The small ball that's big on technology

Jan. 18, 2016

At 4:53pm on January 12, 2010 a 7.0 earthquake struck just a few miles outside the Haitian capital of Port-Au-Prince. When tolls were calculated, hundreds of thousands of people were dead. Buildings were severely damaged or destroyed, many injured trapped in the rubble. The world watched the devastation as aid flooded in to try and help find survivors. On January 22nd, the Haitian government officially called off the search. An ocean away, a group of Harvard students watched the plight of the Haitian people and the concept of the Explorer was born.

“We saw a lot of people buried under the rubble,” explains Francisco Aguilar, co-founder and CEO of Bounce Imaging. “Those who were going to be rescued were going to be within 48 hours.” They realized rescuers needed a camera to aid them in the search. The camera needed to be rugged enough to be used in difficult situations and cheap enough that agencies could afford one or better yet multiples. The Explorer, a baseball-size, tactical throwable camera with multiple lenses and sensors became a project of Harvard Innovation Lab and when the team kept asking to think big on how the Explorer could be used they found an answer in their own backyard.   

Aguilar and his co-founder David Young, a former Army Ranger, heard from law enforcement that they were running into dangerous situations every day. “We saw a lot of old technology in law enforcement,” Aguilar explains. “We wanted to develop something that was easier to use.” Along with search and rescue, the Explorer could be used in a myriad of critical events, such as hostage situations, prison riots, barricades and even surveillance. “Its application is only limited by your imagination,” says Chief Joe Cafarelli, Team Commander, North Metro (MA) SWAT. He should know. His team worked closely with Bounce Imaging as they brought the Explorer from an academic concept to a law enforcement reality earning awards and accolades along the way, including one of Time’s Best Inventions (2012), Popular Science’s Invention Award (2013) and IACP’s Hot Product (2014). To truly understand the unique story of the Explorer, you have to start at the beginning of this public-private partnership.

Working together

Three years ago, one of Cafarelli’s SWAT officers was taking a class at Harvard and he met Young. Excited about the concept of the Explorer, the sergeant took the idea back to Cafarelli. “He came to me and said, ‘I’ve been talking to these guys who are developing a piece of technology that might be of interest to you,” explains Cafarelli. Intrigued, he arranged a meeting to see the benefit of being in on the development side of the project. Bounce Imaging wanted to create a product that could be used for a variety of scenarios in public safety and the officers wanted one that would suit their actual needs. “They are amazing,” Aguilar remarks about the law enforcement professionals the company worked with during development. “We are unbelievably lucky to have the partners we have. It’s an incredible user group, so supportive and engaged.” Cafarelli agreed it was a good partnership and process stating that since they didn’t have a financial obligation they were more like a godfather than a parent. They were free to just nurture the concept. “When they see you are doing something to keep them safe, they’re awesome,” Aguilar remarks. “It’s one of the great pleasures of working on this.” Along with North Metro SWAT, Bounce Imaging sought other partners as well.

Not far away at the prison

A small ad at the bottom of a newsletter caught the attention of Mark Clevette, Commander of Special Operations, Maine Department of Corrections. “At that time, there was no prototype,” explains Clevette but he called Young and talked to him about the possibilities a camera of this type could have for another area of law enforcement. Young reflected the team had never thought about its use in corrections. “A lot of people don’t,” says Clevette. “We get forgotten about.” As the commander of the only Certified Tier 1 Special Operations Team in the northeast, Clevette does think about tactical operations. Unlike most other correctional agencies that call someone else when something major happens, Clevette’s team takes care of it themselves. For this reason, Clevette visualized the benefits of using the Explorer when situations arise in their 100-prisoner housing units. “(In the beginning of development), we set up our training room,” explains Clevette. “He just had a replica of what it would look like. It was just a plastic ball.” Young then asked them what they would like it to do. They told him and he returned with a model. That’s when the company learned what it was truly like to work with officers. “The first time they came up with a working camera, I told them it was a piece of crap,” Clevette explains. “I didn’t think they would come back.” He was wrong. Not only did Bounce Imaging show back up a couple of months later, but the team had incorporated the feedback and fixed every issue mentioned. This has happened a few more times culminating in the most recent version which includes even more requested features. “Cops are blunt,” agrees Cafarelli. “If they like it or they don’t they are going to let you know. That’s driven Bounce to come back with a product we’re really happy with.”

