Action Camera Travel Tripod
Nu Bear is a multidisciplinary design studio that specialises in industrial design, film set and live event design. Working within a variety of industries including aviation, automotive, film, TV and lifestyle, Nu Bear was founded by husband and wife, Richard and Basmah Jolley, in London in 2017.
Nu GripTM 4in1 – the first-ever floating 4 in 1 tripod grip – was conceived over 18 months ago and the team at Nu Bear, with their passion for travel and photography, have spent that time working alongside Ogle Models and Prototypes designing, testing and preparing it ready for production.
The Challenge
Nu Bear wanted to expand its travel products due to a passion for the sector and had developed the idea of a travel tripod for action cameras, aimed at avid adventurers and people who love to travel.
Action cameras tend to rely on a number of different accessories and Nu Bear wanted to merge them into one, while making the tripod lightweight and able to float. Originally aimed at the Go Pro market, this quickly became a product that needed to work with all types of action cameras and even floats with iPhones in a waterproof case.
The technical prototyping was incredibly important to the success of the product and Ogle was tasked with producing a number of verification prototypes using the SLA process to guarantee the accuracy and surface quality required.
The Process
The devil was in the detail with this prototype, with accurate measurements absolutely crucial to its success. The fine detail and crisp accuracy afforded by SLA and Xtreme White resin allowed the team to produce seven different iterations of the design within three months, each time ensuring all parts were printed in the optimal orientation to achieve finest detail.
Because Nu Bear were trying to make the product incredibly lightweight, it was vital to create something that was also robust enough to deliver in all the other functionality of a ‘normal’ tripod. Testing played a key role in the evolution of the design.
The blood orange tripod feet are highly visible when floating on the water’s surface, making it easy to spot whilst enjoying water sports, while magnets embedded into the legs keep the legs together in the grip position.
Conclusion
Richard Jolley of Nu Bear said: “I have been working with Ogle for around five years. You can go to them with any challenge and they will work with you to find the best solution. They are my first port of call for any prototyping. There are no delays with them – if you have idea or you want to submit a project to them, they can turn it around quickly.
“Ogle can make the process quicker and easier because of their knowledge. If you want to rationalise a concept quickly, the sooner you get them on board the easier they can make the process. You want to get to the end result quickly and Ogle help you do that.”
If you’ve been inspired of the work by Nu Bear, crowdfunding starts on July 1 at 9am. Follow this link to support this innovative company.
Projects that get at least 20 per cent of their funding goal in the initial hours post-launch have an 80 per cent chance of being successfully funded. The team at Ogle wish Nu Bear the best of luck!
