Making Cleaning Fun! A New and Exciting Way to Clean Your Floors.
Jared Helinski, an industrial design student at the University of Cincinnati, is developing footwear that will allow you to say goodbye to your home’s old mop and broom and make cleaning a more desirable experience.
“The home floor cleaning tools and process have remained similar for over a century and are begging to be re-designed.” -Jared Helinski
Research and Analysis
Helinski began his research by extending a survey to be taken by a broad demographic of people via an online survey resource. The survey was taken by over 50 people in two different states, providing an extensive collection of data. It included data on how often and for how long people clean their homes.
Helinski also did five more in-depth interviews exploring people’s thoughts on their cleaning process, their cleaning schedule, and what they use to clean their home. 88.57% of people that took the survey said that they cleaned alone and 45.71% of people said that cleaning takes away from time they could be spending with family and friends. This shows that the home cleaning process is not a social activity, in fact, it sometimes takes away from social experiences.
Some of this data matched observations made while Helinski observed a house cleaning. The signs of anger and irritation were evident to an outside viewer while he witnessed unequal cleaning habits in a home cleaning observation. 64.71% of people experience a housemate not doing their fair share of cleaning. Some of the most common words used by interviewees when describing the feelings after a similar event were irritating, annoying, anger, and unappreciated. These are intense feelings that can cause conflict but can be easily avoided.
Sketches Ideation and Exploration
After an aesthetic direction was determined sketches were made to determine the look of the wearable device.
Multiple ideas were explored through prototyping. Anthropometric research of the human foot determined the size and scale of materials to be included on the prototypes.
A two strap foot securement system was created with an adjustable fit. A custom disposable cleaning pad was fitted to the bottom of the prototype.
The Final Product
Jared Helinski created the final prototype of “The Sweep Skate”. This prototype contains features such as, a disposable cleaning pad, a hard to reach scrubbing solution, an adjustable fit system, and fitness tracking capabilities. All of these features, and the product in general, aim to enhance the cleaning experience for individuals and families by providing a more fun, energetic, and unique floor cleaning experience. Custom exercises and fitness tacking allow busy people to kill two birds with one stone. Clean your floors and get your exercise in at the same time. The Sweep Skate also provides a more social aspect to the cleaning process. It’s perfect for kids learning how to clean or college students encouraging other roommates to clean with them. The Cleaning Skate is a ground breaking innovation in the home cleaning industry.
