Innovator
Daedalus has tackled and designed an impressive range of projects.
Consider Bilichek, a handheld medical device developed for Philips Healthcare. The device and incorporated graphical interface is used by hospitals to accurately screen and analyze newborns for jaundice without the need for an invasive blood test.
There's a sustainable water bottle machine, advanced by local startup Evive, which washes standard stainless steel water bottles and fills them with clean water, eliminating the need to purchase pre-packaged bottled-water. Daedalus was behind the research, design and engineering and is now building pilot prototypes; the machines will be placed on college campuses.
Daedalus has worked with local startups and global Fortune 50 companies. An Alcoa aluminium car jack. The Cleanwater Infant Tub by 4Moms, which monitors the temperature of the clean water streaming into the tub on an LED screen. Medical injectors for Medrad that are state-of-the-art,easy-to-use and improve the state of healthcare.
The work is a process that incorporates engineering and science, art, and careful observation, explains Matt Beale, president. The firm's work tends to focus on safety products, industrial tools, scientific instrumentation, home health care and medical devices, improving the function and appeal of products that make everyday life safer and more efficient.
Daedalus was founded in 1979 by Tim Cunningham and has grown steadily to 21 people today. Beale joined during a merger with Excel Technologies (a spinoff of Thermo Fisher Scientific) in 2000, which allowed the firm to focus on the engineering side of the business.
The company is currently experiencing significant growth and hiring, looking for industrial designers, interface designers, mechanical engineers, software engineers, electrical engineers.
"Local and national clients like to know that we can take care of a project from start to finish, or just help out if they are short-handed," says Beale. "The economy in Pittsburgh has also been better than the economy in much of the country. We never saw the down-side of the recession; so it's been a good place for us to do business."
A winner of numerous awards for innovative designs, Daedalus most recently won a 2012 Carnegie Science Award for Corporate Innovation this week.
Source: Matt Beale, Daedalus
Writer: Debra Smit
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