Shashwath Santosh is a
designer based in New York. 



1.  Google Deepmind Project Astra
2. Google Deepmind Gemini 
3. Portable Black Cat Radar
4. Desires of My Microwave
5. Open Source Salt Battery
6. Futures for Times Sq
7. Turnip Architecture for Deer
8. Climate Controlled Dosa Picnic Basket
9. IBM Quantum Brownies
10. Seating Device Collection 


Secret Lab
 About

Shashwath Santosh is a designer based in New York. Currently at Google Creative Lab.


About
Instagram




2023


Portable
Black Cat Radar 


Role:
Hardware, Interaction, Manufacturing
Collaborator, Researcher




Many of us have encountered the ideology that crossing the path of a black cat will bring calculated misfortune. If only there were a machine that could show you all the black cats in your vicinity, so you could avoid crossing their paths and protect your luck.





FIG 001. The Ultimate Threat to Human Luck FIG 002. Machine to Protect Your Luck



GOAL

To thread uncharted waters, cross disciplines, use my filter as a designer, maker, and thinker, bring a gadget from childhood fantasies to real life, to build it all from scratch by leveraging my background as an industrial designer and the power of genuine global collaboration.






Step 001:

Turn on BCR before leaving safe zone







Step 002:

Analyse your travel trajectory 







Step 003:
Walk while constantly assessing your risk level 





Step 004:
Successfully dodge the path of the black cats, phew





Step 005: 
Mission accomplished 








FIG 003: Using the Joystick, Knobs, Toggle switches, and Command Buttons  








FIG 004: What is Luck? FIG 005: Using The Machine as a Story Telling Medium

BREAKDOWN OF A SUPERSTITION

Research indicates that our relationship to thought frameworks, such as superstitious luck, is a uniquely human experience resulting from thousands of years of evolution.

It is part of the complex web of stories we tell ourselves as a species to conveniently situate ourselves in a reality we designed. This guides our imagination around the objects we choose to make and prioritize.







FIG 006: Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration FIG 007: Using Power of Design to Tell Stories

MACHINES THAT RESPOND TO SUPERSITIONS

In the larger sphere of the stories we tell ourselves, what if we use design and its language to probe deeper into these cognitions?  What if we treat superstitions as ‘challenges’ worthy of commercial design intervention?


If industrial design grew in and around the priorities and belief systems of the part of the world where I grew up, the black cat radar would be an ‘obvious product.’















FIG 007. Prototyping 1




FIG 05. Rapid Ideation 

FIG 008. Prototyping 2   






FIG 009. Prototyping 3















FIG 010. Hardware Sketches 1








FIG 011. Hardware Sketches 2














FIG 012: Human-Machine Interface Wireframe

FIG 012: Human-Machine Interface Wireframe












FIG 013: Actual Screenshots From Failed Collab Attempts FIG 014: Successfully Assembled Trans-Continental Team

ASSEMBLING THE TEAM

Coming up with the concept, visual language of the hardware, detailed plans for the operating software, and exact physical interaction moments, I needed to gather a team of experts to bring the ideas to life.

The power of the internet, cold messaging, and emailing gave me direct access to the global engineering and manufacturing community. After hundreds of failed attempts, I finally assembled my dream team - a group of passionate, generous, warm, and highly talented individuals who were excited to work with me.









FIG 015: Electronic Circuit Schematic for Gen.01 Black Cat Radar


ENGINEERING
COLLABORATION

Over the course of 4 months, I directed a team of 4 professionals across UX design, software development, electronic engineering, and manufacturing to prepare a feasible MVP. However, constraints such as budget, programming difficulties, long development lead times, and a host of supply chain hiccups twisted and altered many of my original design decisions.

I held my ground on the most important features and accepted compromises for negligible ones to create the first-generation BCR.








FIG 016: Enclosure Design







FIG 017: PCB Evolution (Trial and Error) FIG 018: Software Dev. Process





FIG 019: Concept Radar Page FIG 020: Explanatory Diagram FIG 021: Execution of Radar Page




















FIG 022: Ideating on Whatsapp
FIG 023: Trouble Shooting over Zoom


TRANSCONTINENTAL COMMUNICATION




After days of battling time zone differences, long debugging Zoom calls, and back-and-forth messages at midnight with some of the most passionate human beings I've ever met, I realized the beauty of existing with a creative force like no other.

The synchrony was pure, and the curiosity was genuine, allowing us to push through this self-paced, crazy passion project. The team members, hailing from 4 different parts of the world, became good friends, and now we send cat memes to each other every day.










 
FIG 024: Expected Production Timeline FIG 025: Actual Production Timeline FIG 026: Factory Manufacturing Documents












FIG 027: Evolution of Idea from Doodle to Machine














FIG 028: Project Reflection Diagram


References:

1A Cyborg Manifesto. theanarchistlibrary.org

2Architecture, Hidden. “Dolphin Embassy.” Hidden Architecture, 21 Feb. 2016, 

3Chiang, Ted. Exhalation. Picador, 2020.

4Girolami, Andrea. “Look Inside the Extremely Rare Codex Seraphinianus, the Weirdest Encyclopedia Ever.”

5“Humans Could Become Hyenas to Stomach Rotten Food.” Dezeen, 10 Feb. 2015

6Keats, Jonathon. “Was Modernism A South Asian Invention? A MoMA Exhibit Uncovers The Astonishing Architectural Inventiveness Of Midcentury India And Pakistan.” Forbes, Accessed 12 July 2023.

7Archigram Portfolio. Accessed 12 July 2023.

8“Project Cybersyn.” 99% Invisible, 4 Oct. 2016

9samvelasquez. “Co-Op Collectibles.” Urban Omnibus, 9 Jan. 2020

10“Seth Price - How to Disappear in America.” Printed Matter, 

11Siddique, Haroon. “Luxembourg Aims to Be Big Player in Possible Asteroid Mining.” The Guardian, 3 Feb. 2016. The Guardian

12The Game Boy, a Hardware Autopsy - Part 1: The CPU [PART 2 OUT NOW!]. www.youtube.com

13“The Project of Independence: Architectures of Decolonization in South Asia, 1947–1985 | MoMA.” The Museum of Modern Art

14“Tomorrow’s Parties.” MIT Press, Accessed 12 July 2023.

15“Twelve Tomorrows.” MIT Press, Accessed 12 July 2023.

16“‘Vulva Spaceship’ Aims to Counter Prevalence of Phallic Spacecraft.” Dezeen, 3 Mar. 2022

17“Walter Pichler | MoMA.” The Museum of Modern Art, Accessed 12 July 2023.

Team:

Shashwath Santosh, Designer & Director, USA
Krithi Nalla, Creative Technologist, USA
Nithin Dony, Business Strategy, Canada

Sakib Yousef, Software Engineer, India
Athula Kumara, Electronic Engineer, Australia 
Catherine Yang, Factory Rep, China

Special Thanks To:

Ari Elefterin, Design Consultant, USA
Chintan Sawla




Bootstrapped Project Budget — 2000 USD
Project Timeline  — 8 Months (On-going)