Samsung VL Series Speaker Controller
Over several years I proposed different smart speaker concepts that eventually found their way into the Samsung VL series speaker with detachable volume control knob.
Background
I have always been obsessed with knobs and dials (part of having music production as a hobby :). As my voice control experiments started getting interest and funding, I began sharing this obsession with industrial design teams in the US and Suwon. Over the course of several projects I got funding investigate this new form factor, designing and prototyping multi-modal (voice, touch, display) interactions for various detachable puck-shaped controller designs.
I directed talented teams of illustrators, industrial designers in the production of storyboards, form factor sketches, prototypes, and demo videos, along with several appearance models with final color, materials, and finish. (Illustrations by Kyle McGill, Steven Tkachuk, Dave Law)
Between this work and my audio strategy demos, our lab had become known as a place for innovative audio product thinking. In 2016 The Home AV team came to us looking for assistance improving an industrial design that had flopped at CES:
It was aesthetically pleasing and sounded great, but the speaker was too large to be easily portable, rendering the controls not very functional. When the Samsung Audio Lab (our partners in crime in California) took over the form factor for the next version of the speaker, we resolved this issue by integrating our core concept: a detachable knob that allowed access to newly popular voice control agents.
Final product
The Samsung VL series bluetooth speaker has a detachable control knob which can be placed conveniently while the larger speaker stays in the best spot to fill the room with sound. The controller can be magnetically attached to any metal surface, for example on the face of a refrigerator. The single button allows for the same playback controls as available via headphones, and allows the user to access their desired voice agent from a bluetooth connected mobile device with one press.
