, affordable products that delight.

The video below provides an excellent recap of the coolest robots seen at CES 2020:

The weird and wonderful world of robots at CES 2020

2) Exploring the Future of Foldable Screen Technology

Foldable screens are more than a novelty, they are a clever design feature allowing devices to shrink while still maintaining screen real estate. At CES 2019, foldable screens made their debut but the excitement was short-lived. Tech reviewers kept breaking the screens – and reporting the results. The most memorable was the Samsung Galaxy Fold review fail.

This year at CES2020 foldable screens moved beyond smartphones to laptops. The most notable were Intel’s 17-inch prototype tablet/laptop and Lenovo’s 13.3 inch ThinkPad X1 Fold.

Moving into 2020, expect to see foldable screens across a large variety of physical devices.

The future of foldable PC’s at CES2020

3) Product Design Industry Sessions

Each year at CES, there are hundreds of industry sessions and talks. These events are the perfect way to get up to speed on current trends.

Our top five favorite sessions for product designers at CES2020 were:

These sessions were a wonderful way to hit on the prickly realities of the design process. They also answered our customers most common questions such as, “How do I improve predictability moving to market?”, “How can I prioritize sustainable materials in my design?”, and “How can I speed up prototyping as my company expands?”.