Solid 2014 kobayashi

Sketching‘Peripheral’
Innovations
Shigeru Kobayashi
@kotobuki

1993 - 2004
Sound designer / Software engineer / Researcher @ Roland
Let me start with my brief history. I worked for a digital musical instrument company, Roland, as a sound designer,
software engineer and researcher. At the company, I didn’t touch hardware engineering.

2004 - Now
Teacher @ IAMAS
About 10 years ago, I moved to a very small graduate school, IAMAS. I have been teaching there.

Lessons learned in the first year as a teacher
1. Art and design students eagerly desire to learn
electronics and programming
2. They tend to be misled into thinking that everyone at a
manufacturer knows everything from software to
hardware
3. I have to learn hardware to teach…
I learned three things in the ﬁrst year at IAMAS. First, art and design students eagerly desire to learn electronics and
programming. Second, they tend to be misled into thinking that everyone at a manufacturer knows everything from
software to hardware. Actually, I never touched hardware engineering at the manufacturer. Anyway, I have to learn
hardware to teach…

写真撮影：高尾俊介
In 2005, prototyping physical interfaces and interactions was not so
easy
So I designed Gainer, a toolkit for physical computing, with my colleagues in 2005. I was happy, because there were
easy to use micro-controllers and PCB CAD tools. They enabled me to design Gainer in a very short term from
scratch. It was just before the era of Arduino. Since prototyping physical interfaces and interactions was not so easy
at the time, we developed Gainer for designers and artists as the initial audience.

写真提供：ICC
I learned of the great need for developing skills for creating
ideas from scratch and giving them physical interactions
After releasing Gainer, I got many requests from manufacturers in addition to initial targeted audiences. Through
holding workshops for designers, engineers and marketers, I learned of the great need for developing skills for
creating ideas from scratch and giving them physical interactions.

写真撮影：萩原健一
That’s why I have written several books. This is ‘Prototyping Lab’, a book to introduce various ways of prototyping
utilizing Arduino. The book is now being published in three languages.

Photo by SparkFun Electronics (CC: BY-NC-SA 3.0)
Arduino Fio: a small Arduino with a battery charger and a socket for a XBee wireless modem
And in 2010 I designed the Arduino Fio with Sparkfun Electronics. It’s a small Arduino with a battery charger and a
socket for an XBee wireless modem. Of course, it’s an open source hardware product.

An open source Geiger counter with GPS and logger
function
developed by Safecast
Recently, the Arduino Fio has been utilized as a part of a very interesting project, the bGeigie Nano. the bGeigie Nano
is an open source Geiger counter with GPS and logger function developed by Safecast. It consists of various open
source hardware products by SparkFun and Adafruit. That’s a really interesting citizen science project utilizing open
source hardware.

Research topics from 2004 to 2014
• Designing interfaces
• Designing interactions
• Creating innovations
Through those activities, my research topic has been changed from designing interfaces to creating innovation in
response to requests from the people who want to collaborate with us.

Sketching‘Peripheral’Innovations
Rebuilding the world, from the‘periphery’
So let’s talk about the theme, sketching ‘peripheral’ innovations.

Mainstream
Restrictions
Restrictions
Restrictions
Restrictions
Restrictions
Restrictions
Restrictions
Restrictions
Restrictions
Restrictions
Restrictions
Restrictions
Restrictions
Restrictions
Restrictions
Restrictions
Restrictions
Restrictions
Restrictions
I’m living in Japan, and I have been hearing so many requests about being innovative and creating innovations. I feel
it’s a little difficult. ↓ Japan is a so called developed country with many highly skilled manufacturers and creative
people, ↓ however there are many restrictions, especially for mainstream industries.

software × hardware
big companies × small companies
craft × manufacturing
Difficulties of collaboration
Moreover, there are difficulties of collaboration, such as conﬂicts between software guy versus hardware guy, big
companies versus small companies, craft versus manufacturing and so on.

Mainstream
‘Periphery’
To tackle this challenge, I’d like to propose rebuilding the world from the ‘periphery’, instead of the mainstream.
Since doing so should be much easier.

Case 1
An open make-a-thon event held with Engadget Japanese
I’ll introduce my ideas using some case studies. I have held over 10 make-a-thon events in this past year. This is one
of them.

>30 participants including software developers, hardware
engineers,
UI/UX designers, artists and local factory engineers
We gathered around 30 participants, including software developers, hardware engineers, UI/UX designers, artists and
local factory engineers.

