The art of keeping it simple
Client: Urban Machine
Problem: Design an environmental enclosure to protect the machine(s) during transport and onsite as needed.
I had the amazing opportunity of collaborating with Urban Machine during the development of their minimum viable prototype (MVP) for a lumber reclaiming robot. Urban Machine's business model involves deploying these robots directly to job sites for on-site lumber processing. A key challenge was devising a safe and efficient method for transporting the robots to the site and setting them up quickly upon arrival.
My role involved establishing requirements for an effective transportation and deployment system and then developing and evaluating various solutions to facilitate the robots' arrival and operational readiness. The solution space we explored included advanced shipping containers with hydraulic panels for rapid setup, temporary structures such as pop-up tents and tarps and everything in-between.
Through this process, it became evident that the requirements for the MVP differed significantly from those of a long-term solution. At the time, the priority was to get the lumber processing robots into the field as soon as possible to test the core technology that the business was built around. Any transportation solution that could slow that down was rightfully disregarded and the simple and quick to implement solutions percolated to the top of the list.
It was great to see a picture of the team popping champaign under a pop-up tent at their first on-site installation soon after this project finished. While future iterations might feature fully integrated enclosures, the MVP utilized simpler solutions. This project exemplifies the importance of maintaining simplicity and clearly defining requirements to ensure efficient and effective resource allocation. With the help of East Hill, the team was able to keep a clear line of sight on what was and wasn’t important to prove their business model.
