Connected Homes for Samsung

About

An internal project as part of Samsung Research of America exploring contextualized map experiences for the connected IoT home, using LiDAR and cross-platform monitoring to identify where & when something is happening.

Role

Lead Designer: I joined a small engineering team as the first designer. The goal was to help productize the LiDAR scanning technology developed internally.

Context

Innovation team worked to find product market fit for emerging technologies using scanning technology that enabled novel experiences across mobile and television.

SAMSUNG_05
SAMSUNG_03
SAMSUNG_01
SAMSUNG_06

Product Design

Challenge

Important signals in the home can get lost in the noise as the connected home scales.  As homeowners add more devices the smart home interface becomes an endless, non-contextual list. 

Opportunity

Create a new sophisticated software experience that layers on top of Samsung’s large connected device ecosystem. Leverage AI, ML, and Computer Vision in emerging hardware to connect a disparate ecosystem of IoT devices. 

Solution

A holistic, multi-platform command center for the home that enables new experiences with spatial and device data. With our new platform, we can enable the ability to surface contextual and device data with relevant action items. 

HL03
HL02
HL01

Mobile Prototypes

I initially started prototyping experiences around mapping the home using the LiDAR sensor on the Samsung Galaxy s20. I also explored ways of making the sequence more accessible by creating a manual mapping experience that users could quickly put together and tag.  

ROOM-BUILD
2020-04-06-12-06-26.2020-04-06-12_06_47
DRAG-N-DROP

TV Prototypes

I designed and prototyped the end-to-end experience from mobile onboarding to authentication on the Tizen platform to the final "Home Layout" experience. 

AUTHENTICATION
2020-04-06-03-02-30.2020-04-06-03_21_54-1

Testing

I worked closely with the head of research to create a protocol that tested our current app and future-facing ideas. I moderated sessions and synthesized data to inform our product development process. 

Goals of user testing:

  1. Understand behaviors, motivators, attitudes, and challenges of people who currently own/operate a “Smart Home” 
  2. Directional guidance on the value of Home Layouts as a product solution for consumers (pros, cons, areas of development, potential use-cases)
researcg

Future Ideas

We looked to the future of the smart home to envision what we could do with a developed software & hardware ecosystem. We explored concepts around intelligently recognizing patterns to allow for automation, augmented reality-driven smart device control, and dynamic & delightful maps of the home that react to location, weather, and time. 

HL05-1
HL07
map_light_test_clock_002

Contact

hello@lastlauf.com

© 2025 Mike Laufbahn

All rights reserved

Back to top Arrow