How to transform the product assembly experience
Project Details
Client
Engineering Expertise
Market
The Challenge
iFIT Health & Fitness Inc is the world’s largest manufacturer of fitness equipment such as stationary bikes and treadmills with brands including NordicTrack, Pro-form and Freemotion.
Historically its products have been designed with a focus on exercise performance while minimizing the size and cost for shipping and delivery. However iFIT recognized that consumers’ experience of their products starts before the first workout. Its challenge: how could iFIT create an assembly experience that was as compelling as its fitness experience?
Our Approach
To independently understand the unboxing and assembly experience we observed a series of builds with consumers new to the category assembling three different iFIT products from delivery to their first workout. For example this allowed us to learn about the different assembly approaches that they took, how they used their home spaces and the impact of paper-based instructions vs apps for the build. We subsequently interviewed each consumer to understand their perception of the experience, the pain points and challenges to complement our own observations. We shared our conclusions with iFIT and together prioritised opportunities to improve the assembly experience. Ignite’ multi-disciplinary team then systematically and creatively generated a portfolio of design and engineering solutions iFIT can use to improve consumers’ experience of its products in the future.
Our Impact
iFit’s feedback,
“We’re absolutely delighted with what you’ve done for us, there are new insights we’d never have uncovered ourselves, ideas we can act on today and some breakthrough opportunities that we’ve never seen on products like this before.”
In the following months iFIT has able to integrate many of the features into its product portfolio and continues to use our work to improve its assembly experiences.
Thank you and your team for all of the hard work. We took a great amount of insight from your findings and have passed those along to our engineering teams.
Project Manager
iFIT Health and Fitness
Cost-Effective Improvement in mmWave Intensity
Enhancing the mmWave antenna design for Remedee Labs, significantly boosting RF radiation efficiency and cost-effectiveness in non-pharmaceutical chronic pain treatment.
Read More
Millimetre-Wave Radar System
Expertly engineering a compact, high-performance 60 GHz millimetre-wave radar system using innovative Substrate Integrated Waveguide technology, achieving significant advancements in target detection up to 100 metres.
Read More
Armour Integrity Monitoring System (AIMS)
Innovating a new Armour Integrity Monitoring System (AIMS) for the UK MoD, delivering a low SWaP-C solution that dramatically streamlines logistics and enhances protection through in-field armour integrity checks.
Read More
Spinbrush: From Insights to Strategy to Design
Discover how we enabled Spinbrush to leverage consumer insights to innovate and excel in the competitive powered toothbrush market with our strategic approach.
Read More
Energenie Smart Home Controller
Redesigning the Energenie Smart Home Controller interface to introduce low-power radio technology, enhancing device functionality for centralised home heating control, and launching nationwide.
Read More
Developing Automated Manufacturing Systems
Delivering a pioneering predictive maintenance solution for a global healthcare product company, utilising miniature battery-powered sensor systems to optimise automated production lines and significantly reduce costly downtimes.
Read More
Surveillance Radar for Comprehensive Threat Detection
Advancing a perimeter surveillance solution with long-range detection and low false-alarm rates, using state-of-the-art Passive Electronically Scanned Array technology for robust and maintenance-free operation in a range of demanding environments.
Read More
Ax1 – Revolutionising Car Infotainment
Developing the Clarion AX1, a revolutionary car infotainment system that uses Android OS to offer enhanced connectivity, streaming, and a touchscreen interface, redefining the in-car experience.
Read More
Innovation Design: New technology to transform luxury products
Successfully integrating a new technology within a luxury brand's product line, significantly enhancing consumer experience and setting a benchmark for future energy-efficient innovations.
Read More
Intelligent Mobility
Advancing intelligent mobility by integrating cutting-edge electronic-scanning radar technology to ensure the safe and efficient operation of autonomous vehicles in complex real-world environments.
Read More
Future of Plastic Packaging
Exploring the future of fresh food packaging with Klöckner Pentaplast. Read how our innovative strategies helped balance enhancing sustainability whilst meeting consumer demands.
