Proxim Smart Saddle Prologo

“Smart Saddle” is a research project developed in 2017 by Polifactory (the fab lab of Politecnico di Milano) and Fondazione Politecnico for Prologo Touch, a Brianza-based company part of the international Velo group, reknown for the production of bicycle saddles used by champions.

Smart Saddle is a project in which the world of industrial production meets the world of experimental design. Design combines with digital manufacturing and physical computing. The project resulted in a model of collaboration between a manufacturing SME and a university Fab Lab, involving its community of researchers and young designer-makers.
It represents an example of how a company can innovate by connecting to an external ecosystem of scientific-technological research and multidisciplinary design.

PROXIM is the project of a performance saddle for e-bikes entirely conceived and prototyped within Polifactory and engineered in close synergy with Prologo and Velo. The saddle is conceived as a structural set of “islands of material” that work independently and, as a whole, make both at the tip and at the sides more flexible, increasing and modelling the support surfaces. Similarly, each island has coatings designed for optimum grip conditions. Finally, the rear of the saddle has been fitted with a handle that makes it easier to lift and move the electric bike and becomes the base for the integration or installation of various types of electronic devices.

The first important result of the collaboration between Polifactory and Prologo the production of W650 PROXIM saddle, which took place after its official presentation at EUROBIKE SHOW 2018 (the reference show for cycling operators and enthusiasts). Smart Saddle contributed to Polifactory becoming a Key Enabling Technology Centre recognised by the European Commission (and later ATI Technology Centre): a laboratory specialised in supporting small businesses in using design and enabling technologies such as 3D printing to develop product and process innovation.