Description: Jichan is a product prototype which aims to add the functionality of a tripod to the most conventional way to carry a camera, its strap. The product idea was developed from concept to prototype during an Innovation Competition at the University of Southern California after conducting a market research and collecting data through customer discorvery interviews (sample: 80 photographers). Through the analysis of the collected data the value proposition was synthesized into a minimum viable product that was targeted to photographers who like to travel light, but not compromise the quality of photos they take. By combining parametric design and additive manufacturing a composite material was developed that has the capacity to become rigid when folded in a certain way but is otherwise flexible. After an initial design research, one specific geometric configuration was selected to be fabricated into prototype and was tested as a proof of concept. Some images of the first prototype are presented here while the project is currently on hold.

The project was shortilisted in the Maseeh Enterpreneurship Prize Competition (MEPC) organised by the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California in Spring 2017. The competition was based on the successful National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (“I-Corps”) methodology of linking university engineering with the marketplace provided through Innovation Nodes in Los Angeles (IN-LA) but also other regions. One of the main competition goals was to enable participants develop a transition plan to move technology to market and help determine commercial readiness of innovative products.