A SALISBURY-BASED business has featured on BBC's The Apprentice tonight (January 13) - helping the candidates as they were put through their paces in a product design challenge. 

Innovate Design, an invention development company in Endless Street, supported the teams who were tasked with creating a new electric toothbrush for children between the ages of six and eight as well as an app to go with it. 

Alastair Swanwick, the founder of Innovate Design, said: "We recognised that this particular Apprentice task would be a huge challenge due to the incredibly tight timescales involved. However, we knew we had the right set of skills in-house to take it on - and we love a challenge."

The Apprentice candidates came up with the design concepts and were helped by the company's team to deliver the finished prototypes.

The customised brush handles were printed on rare 3D printers, while the character designs were replicated in the accompanying app with animated games.

"We assembled a multi-skilled team of product development experts to handle the full process from concept sketching and brush design to electronics and app development, character creation and packaging design. We found the candidates easy to work with and I’m incredibly proud of what our team was able to create with them," added Alastair. 

In addition to the product design, app development, logo and packaging design, the Innovate Design team also developed the smart technology inside the toothbrush.

The team created a bespoke brush that not only monitors brushing time, but also the exact orientation the toothbrush is held at, whether the user is brushing too fast or slow and how much force is being applied to the brush head.

Bluetooth connectivity was added to enable sensor reading in real time.

The episode of series 16 of The Apprentice is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

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