Before OtterWay, there was Robi
OtterWay didn’t start this month. It started at Northumbria University, in the final year of my Design for Industry degree, with a project called Robi.
Suraj Soren · Founder, OtterWay
Where the idea came from
I was born in Nottingham and grew up in Bradford. Busy roads, traffic fumes, and the sense that cities are planned around cars, not people on foot. I’ve always recharged in nature, and I wanted to design something that brought a bit of that calm into everyday journeys.
What Robi was
Robi was a physical, Tamagotchi-like device designed for children in South-East Asia, so they could track air quality on their way to school. If the air got worse, the child could use the device as an inhaler and breathe clean air through its carbon and HEPA filters. The idea placed in the John Lewis New Designers award in 2018.
What uni taught me
Design for Industry taught me to start with people, prototype fast and test early. That’s exactly how OtterWay is being built: get it into real hands, listen, and improve every week.
Why come back to it now
Ten years of designing products later, one person can build what used to take a team. And as a martial arts instructor, I teach that most of staying safe is common sense: awareness, good choices and knowing your route. OtterWay is Robi grown up, a calm guide that helps you find greener, safer ways to walk.
Follow along, week by week
Join the beta for your invite link and a short build note each week.