Power your play with nano tech
Project Lead / Prototyping / User Research
How might we
Educate future generations about alternative energy?
Currently pollution is one of the biggest killers, affecting more than 100 million worldwide.
Challenges To Overcome
Identified Through Research and SME’s
1
Fossil Fuel Pollution
Worldwide, coal supplies 29.7 percent of energy use and is responsible for 44 percent of global CO2 emissions
2
Lack of education
Elementary and middle school students don’t have adequate exposure to green technologies and nanotechnology education.
3
Lack of Clean Energy
In 2016 about 65% of this electricity generation was from fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, petroleum, and other gases) and only 15% was from renewable energy sources.
4
Renewable Energy
Childern from the ages of 3-14 are very curious and start to define their values through early learnings, it's vital to introduce basic concepts at this time.
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User Research Insights
Which shaped our goals for design
1
Outreach
This program must be a permanent fixture in which multiple generations can connect with together.
2
K - 12
Children are fundamentally curious and want to learn, create scenarios that drive users to question.
3
Accessability
All users of all walk-of-life should have access. Playgrounds are a perfect environments for interaction and studying behaviors
4
Unity
Kids are physical and competitive, create an experience which promotes collective behaviors.
How might we
Create engaging playground experiences that emulate renewable energy in an abstract way?
What behaviors might motivate collective and playful engagement?
Engineering Takeaways
Learned through experimentation
R & D
Conducting usability testing can heavily influence the shell redesign and lead to positining of USB port.
supply chain
Merge process similar suppliers which reduces BOM cost while partnering with with OEM
Manufacturing
Reduced product volume & mass and moving parts can streamline mechanics and assembly process.
Engineering Insights
1
Industrial engineering
Design sequence of events in a moduler format to enable scaling.
2
Break-in testing
Calibration and quality testing can be leveraged through suppliers and part inspection protocal.
3
Quality Control
Small batch development can enable faster iteration, this should drive line operations and assembly
PLAYGROUND EXPERIENCE ONE
Bounc^e
User Interaction
Bounc^e interaction is exciting platform for all ages. The ultra sensitive 'piezo actuator' in the pods can be easily triggered by jumps, shakes, or physically interactions. The vibrations quickly drive the small piezo actuators to create enough charge to illuminate extra bright led lights giving the user feedback of there movement and fun.
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PLAYGROUND EXPERIENCE TWO
Crawl^e
User Interaction
User interaction is exciting and fun for all ages. The Ultra sensitive Piezo film enclosed in the green beads can be easily triggered when the user climbsstrong>, shakes, or physically interacts with the nylon ropes. The vibrations quickly drive the filmstrong> to create enough charge to fire extra bright led lightsstrong> giving the user feedback of there movement and fun.
PLAYGROUND EXPERIENCE THREE
Spinn^e
User Interaction
Spinn^e is exciting and fun for all ages. Spinn^e was designed to maintain a high level of dynamics and activities to encourage youth to find interest in where nano Technology is being used and how can it help solve the energy crisis. Spinn^e offers an exciting monkey bar experience which allows the user to travel with out end.
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My Role
Industrial Design / Engineering / Operations
During this project I lead the team through product design iterations, concepting, user & and market research. Once we landed on a direction I used Solidworks, Rhino, and Shot to create the designs. After which I created several prototypes and scaled physical models via 3d prints, steel, CNC mill, and presentation boards.
