An IT pro, a talent management exec and a freelance designer walk into a room late at night. It sounds like the beginning of a joke, but it’s actually the very real scenario that a couple and their longtime friend encountered over and over again as they brainstormed the concept for a new accessory to their iPad 2.

During those sessions, someone realized that what the iPad really needed was a safe way to secure it on the go. After all, what could be worse than accidentally dropping a beloved tablet?

Thus, Grablet was born.

This ingenious little device comes with a hand pad and hand strap to enable the user to custom fit an iPad 1 or 2 to their own hand, prop up their iPad at the perfect angle for typing and hang their iPad practically anywhere they want – from a kitchen cabinet to a car headrest.

But before the three friends could take their product out into the world officially, they had a significant challenge. Three of them, actually.

How could they…

1. Be absolutely sure the mold of the Grablet they were designing would perfectly fit any iPad 1

2. Create the product

3. Get the Grablet ready to launch and market within 30 days, in time for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

For help with the first step, scanning the iPads for a perfect Grablet fit,  the design team turned to Exact Metrology. And, of course, the scans needed to be finished by the next day.

Exact Metrology engineers  scanned the iPads using the Breuckmann smartScan HE 5.0 White Light scanner. Considering the 3D data for processing had to be highly precise, the Breuckmann is one of the most high-resolution measurement systems on the market today.

With fields of view up to 2500 mm, this scanner can digitize practically any object in less than 1 minute – sometimes as fast as just a few seconds. Rather than an approach that only captures surface points, the Breuckmann accurately captures complete surfaces of the object it’s measuring.

Even in a tight window of time, Exact Metrology had ample time to scan and capture the objects at a variety of angles, providing the design team at Grablet with the essential data required to design a precise product for the iPad 2.

Their appearance at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas a great success, and company engineers are looking forward to using their own Grablets soon, knowing they played a significant role in the product’s launch.

Exact Metrology
www.exactmetrology.com