Lime
Shared micromobilty is a fast paced and rapidly changing industry, with fierce competition between international and local players. During my time at Lime, I was lucky to be part of two huge advancements in the company's vehicle platform: the Gen 4 scooter and the Citra seated scooter. These vehicles saw leaps in technology, ergonomics, ride quality, and overall user experience from what Lime previously offered.
Gen 4 Scooter:
I was responsible for the mechanical design of the Gen 4 scooter handlebars. The design was primarily bounded by a few crucial requirements: ergonomics, ease of serviceability, cost, reuse of associated components (screen, status light, brakes, bell), and of course limited time. Due to the narrowness of the requirements, the solution set was quite small and an improved version of the previous generations die cast clamshell design became the clear front runner. The main innovation in my design is a split handlebar concept - the part of the handlebar that the user grabs onto is actually only a short portion that engages with the clamshell, but terminates soon after. This allows the left and right handlebars to be replaced independently in case of damage in addition to reducing material used and increasing packaging space available.
Citra:
Citra is a completely new type of vehicle in the shared micromobilty landscape - it can travel as fast as an ebike but has no pedals, has turn indicators like a moped, and is able to securely store items during your ride. It lies in a gray area between ebikes and mopeds that hasn't been touched due to lack of regulatory definition and unknown user perception. But at Lime we belived that this form factor could be the future of micromobilty. So I began leading a cross function team, engaging product managers, regulatory experts and consultants, and the engineering team to develop the vehicle. I lead the team through early concept stages, solidifying the regulatory strategy and building several prototypes for product refiniement and user testing. While I did not stay at Lime until the project's completion, I can see many of the changes I put into effect reflected on the version we see today.
