babyark is not just another car seat company. Because babyark’s founder and CEO, Shy Mindel, is not “just” a father, he’s an aeronautical engineer with decades of experience. When the science of safety is the cornerstone for the company’s very existence, you can understand that engineering will be at the core of every decision.
Engineered, Naturally
As engineers, we find inspiration in the safest and sturdiest elements of nature, and that’s what guided us when developing our innovative protective technologies; from our unique design to the premium materials never used before in a convertible car seat.
It’s more than choosing the right components and materials for each and every element - it’s about the structure and functionality as well. It’s leveraging processes and the way pieces fit together, about understanding the phenomena in nature and in successful machinery, and applications of insight from across other disciplines to capitalize on the best processes for keeping children safe.
Living in a Material World
A key factor to enable excellence in design and engineering was adopting materials that had never been used in a car seat before, and adapting safety measures used in infant seats to create a convertible seat that surpassed expectations.
“With babyark we brought a focus on a steel core, one of the strongest and sturdiest materials used in engineering, moving away from the reliance on plastic and materials that degrade over time” says Shy. "It’s definitely a significant upgrade from what was previously being used,” adds Frank Stephenson, renowned automotive designer, and babyark Director of Design.
Another example of premium materials selected in place of their counterparts which degrade over time, babyark utilizes D3O™, the world’s most technologically-advanced impact absorbing polymer, instead of traditional foam. CEO Shy says, “we looked at the protective gear of extreme athletes and racecar drivers. If it’s good for professionals who continuously have to worry about injury and head trauma, we knew it was worth looking into.”
Pioneering in Engineering
And, because we know that parenting means juggling more than our taxed brains can sometimes even bear, our goal was to make everything as foolproof as possible. Because we trust you, but eliminating (as much as possible) the likelihood of human error is a pretty smart move when it comes to the safety of our kids.
With the launch of babyark, we pioneered the use of two new revolutionary energy-absorbing technologies in convertible car seats- the SafeCoil™ and BioArk™ systems. These were engineered to significantly reduce both frontal and side forces, respectively, that occur in the event of sudden stops or impact.
Read more about our boundary-shattering crash protection technology.
A Protective Shell
We embrace the concept of biomimicry (a practice wherein one learns from and mimics the strategies used by living organisms to solve challenges comparable to the ones we face as individuals and societies) in our design, applying the best of nature to mechanical engineering.
One example of this funneling of wisdom into our engineering is the egg shape of the babyark. The design and engineering teams emphatically agreed that this design was both stunning and clean, and brilliantly practical in the way it surrounds the baby in safety.
Human-proofing installation
We happen to think Shy is a pretty bright guy, yet babyark itself was created because he found car seats on the market complicated to install, and difficult to understand if they had been installed correctly.
According to the National Digital Car Seat Check database, only one in four car seats are correctly installed and consumer survey done by AAA found that only one in five caretakers seek expert help for car seat installation.Given that, our goal was to make installation as painless, and foolproof, as possible. Therefore, in addition to carefully selecting materials and processes that come together to create a safe environment for your child, we also ensured that the design facilitated easy, one-time installation for both rear and forward-facing.
What does it mean to prioritize ease of installation along with a refusal to compromise on safety?
It means that babyark not only insisted on the smartest implementations of safety features from regulations in Europe and the United States, but it also took great pains to make it all intuitive and easy. Instead of extra features meaning extra work for the user, the functionality of the car seat is part of its very essence - with easy-to-follow screen-by-screen guidance, you ensure that your car seat is installed correctly. And if it’s installed correctly, by the very construction of the seat itself, the safety components are ready and waiting to protect your child. It’s that simple.
Example? Our anti-rebound bar (ARB) is built into the car seat as part of the installation process. Opening it and ensuring it actively protects your little is part of the installation process through which you’re seamlessly guided.
All of this adds up to a one-time installation of a convertible car seat that can be used up to age 6 or 65 pounds, without struggling to re-thread or re-install when you make the move from rear to forward-facing.
We all make mistakes, so isn’t it nice when companies help us avoid them?
Read more about our foolproof installation here.
User Experience as a Guide for our Guidance
From the beginning, we knew that not only did we want to make a convertible car seat that redefined the category, but also that it was important to us to make it easy to use, intuitive, and smart. Shy recruited engineers and developers with significant experience in both engineering and dev but also an understanding of what a consumer would expect, and made sure the voice of the customer was present across the entire process.
Part of making installation pain-free includes the utilization of technology through our 14 sensors and companion app. As is our custom, we consulted with the best in the business (in this case, also bringing in a leading UX/UI firm), and then ran our decisions by a group of impartial consumers who were not privy to the process. When executing on our mission to create an incredibly safe seat, we knew that ensuring it was installed properly and easy to use was a requirement. Like air traffic controllers guiding an airplane safely to landing, we knew creating a lighted path of steps was a good solution to helping complete installation.
In consultation with UX experts when considering which steps would ensure proper installation and improve ease of use while providing increased safety, and after testing prototypes on non-technical employees, we zeroed in on the right combination. The goal of creating a base that would be installed only once and contain intelligence within to interact with additional elements in the seat itself helped refine the road map, and 14 sensors were eventually selected, with corresponding receivers and magnets, and alerts in the app for a seamless experience. The immediate feedback of “blue light =action needed, green light =completed” assists in installation, and the steps flow in a logical order toward completion. Further, components of the car seat and base were designed in a way that made them both practical and safe - for example, the mechanics of the belt buckle help facilitate easy placement on the child, and the sensors in the seat will alert the app if your child managed to unbuckle himself. The inclusion of such technology enables life-saving alerts, and adds to the sophistication and sleekness of the seat.
It’s Called Engin-nearing Because It’s Never Done
At every critical stage, prototypes were run by actual potential customers who would be installing the seats themselves, and after the seat passed all tests and regulations with flying colors, over 50 seats were distributed to friends and family for use and feedback, which helped understand any final tweaks needed to improve ease of use and satisfaction. Each and every modification was the result of iteration and discussion, and though feedback continues to be glowing, our seats are, like all of us, a work in progress in a continuous effort to improve.
Find out more about how a new car seat was born .
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