WWU Sponsored Project
WWU Future of Connected Tools
Anvil Studios and Milwaukee Tool partnered to co-sponsor a quarter long project with Western Washington Universities Senior Industrial Design department. The students were given the task of envisioning the future of the construction site and create an ecosystem of products to enhance the work. This ecosystem was designed to monitor construction processes, enhance jobsite communication and facilitate time and cost efficiency.
The goal for this project was to develop a connected tool system to improve key aspects of the commercial construction processes. In order to accomplish this mission, thirteen students began working as individuals and later as teams to explore how interconnected tool systems can generate value.
WWU Sr ID Professor
Dell King
WWU Sr ID Class of 2018
Lisa Collander
Linsey Gardner
Joe Han
Julian Hein
Matt Hoogestraat
Ellen Huynh
Kenji Kimura
Noah Lanphear
Aiden Lee
Scotty Paton
Josh Pehrson
Sam Weaver
Kevin White
2019 Awards
IDEA - GOLD
2018 Awards
Gray Award - Finalist
To begin exploring the future of interconnected construction tools, the designers had to first understand end user needs and the goals of organizational stakeholders. The designers conducted research in the field and identified key pressure points in commercial construction settings. These insights led to informed design solutions meant to enhance the commercial construction process for laborers and management alike.
The designers then worked as three teams to craft a family of Milwaukee tools concerning jobsite security, material movement and data visualization services. With the direction of Anvil Studios and Milwaukee Tool, each team explored concepts that provided services to the whole construction site, rather than for one specific function for a single particular user. In addition, the designers analyzed Milwaukee product lines and adhered to the branding and CMF that Milwaukee has successfully implemented for nearly a century.
To ensure close communication between construction project stakeholders, one design team conceptualized a jobsite collaboration station intended to streamline interactions between workers and managers. The station provides separate modes for both workers and management, ensuring that only the most pertinent information is available for access by a given worker. Laborers can access task lists, schedules and real-time management updates.
Another design team developed a construction drone to deliver tools and materials between workers. The drone can also transport other connected Milwaukee tools across the site, catalog progress and relay information to upper management teams. Drones can surpass human capabilities in efficient tool delivery, jobsite surveillance, and material tracking. With increasing global interest in autonomous tools, the technology has evolved to streamline processes in hazardous environments.
A third design team proposed that the integration of a more seamless security lighting system within sites would provide enhanced surveillance opportunities to management. This lighting system also delineates emergency exits for workers.
