The Story
In 2012, Samsung had finally started to create its own products, and formed the Think Tank Team to start as an catalyst for transitioning from the fast-follower era to an era were Samsung would stand as a global brand.
As our premier product, we looked for a product that would work alongside the rapidly growing phone market while creating a future device. After looking at every sort of wearable from clips, projection (ala Humane), jewelry, glasses, and more, we settled on the wrist wearable as a device with high social acceptance. We then added a camera and a ring-based UX to transform the device into a premier AR device.
Within a timeline one 4 months and a team of 4 FTE and 2 interns, we created a functional device with ring interface, circular display, camera-on-band, and on-device AI functionality that allowed for voice response, OCR, translation, object detection and learning content, navigation, and more. The impact of that demo cemented the position of the Think Tank Team for the coming decade and launched Samsung into thinking of wearables as a first-class device as a first-to-market among major manufacturers.
