Cisco AIRO

Three questions for the project team

What was the particular challenge of the project from a UX point of view?
Live streaming with multiple cameras can be complex, requiring device connections and stream control. Streamers nowadays need both creativity and a good understanding of video production. During development, we realized the need to create hardware and software to address these challenges. From a hardware perspective, we aimed to design a flexible, simple, and portable camera. It took several iterations to determine the essential features for the final concept. Making changes during a live stream often demands extra attention from the streamer, especially when streaming alone. To simplify this, we decided to move all attention-demanding interactions away from the streaming time. The challenge was to design a user-friendly interface.

What was your personal highlight in the development process? Was there an aha!-moment, was there a low point?
One highlight was when we realized the gap in many streaming solutions today. While sharing content is relatively straightforward, capturing it in an engaging way can be challenging. This perspective led us to consider streaming from a more comprehensive standpoint. We addressed the entire process from stream setup to audience viewing. Interacting with streamers also revealed that multi-perspective streaming is another obstacle we aimed to tackle with Airo, making it a standout concept. Additionally, we moved away from a fixed, furniture-like desktop-based solution. Airo is portable and foldable, which allows it to be used in many more contexts and adds more value for streamers.

Where do you see yourself and the project in the next five years?
Capturing and sharing moments is a human need that fosters connection and creates bonds between people. Airo envisions how this need can be addressed specifically for live streamers. It has sparked our curiosity about the transformative power of sharing and its impact on communication. Airo relies on a seamless integration of emerging technologies and challenges the status quo. With advancements in camera technology and the opening of the AI era, Airo is becoming a concrete concept that has the potential to change the live-streaming industry within the next years.