2015 IfM Design Show: L.E.D. Zeppelin
Channel: Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge
Date: 2015-06-23

L.E.D. Zeppelin is an interactive toy aimed at the children’s, young persons’ and office executive toy markets.

A pair of helium airships do aerial battle under the remote control of two (or more) players, firing infrared beams at each other in order to score ‘hits’ and disable the opponents’ control systems. Players start with a fixed number of lives with the winner of the game being the first to eliminate all opposing players.

Our product is built around the Arduino micro-controller using a custom-coded radio control system and game logic. Two-way communication is possible between the airship and the controller allowing in-game feedback and score tracking displayed to the player via the controller.

Our branding parodies the popular rock band Led Zeppelin and this theme has been carried throughout our product. The bold colours and geometric shapes of our art deco-inspired design have been drawn from Led Zeppelin’s ‘Celebration Day’ album cover. This decision was validated by the results of our market research, which also directed us in our gondola design.

Our route to market envisages initial distribution of the product through hobby shops and to hobbyists for testing and promotion. Production will initially be completed in-house on a small scale, using the facilities available at the IfM. Working alongside these first adopters, we plan to continuously improve the product while increasing market share with the eventual aim of approaching a national toy retailer.

Team
Freddie Ashford
Ben Brebner
Mudit Dubey
Elizabeth Fletcher