OpenBCI Galea
My role: Initial ideation, concept development, design details and support
Simultaneously reading EEG waves from the brain, tracking eye movements, measuring sweat on the skin, detecting muscle movements, and measuring heart rate, the Galea headset is a major step forward for the world of biometric sensing. The primary challenge we faced was in properly positioning each sensor across a range of head shapes and sizes.
I contributed to this project as a mid-level Industrial Designer at Tool., Inc., a product development consultancy based in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Founded in 1999, Tool has extensive engineering capabilities, as well as a manufacturing support office in Shenzhen. As a core member of the industrial design team, I supported output across multiple projects through concept development, sketching, CAD, rendering, and presenting work to clients.
This is the concept sketch that was picked by the client to become the final concept.
After the direction was selected by the client, other members of the design team created the CAD model and renders shown below.
Before a prototype was created to test sizing and adjustability, I led an additional design phase to find an adjustment mechanism that would allow us to keep each sensor located precisely where it needs to be on the head.
The updated adjustment mechanism was tested in this 3D printed prototype shown at CES 2023, where the Galea was an honoree for Innovation Awards in two categories: Virtual & Augmented Reality, and Wearable Technologies.