The design challenge of make-a-thon events
How might we make our daily lives pleasant
with smartphone gadgets?
The design challenge was, ↓ ‘How might we make our daily lives pleasant with smartphone gadgets?’.

Electronics
Circuit
Exterior Smart-phoneApp Web Servicekonashi
How might we encourage participants to think of the whole?
The participants were encouraged to think of the whole (big picture) instead of their own comfort zones such as… To
further facilitate communication between zones, we utilized konashi by Yukai Engineering.

http://konashi.ux-xu.com/documents/
Konashi is a physical computing toolkit to create wireless devices for smartphones & tablets. Technically it consists of
a Bluetooth Low Energy wireless module and software libraries for Objective-C and JavaScript.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/opencu/sets/72157633896214841/
draw sketches
to externalize
and share ideas
At the beginning of each event, we held idea sketching sessions, beginning with deﬁning who and when, then
drawing sketches to externalize and share ideas in a common format by following the same sketching rules.

>230 original ideas,
30 participants
in 2 hours
This method proved to be hugely productive, for instance producing over 230 original ideas from 30 participants in 2
hours.

In addition to the idea sketching sessions, we introduced the konashi software library for Objective-C and JavaScript

as well as practical ways of utilizing basic sensors and actuators. To simplify the steps, we utilized the Grove toolkit
by Seeed Studio. We found that the Grove toolkit was really helpful! After these introductory workshops, participants
worked together toward the demonstration session on the second day.

Day 1 1-3 week(s) Day 2
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
Introduction
Make (distributed activities)
Make (integration)
Introduction
Make (integration)
Lunch (team building)
Make (integration)
Idea sketching
Make (integration)
Idea sketching
Make (integration)
Getting started
Make (integration)
Hardware sketching
Make (integration)
Hardware sketching
Presentation
Presentation
Presentation
Usually, hack-a-thon or make-a-thon events are held on continuous two days in weekends. But we divided the event
into two separate days since making physical things is a time consuming task. For example, purchasing components
online will take a day to be delivered. Printing something with a 3D printer will take anywhere from a few hours to an
entire day. To allow participants to make things at a higher quality, we designed the schedule like this.

Engadget部活動:電子工作部「スマホ連係ガジェットを作ろう！」チーム「せんたく風鈴」
2013年8月17日（土）・25日（日）
Here is an example. The members of this team were a software developer, a hardware engineer, a planner,

an engineer working at a small factory and so on. The team worked together,

2013年8月17日（土）・25日（日）
and generated many ideas through an idea sketching session. Except for designers, people tend to hesitate drawing
by hand, since they believe that they are bad at drawing. But once we introduced a simple rule for sketching, in a few
minutes, they started drawing immediately.

2013年8月17日（土）・25日（日）
The participants generated many ideas

2013年8月17日（土）・25日（日）
many, many ideas.

2013年8月17日（土）・25日（日）
A companion device with sensors for a smart
phone
that inform users of the status of their laundry
And the members of the team made a choice at the end of the ﬁrst day. The idea was a companion device with
sensors for a smart phone that will inform users of the status of their laundry.

Within a few days, they worked in parallel to create parts by applying their skills.

2013年8月17日（土）・25日（日）
On the second day, all members got together to integrate components such as graphic elements

2013年8月17日（土）・25日（日）
electronics circuit

2013年8月17日（土）・25日（日）
sensors

2013年8月17日（土）・25日（日）

2013年8月17日（土）・25日（日）
and an exterior built with laser-cut aluminum components.

2013年8月17日（土）・25日（日）
All members of the team worked together to integrate everything into a working prototype.

2013年8月17日（土）・25日（日）
This is towards

2013年8月17日（土）・25日（日）
Good enough to introduce and evaluate the idea
the end of the second day. It was a little bit bigger in comparison to the original idea. However, it was good enough
to introduce and evaluate.

At the end, they demonstrated in front of all participants.

2013年8月17日（土）・25日（日）
This is a video, created by a member of the team. She created in a few hours with a quickly made cardboard based
mockup and images on a smartphone to simulate a smartphone application. The video was really important. Since
the members have to work in parallel through a secret group on Facebook, sharing a goal was difficult. But by
publishing the video, she introduced a goal to the other members. After all members understood the goal, they
quickly recognized their own role in the team.

