STUDIO KMD

Crystal Art- Illuminated Sculpture Grant

Bob — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 20:45:57 +0000

We just got word yesterday that our proposal for the 2011 Illuminated Sculpture Grant was selected by the Crystal City to be included as part of this summer’s installations. Bryce will be working with Dan Hoffman on the phosphorescent creature installation that will open on the 1st of april. We will have some process shots coming down the line so keep posted.

Twi Writer

Bryce — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 04:52:29 +0000

The “Twi Writer” is a twitter visualization project that allows users to temporarily write messages on phosphorescent boards using 400nm lasers. This unique spectrum charges the phosphorescent laser instantly and spells out messages similar to how plan would sky write.

The project uses and arduino micro controller, 15 laser pointers and a remote power source. All of the computing happens on a mac laptop running processing and communicates with the arduino via serial over usb.

blunderbus

Bryce — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 15:05:30 +0000

The blunderbus toolset was developed to streamline the development of projects that require linking low cost arduino micro-controllers to Internet enabled mobile devices. Users will be able to load the muzzle of the system with all kinds of sensor data and then transfer that data to remote interface that can monitor the data and shoot a response back to the micro-controller. In order to make the system accessible to both experienced programmers and newcomers alike, blunderbus focuses on making the toolset easy to use and set up. It is intended that this open source project will expand capabilities of open source hardware platforms whilst remaining true to the nature of the DIY electronics culture.

The alpha 0.0.0 release is now available. Please check it out and let us know what problem you run into. This is a test release and requires your feedback for improvements

Maker Faire

Bryce — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 15:01:28 +0000

Thanks to everybody who came by our booth at Maker Faire this weekend. We spent the past two weeks preparing for the event and were thrilled at the response to our projects. We will be posting some videos on the projects we displayed at the faire when we get a chance . If you have any feed back or pictures from the faire we would love to see them.

Here is Bryce posing at our booth.

Bryce is telling someone about “blunderbus”.

After spending the last week without a whole lot of sleep Jeffy was still quite excited to be here!

As for blunderbus (the iphone to adruino toolset), we will be releasing the documentation, installation instructions, software package and source code this week. You can review my thesis synthesis write up by following the link above. After the feed back from the show we have some new fuel in our tanks to keep working on this project. We will have plenty of exciting news to relay to you in the next week or so. Please check back for updates.

Product Development

Bryce — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 20:34:05 +0000

Developing new products can be a challenge for many of our clients. No matter how far along you are in the development process, our design methodology allows us to recognize the key criteria that should be address to make a successful product. Our experience in design development helps us recognize the needs of your customers and the strengths of your company to create a unique product to fill new market opportunities. Studio KMD has worked with a variety great clients to address problems in areas such as:

Design for manufacturability
Design for Assembly
User Interactions
Product Robustness
Interface Design
Ergonomics

Custom Freestanding Display System

Bob — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 20:17:08 +0000

Our most recent set of displays for SCA Americas were designed as a cost-effective solution to display products and literature to visitors entering the lobby space on the 24th floor of the Cira Center. This set of four freestanding displays use aluminum, maple hardwood, high quality PVC board, and custom laser cut clear acrylic to match the beautiful Swedish interior design of the SCA office’s.

Maple veneered slat-wall with adjustable literature holders also hold 3 maple shelves to display freestanding products while laser cut acrylic pegboard panels provide a versatile mounting solution for wall-mounted products. A “Welcome” display was designed to hold interchangeable printed material to provide information to visitors. Using a slim plastic hinge and inset magnets as a seamless “latch”, information can be easily added or removed. We also utilized our vinyl cutter, creating SCA’s logo using etched glass transparent vinyl.

All aluminum fabrication was once again expertly handled by our friends at RaceSeng Design. To get an idea of the level of detail these guys think at, check out the fastener detail on the back of the displays (pictured below). RaceSeng also sourced the powder coating, giving the bright white finish protection from UV damage in the sunny SCA lobby.

UPDATE:

Images below of the displays displaying things!

Model Building and Prototyping Shop

Bryce — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 16:29:08 +0000

Over the past year or so we’ve been investing a lot of time and money to renovate our space and build an onsite model shop. We are excited to share with you all the amazing new tools we have and the new retrofitted space to carry out all of your model building and prototyping needs! We continue to add new tools and have plans to build a few others as well.

The tools you will currently find in our shop:

Hitachi C10FL Table Saw
Delta Shopmaster Miter Saw
12″ Disc Sander
Jet 12″ Drill Press
Rikon 14″ Band Saw
Vacuum Forming Machine
Vacuum Casting Equipment
Fiber Glass and Carbon Composite Station
Metal Lathe
Wood Lather
Milling Machine

Lilypad Workshop

Bryce — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 01:41:31 +0000

Bryce and Matt were invited to conduct a workshop at the Adidas Wearable Sports Electronics Division located in Wilmington Delaware on Fat Tuesday (hence the beads). The topic of the day was the wearable and textile electronic prototyping. We had a quick introduction but most of our day was spent diving head first into the use of the Arduino Lilypad. Bryce expressed “I have never seen such an ambitious group, these guys weren’t going to settle for blinking LED’s. . . They were able to grasp the logic behind the Arduino code faster than any group I’ve seen.” The group went on to experiment with several types of digital and analog sensors with quite impressive results.

Attached is the code that was prepared by Matt and Bryce to help help solve some of the common issues they thought the newcomers might face. Of course if you need the Arduino software it is available here and don’t forget to check out the site of the developers Leah Beuchley and SparkFun.

Photo-resistor to Vibration Motor

LillyPadPresentation

Aluminum Pegboard Displays

Bob — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:30:28 +0000

UPDATE! :

The Aluminum displays for SCA Americas Dispenser Innovation Team have been completed, delivered, and quickly put to use in the team’s University City office in downtown Philadelphia. The displays came out fantastic thanks to our friends over at RaceSeng Design and have found their home in conference rooms as well as each team members individual office spaces. Look forward to seeing more projects working with these two great companies!

Pictures of the completed displays:

Aluminum displays were designed in-house at Studio KMD for the SCA AmericasDispenser Innovation Team located in Center City, Philadelphia. The all Aluminum construction provides a strong, lightweight product that is easy to maneuver with the help of 2 1/2″ Diameter twin wheel locking Urethane castors.

Five large displays were fabricated as room dividers with 47″ x 95″ of useable pegboard display area. Eight matching smaller displays were also designed to provide Designers and Researchers with a manageable display space within each of their personal offices.

These units will be utilized to display a wide range of SCA products at meetings, training sessions, and other events.

Each display has been meticulously machined, welded, painted, and constructed by our good friends at RaceSeng Design, Inclocated in Orefield, PA. Check out the entire fabrication process below:

More pictures of the finished project to come…

Vinyl Cutting Signage

Bryce — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 19:35:18 +0000

We have a few toys at KMD that we like to get paid to play with – and one of those is our vinyl cutter. Piggybacking off the experience some of our staff has had in the signage business, the studio decided to purchase a Copam CP2500 Cutting Plotter. This allows us to cut vinyl signs and graphics. Much like the laser cutter, a computer file is set up with paths for the vinyl cutter to follow and cut out.

See examples of the vinyl cutter being utilized in the projects below.