Design led product development
Matternet
Designing an aerial logistic transportation system
Ido Baruchin is a design leader in the mobility and vehicle industry.
His ability to understand consumer behavior and needs, cultural trends, and business strategy, as well as his experience and understanding of engineering management, enables him to lead sustainable projects and teams.
Ido takes part in creating a company’s narrative and reflecting it through the objects and experiences he is in charge of designing.
He follows a lean design philosophy, striving to simplify the products’ engineering, manufacturing, and aesthetics.
Matternet is a Silicon Valley based start-up developing world-leading tech solutions for autonomous aerial delivery in urban environments.
Its aircraft system and technology platform is used by healthcare, e-commerce, and logistics organizations like UPS and SwissPost to transport medical diagnostic samples between hospital labs at a fraction of the time, cost and energy of any other transportation method used today.
Ido joined the team in its inception, formed the design vision, and led the development of all air, ground, and user-facing products under one design philosophy.
Role & Responsibilities: Head of design- Product vision, Flow architecture, UX/UI, system design
The design team came up with the idea of a Terminal App as a system add-on that will enable users in labs to initiate a delivery mission without having to go out of the lab.
This solution not only eliminated the need to integrate a screen interface on the Matternet Station but also optimized the system flow, which led to increasing the overall speed of delivery.
Other advantages of the Terminal are better security and chain of custody.
Terminal
Role & Responsibilities: Designer/Mechanical engineer- Design Vision, Architecture, User experience, Industrial design, Manufacturing Photography by: Ian Momsen & Aris Messinis
The M2 drone is designed to optimize the payload & battery swap. Internal smart mechanisms ensure safe and smooth locking and releasing of the battery and payload. The system was tailored to support a project with Mercedes Benz, which introduced a delivery van that incorporates two drones on the van's roof. The design team, led by Ido Baruchin, was in charge of all technical and design collaboration of this project. Today, the drone is used in ongoing operations across three continents.
Matternet Two
Matternet Station
The Matternet Station is the main ground interface between drones and humans. The first drone ground station in the world which is deployed by SwissPost in Lugano Switzerland, is fully autonomous and has the capability to swap drone batteries and payloads. The station offers maximum user safety and operational simplicity.
Role & Responsibilities: Head of design- Design Vision, Architecture, Mechanical direction, User experience, Industrial design
Photography by: Aris Messinis
Matternet
Designing an aerial logistic transportation system
Role & Responsibilities: Head of design- Product vision, Flow architecture, UX/UI, system design
The design team came up with the Terminal product in order to enable the users to create a delivery manifest while in the lab. By that, we saved the need for a screen interface on the station and optimized the system flow which led us to speed the overall time of delivery. Security and chain of custody were some of the advantages that Terminal introduced.
Terminal
Terminal
The design team came up with the idea of a Terminal App as a system add-on that will enable users in labs to initiate a delivery mission without having to go out of the lab.
This solution not only eliminated the need to integrate a screen interface on the Matternet Station but also optimized the system flow, which led to increasing the overall speed of delivery.
Other advantages of the Terminal are better security and chain of custody.
Role & Responsibilities: Head of design- Product vision, Flow architecture, UX/UI, system design
Matternet Two
The M2 drone is designed to optimize the payload & battery swap. Internal smart mechanisms ensure safe and smooth locking and releasing of the battery and payload. The system was tailored to support a project with Mercedes Benz, which introduced a delivery van that incorporates two drones on the van's roof. The design team, led by Ido Baruchin, was in charge of all technical and design collaboration of this project. Today, the drone is used in ongoing operations across three continents.
Role & Responsibilities: Designer/Mechanical engineer- Design Vision, Architecture, User experience, Industrial design, Manufacturing
Photography by: Ian Momsen & Aris Messinis
Role & Responsibilities: Designer/Mechanical engineer- Design Vision, Architecture, User experience, Industrial Design, Manufacturing Photography by: Aris Messinis
The M1 Drone was designed for carrying small medical packages. Its physical and conceptual design focus revolved around the payload - the most precious component of the Matternet system.
Visually exposing the payload immediately differentiated Matternet’s drone from military and camera drones, a fact that helped achieve public acceptance during a time when people were not used to seeing drones flying above them.
The M1 drone was part of a successful project in Malawi, where in partnership with UNICEF drone technology helped deliver dry blood samples between clinics. M1 received broad acclaim and is included in the permanent collection of the Design Museum in London.
Matternet One
Matternet One
The M1 Drone was designed for carrying small medical packages. Its physical and conceptual design focus revolved around the payload - the most precious component of the Matternet system.
Visually exposing the payload immediately differentiated Matternet’s drone from military and camera drones, a fact that helped achieve public acceptance during a time when people were not used to seeing drones flying above them.
The M1 drone was part of a successful project in Malawi, where in partnership with UNICEF drone technology helped deliver dry blood samples between clinics. M1 received broad acclaim and is included in the permanent collection of the Design Museum in London.
Role & Responsibilities: Designer/Mechanical engineer- Design Vision, Architecture, User experience, Industrial Design, Manufacturing.Photography by: Aris Messinis
Matternet Station
Role & Responsibilities: Head of design- Design Vision, Architecture, Mechanical direction, User experience, Industrial design
Photography by: Aris Messinis
The Matternet Station is the main ground interface between drones and humans. The first drone ground station in the world which is deployed by SwissPost in Lugano Switzerland, is fully autonomous and has the capability to swap drone batteries and payloads. The station offers maximum user safety and operational simplicity.
Deployed by SwissPost in Switzerland
Why does the station look like this?
Ido’s answer to this is that the constraints designed this station.
“Our main job was to find a balance between different priorities while pushing to build an object that will represent an innovative new way of moving cargo through the skies.”
Sharp Top: to avoid snow and rain accumulation.
High landing plane: raising the drone surface contributes to the overall safety and does not allow a user to reach the drone or its dangerous propellers.
Round geometry: creating an object that can be visible from 360 degrees and allow maximum mounting flexibility. The round architecture simplifies the internal mechanism and helps create a non-offensive feeling for the station.
External rib structure: creating a visual contrast between the dark rib and the white surface allows us to focus the observer's eye on the rib and by that not require expensive finishing of the white part. Ribs drop shadow on the station and create self-cooling attributes.
Repetitive rib structure: minimizing unique part count to achieve cost reduction. Creating a visual motion sense to reflect the system's core idea of moving objects.
Designed for better security and chain of custody
Tailored to Mercedes Benz delivery van
M2 is used daily across three continents
Blood samples delivered in Malawi
M1 is part of the permanent collection in the London Design Museum.
