London Design + Engineering, Day 4

Friday, March 8th 2019

Heen demonstrating the abilities of the Roli's modular block system.

Roli Products

Roli

Our group visited Roli today, a revolutionary music hardware and software company. While at Roli’s office in Dalston, their team explained to us their mission: to pave the way for a new field of music technology. They showed us their SeaBoard Block, Rise 49, and Light pad block, explaining how their technology allowed for a more authentic and dynamic electronic instrumental display of sound, in comparison to a simple Casio keyboard. Their keyboards (SeaBoards) utilize what they call “5D touch”, meaning that their keyboard can be played through changes of pressure, motion, speed, location, and, of course, key. Their process, playing and production ability, and manufacturing process were all very impressive and truly inspired many of us to pick up music once again and, for some of us, even for the first time.

Makerversity

To continue our day, we took the three designs that students had spent the week working on and created the physical prototypes. The local makerspace Makerversity was kind enough to host us and help us transfer the previously digital designs into a format in which they could be 3D printed or created with wood using a laser cutter. Through using the Makerversity space, students were finally able to see their ideas come to life. We finished the day with fantastic Indian meal at a local London restaurant that was conveniently located near the Shard. The students enjoyed having several deep conversations while enjoying excellent food. After a long but fun day, we all returned to the hotel for some much needed rest.

Michelle'20 & Will'19 assembling their prototype designs for chairs.