In the innovation lab at GTB we took a concept for a vehicle dashboard companion and made a physical prototype.

Dash is designed to communicate through expressive LED eyes with reaction to environmental changes like fast acceleration, g-force, cabin volume, vehicle passengers, etc. Other features are wireless data communication, battery power, simple update process, and modular capabilities. We tested a few different controller platforms but ultimately used Adafruit Feather for form-factor, availability and wireless protocol variety.

I used Fusion360 to convert the concept sketches into a model that we could iterate over and 3D print copies of. I created an inner sleeve that contained the electronic components and an LED board that could be customized to accommodate different LED matrices. This allowed for us to test multiple variations of components to get the correct “feel” for Dash.

I also vacuum formed the visor on my homemade vacuum former and dyed it with RIT dye for synthetics.

Role

• Created print-ready 3D designs based on sketches
• Integrated multiple LED matrices
• Integrated wireless micro-controller
• Designed creative flow from concept to byte-code