Read More
Inductive Coupling
Developing innovative inductive coupling solutions for powering and communicating with systems in harsh environments where traditional connections are impractical.
Read More
mmWave Imaging Radar
Camera systems are in widespread use as sensors that provide information about the surrounding environment. But this can struggle with image interpretation in complex scenarios. In contrast, mmWave radar technology offers a more straightforward view of the geometry and motion of objects, making it valuable for applications like autonomous vehicles, where radar aids in mapping surroundings and detecting obstacles. Radar’s ability to provide direct 3D location data and motion detection through Doppler effects is advantageous, though traditionally expensive and bulky. Advances in SiGe device integration are producing more compact and cost-effective radar solutions. Plextek aims to develop mm-wave radar prototypes that balance cost, size, weight, power, and real-time data processing for diverse applications, including autonomous vehicles, human-computer interfaces, transport systems, and building security.
Low Cost Millimeter Wave Radio frequency Sensors
This paper presents a range of novel low-cost millimeter-wave radio-frequency sensors that have been developed using the latest advances in commercially available electronic chip-sets. The recent emergence of low-cost, single chip silicon germanium transceiver modules combined with license exempt usage bands is creating a new area in which sensors can be developed. Three example systems using this technology are discussed, including: gas spectroscopy at stand off distances, non-invasive dielectric material characterization and high performance micro radar.
Metamaterial-Based Ku-Band Flat-Panel High-Grain
This technical paper by Dr. Rabbani and his team presents research on metamaterial-based, high-gain, flat-panel antennas for Ku-band satellite communications. The study focuses on leveraging the unique electromagnetic properties of metamaterials to enhance the performance of flat-panel antenna designs, aiming for compact structures with high gain and efficiency. The research outlines the design methodology involving multi-layer metasurfaces and leaky-wave antennas to achieve a compact antenna system with a realised gain greater than +20 dBi and an operational bandwidth of 200 MHz. Simulations results confirm the antenna's high efficiency and performance within the specified Ku-band frequency range. Significant findings include the antenna's potential for application in low-cost satellite communication systems and its capabilities for THz spectrum operations through design modifications. The paper provides a detailed technical roadmap of the design process, supported by diagrams, simulation results, and references to prior work in the field. This paper contributes to the advancement of antenna technology and metamaterial applications in satellite communications, offering valuable insights for researchers and professionals in telecommunications.
Frequency-Scanning Substrate-Integrated-Waveguide Meanderline Antenna for Radar Applications at 60GHz
This paper describes the design and characterization of a frequency-scanning meanderline antenna for operation at 60 GHz. The design incorporates SIW techniques and slot radiating elements. The amplitude profile across the antenna aperture has been weighted to reduce sidelobe levels, which makes the design attractive for radar applications. Measured performance agrees with simulations, and the achieved beam profile and sidelobe levels are better than previously documented frequency-scanning designs at V and W bands.
A Ku-Band, Low Sidelobe Waveguide Array Employing Radiating T Junctions
The design of a 16-element waveguide array employing radiating T-junctions that operates in the Ku band is described. Amplitude weighting results in low elevation sidelobe levels, while impedance matching provides a satisfactory VSWR, that are both achieved over a wide bandwidth (15.7-17.2 GHz). Simulation and measurement results, that agree very well, are presented. The design forms part of a 16 x 40 element waveguide array that achieves high gain and narrow beamwidths for use in an electronic-scanning radar system.
Sensing Auditory Evoked Potentials with Non-Invasive Electrodes and Low-Cost Headphones
This paper presents a sensor for measuring auditory brainstem responses to help diagnose hearing problems away from specialist clinical settings using non-invasive electrodes and commercially available headphones. The challenge of reliably measuring low level electronic signals in the presence of significant noise is addressed via a precision analog processing circuit which includes a novel impedance measurement approach to verify good electrode contact. Results are presented showing that the new sensor was able to reliably sense auditory brainstem responses using noninvasive electrodes, even at lower stimuli levels.
