Services Provided
Patent Strategy • Material Research • Ideation • Mechanical Engineering • Electrical Engineering • Prototype Development • Performance Validation • University Technology Transfer Evaluation
Client
Sleep Innovations
unmet need
In order to address a competitive threat, the Client required a mattress that allowed the end user to select their desired level of firmness.
Scope
Sleep Innovations approached Slingshot to create an adjustable firmness mattress that could be changed on-demand by the end user and did not compromise integrity of the mattress if the system did fail.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Working prototype was demonstrated to a leading mattress brand, one of the client’s top customers
Creation of new intellectual property
Mattress remained usable even if the compression mechanism failed
Breakthrough
Slingshot developed a quick-to-market solution, while simultaneously evaluating additional technology for future product generations.
Overcoming competitive intellectual property in the space.
Mattress performance enhancement. The firmness change had to be fast and reversible, and the mattress must still be usable if technology fails.
Compression Comfort
The team brainstormed and ideated a multitude of potential approaches and created proof-of-concept prototypes to test their ideas. This led to increased learning, additional research, and cost benefit analysis. After much testing and down-selection, Slingshot found that compressing the foam within the mattress would provide users with the variable firmness desired.