Case 2
A project started with a closed make-a-thon
The second case is a product development project. We embedded a make-a-thon as a kick-starter of the project.

In the beginning, we held a workshop to let participants get familiar with digital fabrication tools such as a laster
cutter and 3D printers.

Then, we conducted a make-a-thon with about 30 participants consisting of 5 teams. The participants were software
developers, designers and manufacturers.

They created so many ideas as idea sketches.

And we introduced tools that accelerate creating companion devices for smart phone.

The idea was a shining bushel
Then, each team tried to realize ideas. Regarding this team, the idea was a shining bushel.

Masu (bushel) is an >1,300 years old wooden measuring instrument
In Japanese, bushel is Masu. Masu is an over 1,300 years old wooden measuring instrument.

A member of the team sketched the idea in hardware with tiny electric components,

and the team really liked the idea, since they believed that a shining bushel will enrich drinking experiences.

We supported creating prototypes, and they decided to release the idea as a product.

This is ‘Hikarimasu’, a shining bushel that enriches drinking experiences.

Gathering diverse
people,
creating ideas together,
and sketching in
hardware
is a really practical way
to create innovation
Through those activities, I learned that gathering diverse people, creating ideas together, and sketching in hardware
is a really practical way to create innovation.

I also found that the participants established a relationship of mutual trust between team members.

The relationship transformed A versus B into A plus B, or A multiply B.

Smartphone
Tablet
PC
Glasses
Wrist watch
Accessories
Differences
Diversity is the key
Recently, I found that new opportunities. From my observation, we don’t hesitate to use same product regarding
smartphone, tablet and PC. If you have an iPhone and I also have an iPhone, that’s OK. However, we need diversity
regarding glasses, wrist watch, accessories and so on. If several members in this room wear same glasses, they
should feel out of place. I think the need of diversity if the key to ‘peripheral’ innovations.

Observation
Team building
Idea sketching
Productise
Development
Dispose and recycle
Hardware sketching
Products
Evaluation
Let me talk about what’s next. This is a framework of ‘peripheral’ innovations. That’s not so special, basically similar
to lean startup models. Start with building teams, observe people, creating ideas, sketching in hardware, and iterate
the process until get a strong idea. Once get a strong idea, change to the outer iteration.

×1
×10
×100
×1,000
×10,000
×100,000
Traditional Mass Manufacturing
Typically, mass production is a big barrier for this cycle. Thinking about exterior, It’s OK to 1 to 100 models with 3D printing, but that’s not scalable for over 1,000 production
with plastic injection molding. Since molds for plastic injection molding are expensive, that’s a big barrier for ‘peripheral’ innovations.

×1
×10
×100
×1,000
×10,000
×100,000
‘Elastic’Manufacturing
Instead of traditional mass manufacturing, we need something like this. A way to manufacture from one to many. I
don’t know how we should call this, but let’s say ‘elastic’ manufacturing.

Source: http://www.braveridge.com/bluetooth.html
Braveridge BVMCN5102-BK
A Nordic Semiconductor’s
nRF51822 based‘blank’module
Regarding electronics circuit, we already have a solution. For instance, Nordic Semiconductor in Japan has been
facilitating to create ‘blank’ modules for several manufacturers in Japan. Since ‘blank’ modules are standardized and
ready to use as a part of a product, we can use from one to many. For example, Braveridge provides various modules
from prototyping to manufacturing.

Regarding exterior of products, the second case gave me an idea, woodworking is as elastic as 3D printing. But there
are various ways of ‘elastic’ manufacturing. In addition to digital fabrication such as 3D printing, I found that
woodworking is really elastic, since that doesn’t need expensive molds and scalable one to many.

This is a wireless charger by Bsize. The exterior of the charger is made with compressed wood.

The company collaborated with a woodworking company.

Cross-trained workers,
various jigs and CNCs
are the keys of
‘elastic manufacturing’
I’d like to say, cross-trained workers, various jigs and CNCs are the keys of ‘elastic manufacturing’.

I believe that there are more technologies that help ‘elastic’ manufacturing. For instance, bending metal.

Mainstream
‘Periphery’
I hope that I’ll be able to report results of the forthcoming projects at the next Solid conference.

Thank you very much!
Shigeru Kobayashi
@kotobuki

Solid 2014 kobayashi

More Related Content

Viewers also liked

Similar to Solid 2014 kobayashi

More from Shigeru Kobayashi

Recently uploaded

Solid 2014 kobayashi