About Hudson Design Labs
Hudson Design Labs was started in 2014 to provide product development services to anyone who has an idea. By supplying design and rapid prototyping services in-house we are able to provide fast turn-around and flexible pricing.
Portfolio
Current Projects
A Novel Locator for Implanted Medical Injection Ports
This device will simplify the location and installation of injection needles into a compatible implanted port for patients requiring repeated IV medication over a long treatment term. Port location is currently done by palpitation of the implanted port area. Accurate port location can be challenging for medical personnel and uncomfortable for patients.
Hudson Design Labs is providing full design, prototyping and patent documentation support for the client.
Tennis Training Device
The device will install onto a tennis racquet to allow the user to train stroke and racquet handling.
Hudson Design Labs is performing product development, analysis, and prototyping services for this client.
Prism Viewing Device
The Prism Viewing Device allows the user to comfortably and repeatably look through a set of glass prisms to make measurements of certain visual properties of objects.
Hudson Design Labs performed refinement of the existing design, created multiple prototype iterations, and is currently providing first-run production units.
Engineering and Design Support
Hudson Design Labs currently provides as-needed design and engineering support services for Cirrus Logic’s Mesa facility. This includes custom fixturing design for experiments, one-off or small run housings for customer demonstrations, and PCB design and assembly.
Product Development and Design Support
Hudson Design Labs has been chosen as the primary mechanical design provider for Joshua Tree Technology, a firm developing power handling electronics. This decision is based on six months of services.
This device will simplify the location and installation of injection needles into a compatible implanted port for patients requiring repeated IV medication over a long treatment term. Port location is currently done by palpitation of the implanted port area. Accurate port location can be challenging for medical personnel and uncomfortable for patients.
Hudson Design Labs is providing full design, prototyping and patent documentation support for the client.
Tennis Training Device
The device will install onto a tennis racquet to allow the user to train stroke and racquet handling.
Hudson Design Labs is performing product development, analysis, and prototyping services for this client.
Prism Viewing Device
The Prism Viewing Device allows the user to comfortably and repeatably look through a set of glass prisms to make measurements of certain visual properties of objects.
Hudson Design Labs performed refinement of the existing design, created multiple prototype iterations, and is currently providing first-run production units.
Engineering and Design Support
Hudson Design Labs currently provides as-needed design and engineering support services for Cirrus Logic’s Mesa facility. This includes custom fixturing design for experiments, one-off or small run housings for customer demonstrations, and PCB design and assembly.
Product Development and Design Support
Hudson Design Labs has been chosen as the primary mechanical design provider for Joshua Tree Technology, a firm developing power handling electronics. This decision is based on six months of services.
Past Projects
Housing Design for Consumer Device
Hudson Design Labs produced a housing design for a consumer pet training device. The client had a particular design shape in mind; I worked to produce a design that was inexpensive for injection molding while meeting the shape and user interface requirements. This project required the development of seven design variants, a tradeoff study, and concurrent development and iteration of two chosen variants. Additive manufacturing was used to validate fits for each iteration and to provide the client with physical parts to test and evaluate.
Prototype Development for Haptic Magazine
Hudson Design Labs delivered three prototype units for this project. The product is an add-on for a military or law enforcement firearm that monitors magazine status and provides haptic and visual feedback when the magazine is full and when there are three rounds remaining. The product required the development of a mounting system to attach the housing to the magazine, development of the sensor system to monitor the ammunition level, and microprocessor programming to read the sensors and control the feedback system. A custom PCB was designed and assembled to allow the input buttons and output motor and LEDs to be mounted in the housing while using a prototyping microcontroller PCB to minimize design cost.
Housing Design for Microchip PICKit 4
Hudson Design Labs was selected to provide the mechanical design for the new housing for the Microchip PICKit 4. This design required the use of a lightpipe to match the previous redesign of the ICD 4 development unit, but in a much smaller format. The new design of the PICKit 4 implements a concealed reset button activated by pressing on the center of the housing. This design required tight tolerances and several prototype and testing iterations, while still keeping the injection molding cost as low as possible.
www.microchip.com/PICKit4
Lightpipe Design and Consultation for Microchip ICD4
Hudson Design Labs was selected as the designer for the lightpipe used in the redesign of the ICD4 development unit. This design uses a lightpipe to produce a diagonal lighted slash through the top surface of the housing. RGB LEDs provide visual status indication through the narrow exposed lens of the lightpipe.
