Zensors is a AI powered visual sensors that provides users with tools to collect and analyze data about their physical space. As part of my graduate capstone project, my team and I were tasked with determining the most compelling product market fit for Zensors and create a user tested MVP to support future business growth and development.
Role: Product Designer II
Duration 8 month project
Key skills: product strategy, UI design, customer personas, stakeholder management, user interviews, research synthesis
Time frame: Jan 2018 - Aug 2018
Zensors was developed from research conducted at the Future Interfaces Group at Carnegie Mellon University. The technology harnesses camera’s video stream, computer vision, and machine learning to gather information about an environment or events in a space.
For example, imagine you are a coffee shop owner with questions about how your cafe space is used. You could point a camera at table and ask the following question:
“How many people are sitting at the table?”
And then over a period of time the Zensors algorithm will be able to provide you with data that might help you understand peak usage times. That information could help you better configure your space or improve staffing.
For the course of the 8 month project our team was going to work on figuring out how to get this technology into the hands of users. We broke the project into two key phases:
Zensors is still a nascent, complex technology, therefore it's crucial the first market fit we choose to develop within is set up to be successful for both the platform and its users. We wanted to explore a myraid of businesses that rely on understanding the way their space is used, and then see if their data needs and business goals map to Zensors offerings.
To transform this from a research project into a viable business, we wanted to build an MVP that put our product into the hands of customers. We wanted the user to be able to successfully set up questions and gather data from a camera's video stream. Building the MVP tailored to a market's needs would not only help turn set up the product to acutely solve a need and prove it's impact, but would give the Zensor's team a lightweight platform to gain user insights and continue to grow on.