The brief of this project was to develop a home appliance product that would solve a problem, and work by way of some sort of of kinetic mechanism by hand or foot.
My team partner and I started by problematizing - thinking of various household problems and pain points we could solve.
We arrived at following problem we found many households grappling with:
In the city this project was developed in - Stuttgart, Germany - garbage is separated into plastic, cardboard, and general waste. The problem is, the plastic waste is only picked up once every few weeks. In addition to that, plastic waste tends to be shaped awkwardly and space inefficient (for example chips and snacks packaging). As a result, the plastic waste bags are filled much quicker than they are picked up, leading to them piling up outside. Much of this space is empty air caused by the inefficient waste. Often, users are forced to manually compress the waste by hand to make more space.
The solution: a garbage bin incorporating a shredding system to cut down and compress space-inefficient plastic packaging.
The project was named Trashercize - a combination of trash, exercise (the manual cranking of the shredder), and downsize (the downsizing of trash). A logo was designed in Illustrator.
We brainstormed and sketched mechanisms for the shredding to function - we decided on two metal rolls with teeth to shred and compress the waste, running on a chain and roll system.
We developed schematics and 3D models for the functional prototype. (Blender)
Having schematics and 3D models, we got to work implementing our idea into reality. We used wood, metal, and a bicycle chain for the prototype. We fashioned a shredder and the mechanism to turn it, incorporating bicycle parts. We laser-ed our logo onto the lid, and fashioned a door and a handle to put in and retrieve the hung up trash bag inside.
The result was a fully functional prototype that was worked either by hand or foot and that successfully shredded and minimised plastic packaging. We found success in that the resulting trash bag took up vastly more items after they had been shredded.
Next, we evolved our design into something that was visually more modern than our prototype in a combination of Blender and Adobe Dimensions.
With a functional prototype model, and digital final model, we continued on to develop an app that would go hand in hand with the product.
The app design was developed in Figma, and it featured various functionalities such as a calendar informing when the waste was to be picked up and a household leaderboard comparing amounts of waste shredded and disposed amongst family or household members,.
Summary, Evaluation, Learnings
Together with my team partner, I developed an innovative product powered by kinetic energy that solved a tangible, widespread problem.
We conceptualised a functional model, modelled it in 3D, implemented it into reality and built it.
I developed branding for the product as well as an app for digital integration.
We evolved our functional model into further designs suitable for production and sale.
This project gave me valuable experience in product design, modelling, branding, and real world implementation.
Main softwares used were Blender, AutoCAD, Illustrator, Photoshop, Sketchup, Enscape, and Figma.
