INNGAGE wins 2019 Samsung Design Contest with ‘Star of Galaxy’
INNGAGE has received the grand prize in the Next Mobile + category with its Star of Galaxy, a robotic arm that turns any Samsung Galaxy device into an AI-powered countertop virtual assistant through Bixby integration. Star of Galaxy is “a product that empowers users to truly become the stars of their experiences,” explains André Gouveia, Industrial Designer at INNGAGE.
Focused on the theme of collaborative robotics, Star of Galaxy is a device designed to provide new experiences to its users. Through Bixby virtual assistant platform, this new accessory will allow any Samsung Galaxy device to follow and interact with its users through face and voice recognition. Designed with Solid Edge, Star of Galaxy allows a smartphone or tablet to be fixed and rotated through its articulated body, thus creating new levels of comfort and flexibility in everyday tasks, like shooting video, taking pictures, cooking, video conferencing, and so much more.
Star of Galaxy: A Solid Edge Saga
INNGAGE relied heavily on Solid Edge for the development of Star of Galaxy. The company uses Solid Edge as its primary software for developing new concepts and products because it provides them the desired flexibility to explore more complex surfaces, while ensuring the precision that’s required for engineering.
In the case of Star of Galaxy, the design team at INNGAGE – André Gouveia, Nuno Pires, and João Pereira – started by defining some technical limitations, such as Samsung device measurements. From there, they explored various mechanical possibilities and solutions that would ensure a mobile device could rotate between portrait and landscape positions. With the help of synchronous technology in Solid Edge, which combines the speed and simplicity of direct modeling with the flexibility and control of parametric design, INNGAGE was able to perform virtual testing and validation of the robotic arm rotation system. Validation in Solid Edge allowed them to ensure that any tablet or smartphone connected to Star of Galaxy won’t collide with the tabletop or the device itself.
Once Star of Galaxy’s mechanism was finally defined, INNGAGE moved on to explore the shape of the device itself. The team relied on the powerful 3D rendering capabilities in Solid Edge to visualize their design in its final state. “Solid Edge gave us a realistic look and feel of the final product. This was important because it allowed us to work and change the details, ensuring a better match between the various elements that make up the Star Of Galaxy,” explains Gouveia.
Solid Edge serves as the primary CAD-software-of-choice at INNGAGE. “We started using Solid Edge mainly because of its synchronous technology, which allows us more freedom at an early stage of the design process. Also, for complex surfaces, it’s the best CAD solution on the market. With Solid Edge, we can go from rough concepts to complex engineering without switching between software,” says Gouveia.
Solid Edge handles any situation a user might find in a surfacing project with powerful and stable features. Surfacing in Solid Edge can be performed in either ordered or synchronous mode, but complex interpolated shapes are usually handled in ordered mode. One of the unique capabilities of Solid Edge is to use synchronous mode for sketches, while relying on ordered mode to design and develop actual features. This enables live editing; the surface changes as you drag, even for spline sketches. Solid Edge retains all the power of synchronous mode when working with prismatic surfaces, allowing you to use synchronous tools to move or position solid or surface bodies within a model.
A Star is Born. What’s Next?
With the release of Star of Galaxy (and a huge global award from Samsung to go along with it), INNGAGE has a lot to celebrate and can be proud of how far they’ve come. This team of relentless thinkers and doers took the Samsung Design Competition seriously, and with the help of Solid Edge, were able to bring a truly phenomenal product to market.
“We’re really proud of this award. We took this competition very seriously and worked on it just like any other project we do for our actual clients. We applied our standard design process, starting with research, followed by opportunities definition, ideation, prototyping, testing, and communication,” says Gouveia. “This is proof that we’re able to do great work with great companies. More importantly, we’re happy with ourselves and our work.”
The release of Star of Galaxy, a first-of-its-kind product, will undoubtedly have an impact on the global market for Samsung accessories and devices. “We feel a great responsibility now,” says Gouveia. “We know that in the near future other companies can rely on INNGAGE to design great products and experiences that make sense. We’re a team of believers in the power of design to make extraordinary things.”
Here at Siemens Digital Industries Software, we’re excited to see how INNGAGE uses Solid Edge to make the next innovative concept like Star of Galaxy a reality.
Based in Portugal, INNGAGE is a team of believers in the power of design to make extraordinary things. Their team of relentless thinkers and doers is focused on being the best-in-class, developing outstanding products and meaningful brands that people can trust.
