Co-Pilot prototype and production design

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home > Engineering Prototypes > Example of Patented Prototype
ART • TEC
INDUSTRIAL PROTOTYPE DESIGN + DEVELOPMENT
EXAMPLE PROTOTYPE

The Co-Pilot DRIVING SAFETY DEVICE
The Co-Pilot is a driver safety device that mounts in a vehicle and plays safety announcements at intervals to remind you to drive safely. In a firm female voice it might say: "Keep both hands on the steering wheel" or in the winter: "Keep in mind the dangers of black ice". It has selector switches for time intervals and season. There is a volume control that has a pre-set minimum to be sure that it is audible - and no power switch. When wired into the vehicle, it just come on automatically when the vehicle is running. Visit the web site to order yours!
	When Marlon Munoz first contacted me with his idea, he just wanted me to build a working prototype to demonstrate the idea to the Post Office where he works. He was hoping that they would license the idea and install them in their fleet of vehicles. At left is the first working prototype that I built for him. They thought it was a great idea but passed on making them in-house, so Marlon decided to set up a home production line and make and sell them himself from a web site that he also built himself
	He hired me to design the electronics so that he could assemble everything at home by himself. The first working prototype used relatively expensive components like the off-the-shelf sound card shown at left because it was easer and quicker for me to make (see left). Like most prototypes it was hand wired and not production worthy. I had designed it to fit an off-the-shelf Radio Shack box for a CB radio speaker because it was big enough to hold the electronics and demonstrate the concept.
	Marlon researched plastic speaker boxes, and found a good price on a very practical box, so I engineered the electronics to fit that box. He also found a good deal on speakers that fit perfectly in the box. This is the first pre-production prototype. We used this to test the idea and refine the design for production.
	I designed an electronic circuit board to fit in box that he found. I designed it to use inexpensive parts that would be easy to assemble. I also provided him with a parts list that he could use to order all the parts directly from the electronic distributor by clicking on a web link and entering in the quantity to order. He started with 100 because the price break on 100 parts is good.
	Once the design was finalized, Marlon came to my workshop for a day so that I could train him how to build his product. I showed him how to install the electronic parts into the circuit board and solder them in. He build a complete working unit while taking step-by-step notes, since he had never done this type of thing before. I showed him how to set up tooling to make the holes in the case for the controls. I also trained him how to program the 2 chips and where to get the programming equipment and other tools that he would need. It took him a while to work out the kinks at home, and I had to work with him to resolve some programming errors that I had made that did not show up in the initial testing. Here is one of the production units. Order yours today by clicking on the image at left!

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