Noby, synergy of Antwerp creatives

The cooperation between Studio Dos Santos and Nobi developed very organically. Bert De Haes, co-founder of Nobi, used to work with the design studio in the past, for example for similar applications and smart home products such as switches and lighting. According to David Dos Santos, Nobi involved his namesake studio right from the very beginning and immediately gave them a full slate of tasks. “The whole idea was quite challenging because there was actually a stigma attached to it: we had to equip a normal object with monitoring technology for the elderly.

An ordinary, everyday design was a must: Nobi’s look must not stigmatise. The fall detection was another essential element. Elderly people who lie on the floor for more than one hour, die statistically much quicker in the following six months. Together with Nobi, we therefore started off by having some intense brainstorm sessions. After the first two brainstorms, we had plenty of ideas: we really had to give priority to the most urgent and essential functionalities.”

After the initial brainstorm sessions, the teams defined the basic functionalities: bright lights, connectivity and smart motion sensors with fall detection. From there, David and his studio worked on a thorough market research. "We met with care staff and looked at different scenarios. This led to numerous questions. Which functions are useful in a service flat? Where can we hang the lamp? Which features do our competitors have to offer?

In the meantime, our studio also started working on the design, which had to be as sleek as possible. This was the only way to make Nobi fit seamlessly into any space, both living rooms as larger rooms in residential care centres. Nobi had to be a welcoming, friendly and soft product. Subsequently, our team immediately set to work on the design language and accelerated the project by creating prototypes.”

Meanwhile also Nobi’s team was running at full speed: the software architecture was in the reliable hands of their experts. In addition, Nobi’s hardware specialists joined forces with Studio Dos Santos to focus on the circuit boards and sensors that had to fit into the housing. This organic interaction is one of the examples of the synergy that drives the Nobi-project. Both teams never lost their overview in this complex project, however.

Through regular meetings, the teams were able to thoroughly highlight the must-haves and nice-to-haves of Nobi and keep their focus on the product. While the team at Nobi had time to finetune the functionalities of the smart lamp, Studio Dos Santos worked on the cost-efficiency of both the production and the materials. Throughout the project, the design studio was able to reduce the number of materials used for the housing from twenty to four parts.

Nobi's monitoring system is fully compliant with privacy legislation. "A lot of thought has gone into that, too," Stijn reassures us. "Nobi does not film people, but models them as stick figures (minimalist line models, ed.) and only shows these models when there is an alarm situation. In that case, Nobi displays the simplified stick figure on the actual image: the individual is unrecognisable, but you can immediately see what is going on.

Furthermore, no one should feel that they are being monitored: that is why Nobi is a lamp, something that is present in every room anyway. Yet it contains the best artificial intelligence of this moment. Nobi knows whether the person is drinking enough, sleeping too long or even having too few visitors: all completely anonymously. Moreover, the interpretation of the sensors is done entirely in the lamp itself, via the powerful processor and our AI model.  This way we avoid sending images to the cloud and guarantee maximum privacy.

For Stijn it is clear: "The operation of the product goes hand in hand with its design. Without Studio Dos Santos, Nobi would have been completely different. Thanks to their clear visualisations, cost-efficient approach and large network of suppliers, the project really picked up speed. We are therefore continuing to work together on a more compact Nobi, called Nobita, which can also be used in damp spaces such as the toilet and the hall.

Nobita serves as the companion piece to the Nobi, including fall detection and bright LED lighting. We are also developing the accompanying alarm button and the compatibility with bluetooth peripherals. And of course, we’re awaiting feedback from Nobi’s real users. From May 2021 onwards there will be a roll-out in the B2B sector, mainly for service flats. Towards the end of 2021 we plan to launch in the consumer market. And then the story really begins!”