Burbu pack
- Mar 21
- 3 min read
Problem owners: Ci2, Compañía Internacional de Integración
Process owners: 5 industrial design students, part of the course Design project: technology and innovation, at the Pontifical Xavierian University and one professional designer from Solutions Group
Part of the research project of Ricardo Mejia Sarmiento: Vision Concepts for Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises, Developing a Design-Led Futures Technique to Boost Innovation
Supervisory team: Promotors Prof. dr. P.J. Stappers (Pieter Jan) and Prof. dr. H.J. Hultink (Erik Jan). Daily Supervisor Dr. G. Pasman (Gert). Mentor Dr. E. Karana (Elvin).
Completion Date: September 2016, Colombia
Challenge
Designers made this vision concept as part of the evaluation of DIVE. It is a design-led futures technique that assists designers in making and sharing vision concepts for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Its development began with an inquiry into concept cars in the automotive industry and concept products and services in other industries. We then combined the insights derived from these design practices with elements of the existing techniques of critical design and design fiction into the creation of DIVE’s preliminary first version, which was then applied and evaluated in two iterations with SMEs, resulting in DIVE’s alpha version. This vision concept acts as a probe that explores a new territory, the speculative future of Ci2.
Ci2 —Compañía Internacional de Integración— is a Colombian medium-sized company that offers products and technological solutions tailored to the national market since 1999. It manages and executes engineering projects to deliver solutions for diverse systems such as telecommunications, electronic security, closed-circuit television, and low voltage power backup, including computer equipment, and maritime applications to the end-users. The company recently initiated an R&D division, in which the design is at the core.
Following the Strategic PES, the participants considered that Ci2 is a self-confessed tech geek, a whale who uses his muscular back, qualified engineers, to propel a massive brain, full of state-of-the-art knowledge. With a tiny but strong tail, a small sample of large clients, this whale swim the Atlantic Ocean to find food. He suffers from stomach pain due to a disorganized portfolio of services and products, in which “it is not clear what the enterprise really offers.” Participants focused on “training using simulation technology,” as the domain for 2024, a year in which the company will celebrate its twenty-five birthdays.
Purposes
Ci2 then needs a new vision of a desirable future, genuinely informed by its values, that help him to get better from the stomach pain. A vision that:
inspires ideas about the future of the business
choose the strategic direction of the company
understand how to implement new technology
Process
Following the trend analysis, participants defined that Ci2 in 2024 wants to offer “platforms of immersion in virtual worlds –simulations– that support the apprentice in the process to develop decision-making capabilities in critical circumstances –situations of high risk, such as environmental disasters– that imply extreme emotional demands for them.”
Activities: DIVE: setting a domain, defining a vision, creating the vision concept, and making the video. Moreover, designers have used the video to discuss the future with the company representatives
Length: three days in the whole project
Budget: they spent less than 50 Euros making the prototype
Results
In view of this vision of the future, the designers made the vision concept Burbu Pack. It is a simulation kit that contains a capsule, which generates a massive bubble in which the simulation is performed; a uniform to be wear during the simulation, including an apron, gloves, and safety glasses; and a sleeping pill for after the simulation. To spark a conversation about the future of the company, the designers made a video in which a soldier uses the Burbu Pack to go through several levels of combat training that emphasize on his emotional demands. He had to deal with strong feelings among others: fury, anxiety, hopelessness, sorrow, disappointment. The training is divided into different rounds in which three moments are defined. First, a simulation that uses virtual reality technology to immerse the soldier into fictional worlds within the bubble. Second, a short induced sleep to make it easier for the person to calm down and facilitate. Third, a feedback session from a panel of experts via video call.
All recommendations derived from the discussion between company representatives and designers appointed to the need to increase the company’s expertise in areas related to virtual reality technology. In particular, in regards to the use of this technology in combination with physical spaces to create realistic sensations –such as images, sounds, smells– that simulate a user’s physical presence in virtual worlds.
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