www.microchip.com/icd4
Preliminary Development for SmartArmor SmartCube Consumer Locking System
Hudson Design Labs performed the initial mechanical and mechatronic development and design for the SmartCube Bluetooth enabled locking system from SmartArmor. This device is a small unit that can be installed on any door or drawer to provide security. The user interacts with a phone application and Bluetooth link to unlock the device, which then defaults back to the locked position unless otherwise instructed. Users can provide access remotely or to certain individuals.
www.smartarmorcube.com
Hudson Design Labs produced a housing design for a consumer pet training device. The client had a particular design shape in mind; I worked to produce a design that was inexpensive for injection molding while meeting the shape and user interface requirements. This project required the development of seven design variants, a tradeoff study, and concurrent development and iteration of two chosen variants. Additive manufacturing was used to validate fits for each iteration and to provide the client with physical parts to test and evaluate.
Prototype Development for Haptic Magazine
Hudson Design Labs delivered three prototype units for this project. The product is an add-on for a military or law enforcement firearm that monitors magazine status and provides haptic and visual feedback when the magazine is full and when there are three rounds remaining. The product required the development of a mounting system to attach the housing to the magazine, development of the sensor system to monitor the ammunition level, and microprocessor programming to read the sensors and control the feedback system. A custom PCB was designed and assembled to allow the input buttons and output motor and LEDs to be mounted in the housing while using a prototyping microcontroller PCB to minimize design cost.
Housing Design for Microchip PICKit 4
Hudson Design Labs was selected to provide the mechanical design for the new housing for the Microchip PICKit 4. This design required the use of a lightpipe to match the previous redesign of the ICD 4 development unit, but in a much smaller format. The new design of the PICKit 4 implements a concealed reset button activated by pressing on the center of the housing. This design required tight tolerances and several prototype and testing iterations, while still keeping the injection molding cost as low as possible.
www.microchip.com/PICKit4
Lightpipe Design and Consultation for Microchip ICD4
Hudson Design Labs was selected as the designer for the lightpipe used in the redesign of the ICD4 development unit. This design uses a lightpipe to produce a diagonal lighted slash through the top surface of the housing. RGB LEDs provide visual status indication through the narrow exposed lens of the lightpipe.
www.microchip.com/icd4
Preliminary Development for SmartArmor SmartCube Consumer Locking System
Hudson Design Labs performed the initial mechanical and mechatronic development and design for the SmartCube Bluetooth enabled locking system from SmartArmor. This device is a small unit that can be installed on any door or drawer to provide security. The user interacts with a phone application and Bluetooth link to unlock the device, which then defaults back to the locked position unless otherwise instructed. Users can provide access remotely or to certain individuals.
www.smartarmorcube.com
About Ben Hudson
I spent nearly ten years in the aerospace field designing and testing safety systems for aircraft, automotive, and spacecraft applications before starting Hudson Design Labs. This experience is supported by a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a lifetime of tinkering and making. I have developed the skill to visualize objects quickly and accurately from a description, allowing me to work quickly to translate your ideas into a sketch and then a CAD model which is then used to refine and develop the product. My time in industry taught me how to manage your project and how to give you a reasonable estimate of the cost required to develop the project. I have assisted with the development of products that have gone into space, that have been successfully crowdfunded, and that are currently on the market. Not every product is feasible given current technology so one of the first steps on any project is to ensure that it can be done and the product that can be produced still meets the identified need. This reduces the chance of a failed product later in the development cycle.
My goal is to translate your idea into your product and to help you understand the process and next steps. I provide or have access to all of the prototyping and manufacturing technology currently available and I know when to apply each technology.
One of the most rewarding experiences is when you hold the first prototype of your idea. That is just the start; let's work together to put your product in the hands of everyone.
Some of my past projects while working for Safe, Inc. are listed below. Publicly available project details can be viewed at www.safeinc.us/products
Crashworthy Seating System for Boeing SLS
During my time on this project I provided initial design for the contract proposal, detailed that design once the contract was awarded, and provided test fixture design and analysis to support the design validation effort.
Crew and Payload Pallet Protection for NASA Orion
I supported the effort on this project by performing the initial design and technical documentation for the proposal, and design and validation testing after the award. This project was completed in several phases, with the initial phase used to valid the pallet during NASA impact testing. A follow-on contract was awarded to refine the system to reduce weight and volume and to add multi-hit capability to the system. I was the primary design engineer, test engineer, and assembler for these contracts.
