Behind the Scenes with Hasbro’s Design and Engineering Magic

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What does it take for a toy company to stay ahead of the game and continually captivate both children and adults alike?

In our latest episode of The Third Angle podcast, we take you inside Hasbro, the iconic toy and games company, to uncover the secrets behind their innovative product design and engineering. We had the pleasure of meeting senior design engineer Christopher Whipple & Engineering Manager Justin Pringle at Hasbro 's HQ in Rhode Island, to get a glimpse behind the curtain and hear about the technical innovations behind the newest iteration of Furby.

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Embarking on Memory Lane

While strolling through Hasbro’s impressive HQ, senior design engineer Chris Whipple and Engineering Manager Justin Pringle took us on a tour through “Memory Lane”, a section showcasing the rich history of Hasbro and its subsidiaries. From the first Checkered Game of Life, released by Milton Bradley in 1860, to notable artifacts like the original Potato Head and Monopoly game board, Hasbro’s incredible past is both fascinating, inspiring, and one that a lot of have very fond connections to!

Here’s a fascinating fact you’ll learn from the podcast, Chris and Justin recount how the a plastic potato was not originally included in the box, children had to supply their own, real potato…BYOP!

“The box just came with the accessories so the eyes, the ears, the mustaches. The original toy, you were expected to bring your own potato.”

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The Furby Phenomenon

First launched in 1998, Furby revolutionized the way interactive toys were perceived. Chris emphasizes:

“The real key to the success of Furby was the fact that there were kind of three things that coalesced to allow this product to exist. It was a really simple mechanism… Innovation number two was the dedicated electronics that we use that had the onboard audio processing capabilities…. And the third piece, uh, that was the ability to wrap all of that into a small package that was covered in fur”

Justin adds that each iteration of Furby aimed to enhance interactivity, encapsulating features such as voice recognition and engaging modes, making Furby seem like a “party in the box.”

The Impact of PTC’s Onshape on Hasbro

Hasbro now relies on PTC’s Onshape after transitioning from SolidWorks. The company saw dramatic improvements in efficiency and collaboration. Jon Hirschtick from PTC highlights this:

“Onshape’s cloud-native platform allows multiple engineers to work on the same model simultaneously, regardless of their location. Team members can [also] instantly see changes made by others. Enabling quick feedback, iterative improvements, which speeds up the development process.”

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Listen to the episode:?

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About The Third Angle:

Companies that make products the world relies on, rely on PTC.

The Third Angle is a podcast series that dives deep into these products, and meets the people being them. Hosted by PTC’s Paul Haimes, we explore the confluence of technology and creativity, and the brilliant minds that make it all possible.

To hear more fascinating stories and get up close and personal to some groundbreaking products, check out and follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube (also available in all other podcast apps, you can even ask Alexa!).

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