The Ball that does more than Bounce

The Explorer, which grew to softball-size during the development phase, incorporates several fully-omnidirectional camera lens partnered with 240W white or near-infrared LEDs. The camera takes images at 15 frames per second (fps) not only while stationary but also in motion, making it useful from the moment it is thrown into an area. The images can be viewed in panorama. The newest model also allows for live video. The images transmit up to 60-feet through a standard wall and are viewable through an app compatible both with Android and iOS. Durable, Explorer is drop rated at 26 x 7-foot on concrete. It can also come with sensors, such as temperature and oxygen saturation, as well as ones testing for hazards like carbon monoxide. Officers like the simplistic throw and go. “During a critical incident you don’t have time to try and manipulate the device,” Cafarelli explains. “You are able to throw it into a room or a hallway, somewhere you need to gather immediate tactical intelligent but there’s a risk to sending an officer in. It’s an expendable device. The safety advantage is obvious.” To get to its current form, the Explorer went through several models with user-driven changes. “We got rid of a lot of the features,” Aguilar explains. “We heard from police that they were under a lot of stress and didn’t want to have to deal with all these things. The user experience is what’s important.”

Make it better

The original Explorer had a time lag between taking and viewing the picture. The users, including both Clevette and Cafarelli’s teams said this wasn’t good enough. Bounce Imaging listened. “Now the images are instantaneous,” says Aguilar. Another issue with the original was its brightness. “One of the things they changed was (the prototype) had LED lights flashing all over like a space ship,” says Clevette. “We said this is not going to work. They’ll zero right in on it.” Clevette wanted his team to be able to throw the Explorer in with sting balls without it being conspicuous. He wanted it to go completely unnoticed. He told Bounce Imaging, “If you keep it the flashing disco ball, we’re not going to be able to use it. You’ll find your regular SWAT team will have the same complaint. It draws too much attention.” Bounce Imaging made the change. “As technology has improved, it’s become far more affordable, resilient and has better resolution on the imagery,” says Cafarelli. Speaking of resilience, this was another area where Bounce Imaging thought they had it right, but officers proved them wrong.  

“We used to think it was rugged but give it to a SWAT guy and he’ll break it,” explains Aguilar. “We’ve learned it has to be tougher.” Cafarelli admits to being the team that broke it. “It’s got to be cop proof,” he explains. “That’s the first thing when you’re going from a lab environment to a police environment. It’s got to be simple and tough.” One of the simple aspects of Explorer making it stand out from its competitors is its app compatibility.

Share and share alike

Unlike other cameras, the Explorer feeds its images back to an application that is easily downloaded onto a variety of smart devices, including tablets and smartphones. In less than ninety seconds the application can be given to anyone who needs it. “We can take video, the phone is talking to the ball, it can go into the cloud and it can be sent to anyone in the world,” says Aguilar. “The guys back at headquarters can be giving eyes on the guys in the stack.” It can also be shared easily with other agencies involved in a scene.

In 2013, Cafarelli and his team joined the massive man-hunt for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of two brothers involved in the Boston Marathon bombing. Thousands of officers from a variety of agencies participated. After searching a 20-block area in Watertown (Mass.), officers pin-pointed Tsarnaev hiding in a boat located in a backyard. Officers used another product that was thrown into the boat and took pictures. Unfortunately, the only ones that could see the images were the state helicopter and those on the state system. “When you use an app,” explains Cafarelli, “we could have used the image and given it to everyone.” Every officer would be issued the password and they would be able to see what the Explorer sees regardless of the name on their shoulder patch. Cafarelli’s excited about the information sharing capability of the Explorer. “The photo imagery is in real time with multiple jurisdictions,” he says. “This expounds on the capability being able to share that information. You can’t put a price on that.” Yet, every product has a price.

Won’t break the bank

Cost is one of the biggest factors that make Explorer unique and desirable. “We were looking for something that would be available and low cost,” says Aguilar. He wanted departments to be able to have lots of them. “It’s accessible because it’s a tenth of what a robot costs. Hopefully we can get it into more officers’ hands and keep people safer.” The base unit with white light is $1,495 and the new infra-red model is $2,495. Compared to an alternative, like the pole-cam running around $8,000 and a robot at $15,000, the Explorer is a much cheaper option. “One of the things that has impressed me most is the price,” Clevette says. “What this camera is able to do and how cost effective it is. It’s not going to break the bank and we don’t have to go for a grant.” Clevette plans on buying a few more next year. Cafarelli agrees, “We don’t have the budget that major cities have,” he explains. “It’s an affordable device. It’s expendable. It might get damaged or destroyed. The cost of replacement is minimal which makes it more appealing to a department of our size.” Bounce Imaging is now filling customer orders that have been coming in since September and shipping the newest version. Aguilar has also just returned from the 2015 IACP with hundreds of new department inquiries.    

Happy to have been one of the departments involved since the beginning, Clevette looks forward to receiving the newest version of Explorer. “Other states are looking to us to see what we’re doing,” says Clevette. “We’re one of the leaders in the country. This will also be an area where people are calling and asking us about how we are using this.” Cafarelli is also pleased with the product and its potential. “We got hands on in development with a product that could save lives,” says Cafarelli. “Even if it’s not with our department but that of another cop somewhere in the country it’s worth it to us even if we never use it.” So far North Metro SWAT hasn’t had to use the Explorer. But if and when they need to, this small ball with big technology will be there to secure a scene and possibly save a life.   

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