Life Improvement of Plain Airframe Bearings
This contract developed a protection device to keep foreign objects out of the plain spherical bearings used in rotorcraft. These bearings are highly susceptible to wear once contaminated and a solution was sought to protect the bearings without impeding their range of motion, while keeping existing installation parameters. I performed the initial proposal design, wrote much of the technical content for the proposal, and was the primary design and test engineer for the awarded contract.
Crashworthy Troop Seats
This program was an extended effort to produce an interchangeable troop seat that was compatible with a variety of US Army rotorcraft airframes while increasing the crash protection of the occupants of the seats. This project required me to perform design, testing, analysis, and airframe surveys to properly match the seats to the specified rotorcraft frames and validate the design results.
Mission Equipment Restraint System
This project developed a stowable restraint system that allowed a cargo container to be placed onto and properly and quickly restrained to a US Navy cargo airframe floor while keeping the cargo container in place during a crash event. I was the primary design, materials, analysis, and test engineer, and assembler for this project.
Short-Statured Driver Aid
This DOT project was intended to provide an affordable way for drivers with short stature to safely operate a motor vehicle. The program required me to make surveys of vehicle seating systems for size and dimension and for tie-down possibilities, create a design based on that information, and to work with local fabricators to manufacture the test units.
Railcar Boarding Device for Mobility-Assisted Passengers
This DOT project developed a system that could be permanently installed into the doorway of a passenger railcar to provide a lift assist for mobility-aided passengers while significantly reducing the inconvenience for non-assisted passengers. The concept used a board-through approach with the non-assisted passengers boarding over and through the lift. An assisted passenger would board normally until reaching the lift and then the lift would transition them to the railcar floor, and return to normal boarding mode in about 30 seconds. The unit automatically converting to allow normal boarding once it had returned to the platform. I was the primary design engineer for this effort and supported prototyping and assembly as needed.
My goal is to translate your idea into your product and to help you understand the process and next steps. I provide or have access to all of the prototyping and manufacturing technology currently available and I know when to apply each technology.
One of the most rewarding experiences is when you hold the first prototype of your idea. That is just the start; let's work together to put your product in the hands of everyone.
Some of my past projects while working for Safe, Inc. are listed below. Publicly available project details can be viewed at www.safeinc.us/products
Crashworthy Seating System for Boeing SLS
During my time on this project I provided initial design for the contract proposal, detailed that design once the contract was awarded, and provided test fixture design and analysis to support the design validation effort.
Crew and Payload Pallet Protection for NASA Orion
I supported the effort on this project by performing the initial design and technical documentation for the proposal, and design and validation testing after the award. This project was completed in several phases, with the initial phase used to valid the pallet during NASA impact testing. A follow-on contract was awarded to refine the system to reduce weight and volume and to add multi-hit capability to the system. I was the primary design engineer, test engineer, and assembler for these contracts.
Life Improvement of Plain Airframe Bearings
This contract developed a protection device to keep foreign objects out of the plain spherical bearings used in rotorcraft. These bearings are highly susceptible to wear once contaminated and a solution was sought to protect the bearings without impeding their range of motion, while keeping existing installation parameters. I performed the initial proposal design, wrote much of the technical content for the proposal, and was the primary design and test engineer for the awarded contract.
Crashworthy Troop Seats
This program was an extended effort to produce an interchangeable troop seat that was compatible with a variety of US Army rotorcraft airframes while increasing the crash protection of the occupants of the seats. This project required me to perform design, testing, analysis, and airframe surveys to properly match the seats to the specified rotorcraft frames and validate the design results.
Mission Equipment Restraint System
This project developed a stowable restraint system that allowed a cargo container to be placed onto and properly and quickly restrained to a US Navy cargo airframe floor while keeping the cargo container in place during a crash event. I was the primary design, materials, analysis, and test engineer, and assembler for this project.
Short-Statured Driver Aid
This DOT project was intended to provide an affordable way for drivers with short stature to safely operate a motor vehicle. The program required me to make surveys of vehicle seating systems for size and dimension and for tie-down possibilities, create a design based on that information, and to work with local fabricators to manufacture the test units.
Railcar Boarding Device for Mobility-Assisted Passengers
This DOT project developed a system that could be permanently installed into the doorway of a passenger railcar to provide a lift assist for mobility-aided passengers while significantly reducing the inconvenience for non-assisted passengers. The concept used a board-through approach with the non-assisted passengers boarding over and through the lift. An assisted passenger would board normally until reaching the lift and then the lift would transition them to the railcar floor, and return to normal boarding mode in about 30 seconds. The unit automatically converting to allow normal boarding once it had returned to the platform. I was the primary design engineer for this effort and supported prototyping and assembly as needed.