Modeled in:
PTC Creo
Prototyped with:
3D printing (FDM, Makerbot), PVC pipes, laser cut acrylic, makeup sponges
Completed for:
UIUC Design for Manufacturability (ME 350) with Jae Lee, Karen Lipa, Jessica Simon, and Kimberly Slaughter, 2014

The Nimbal is a coffee cup/smartphone camera stabilizer made for people on the go, allowing them to Stay Nimble with the Nimbal.

Our only given criteria was to create a mechanical device that was new to the market. What initially started off as a joke when I proposed a stabilizing device to prevent beer from getting to that annoying overflow-ish state after walking a few blocks holding a 6-pack, turned into a real idea to create a device to keep hot coffee from spilling when walking/biking to and from class.

We created a gimbal and it went through quite a few design iterations before we settled on the best one for our needs (cup above/below gimbal, bucket handle vs. that of a pitcher, cup/phone holder). My role in the project was to draw out the ideas we all had for our product, as well as helping come up with the small fixes to our problems (using makeup sponges as a grip for the cup/phone, using a paper with printed concentric circles and lines to align gimbal holes, and laser cutting a small elbow macaroni shaped piece of acrylic to keep the handle in place).

This was one of the most fun projects I got to work on because it was food related and worked like a charm. Plus, I made it with my friends. The best part of testing was running/biking through the halls and down the stairs of the Mechanical Engineering Lab at midnight and seeing everyone's reaction as our full cup of water didn't spill all over the floor.