EDP2020 [Hi-giene] Team EUREKA
Hello everyone! Team Eureka had been working on the theme of “Designing a laundry appliance that adults are addicted to” in collaboration with Panasonic Corporation. Now, we are proud to introduce you to our brand-new product, called “Hi-giene”.
Problem
At the very beginning, we started from randomly interviewing people of their laundry problems. Of all the interview data, we found one that sounds pretty interesting. As we asked a woman in her 20s how she usually washes her underwear and socks, she answered that she washes them separately by hands only because she feels that mixing them up with other clothes and washing them together by using a washing machine is not very hygienic.
Still, she mentioned that hand washing can be pretty inconvenient and uncomfortable, especially in winter.
We originally thought that most people wash all their clothes together at once when doing their laundry. Surprisingly, it turned out that some actually separately wash their underwear and socks due to their concern for the cross contamination.
After many group discussions, we agreed on the two reasons why people of interest need to separately wash their underwear and socks by hand. First, they do not want their other clothes to get dirty. Second, they do not believe that washing the underwear by using the washing machine is clean enough. After knowing that, we surely do need something that can deal with these issues.
Solution
To satisfy those needs, “Hi-giene” was born. We designed the new washing machine with two separate drums: one is particularly used for the underwear and the other is for other small clothes, e.g., socks. We also implemented a heater to heat the water up to 60 degrees Celsius in order to kill bacteria on the underwear.
We integrated the operation aspect in the upper right corner of the operation area, there are LCD screen and button so all the control can be achieved at this area like selection of barrels and modes. The large barrel has two washing modes, the normal mode and soft mode, so the users can even take good care of their delicate clothes with using soft mode.
After completing the final product, we conducted user interviews with the main user groups. It was gratifying to see that our product solved many of their underwear cleaning concerns.
About the cleaning ability, they say they trust the cleanliness of using hot water and feel more confident that underwear is cleaner than before, and it causes no harm to hands. Also, They say it is more energy efficient and effective compared to a regular small washing machine. And they also like it’s good looking and portable size.
Main functions
Main functions of Hi-giene include heat-disinfection washing, normal washing and soft washing. As we considered the users’ needs and heard from the user test results, there were quite some considerations raised upon target users’ specific points. If adult females are our priory targets, is the cleanliness their only concern while doing their washing. We later found out it is not the case. Many interviewees expressed their care towards multiple kinds of clothes that they want to take good care of, and some luxury and delicate clothes, not only underwear. Final decisions have been made to change the product from only washing underwear extra-clean to something that deals with personal clothes well. With this idea, we added the function of soft cleaning, which use a gentle approach to clean the small but delicate clothes, to fulfill the extra need by our potential clients. Now combining with the original idea of using hot water to disinfect, the finalized idea of our product is completed.
Final functions include using a 60 Celsius degree water to disinfect, killing bacteria while best maintaining the quality of the clothes being washed; a normal washing mode, which do usual washing like other normal washing machines but with less time and water consumed; and a soft washing mode which target at delicate clothes, provide a safe and reliable washing to these which require care the most. The small washing machine itself separate the washed clothes with normal ones, and the two barrels further separate the functions, ensure the cleanliness and work concentration.
There were some abandoned functions such as water tank for water reservation. During our user test and discussion, we think the reason to make the thing so portable that it does not need a constant water supply at all is not so justifiable. Most people will keep the washing machine in the toilet and will not move the machine here and there regardless of its working status. The possibility of implementing a completely separate washing slot structure was also eliminated because of the size limitation. Some preliminary ideas about protecting users’ privacy were also abandoned because we finally decided to focus on only washing functions.
What really made our product stand out from other small washing machines is these three features. Separation, disinfection and Gentle. Normal small washing machines are bad in shape and give less sense of effectiveness in general, with cheap out look and insufficient washing power. To get rid of that cheap impression, we made the machine front load type and avoid the plastic feeling of it. Several nice features were added such as LCD display and LED indicator, to avoid our user thinking this thing have a similar characteristics of currently existing small washing machines.
Understanding difficulties
Being an English group, We have faced a lot of difficulties in communicating. We have different backgrounds and are all non native English speakers, so it took a lot of effort to understand what the other person means.
At first, our design process was slow due to lack of communication, but after a serious talk about group cohesion, we started to realize the importance of communication and made a lot of efforts to solve it, we tried to communicate in Japanese, English and even Chinese, and finally we made it.
Future work
For future work, we are going to enhance cleaning ability and disinfection ability, reduce the size to make it more portable in order to meet needs of more situations such as travel. Also we should reduce amount of water required. Hi-giene is not only the second washing machine, but also a great helper to change the lifestyle.
Promotion video
This is the video about how Hi-giene solves the problems that some people prefer to separately wash their underwear and socks due to their concern for the cross contamination. Instead of hand washing, washing with a special and reliable washing machine is a good choice.
Self-reflection
Kanehara Wakana:I realized the difficulty of group work in different languages,cultures and fields.I also felt that it is very important to communicate and share the difference in thoughts, make concessions with each other.
Li Pengcheng:The class was a long and difficult game, but also a rewarding experience. At the beginning, when faced with this brand new subject, we came up with many, many ideas from the interviews, but the results were not quite as good as we would have liked. The initial group work also did not go well and brought us to a standstill for a while. After a serious discussion about group work, we were able to get on track, and the positive feedback we received from the mid-term representation was an encouraging boost. Once we got into prototyping, we faced a number of problems, such as water-leaks and the bucket not being positioned properly and fixed to the motor. But thanks to group cooperation, we were able to solve each of these problems and I, who was not good at handcrafting, gradually gained confidence in making things. Thanks to professors and Panasonic mentors for your constant and supportive guidance and help, and to TA for your help and warm encouragement. I have learnt a lot from this course and it has made me more confident and motivated to face the road ahead.
Mami Tamura: It was kind of long and kind of short course when I look back. When we start group work, I was totally lost where we were to go and could not imagine ourselves manage to make the final product. When we were told to discuss to think of insight or POV in the beginning of the course, we were in dead moment that none of us speak anything. In the end, we managed to make the final product, which is very pleasant, but still I have regret that we could’ve done better and more because the way we managed to work in the end was to divide work and do individually, so it was not quite group work. As the others already mentioned, the communication got better after we started not to care which language we speak in as long as we speak up something. If we had done this from the beginning, we could have done more group work. For my regret, I could have participated more.
Panida Povarasoontorn: It was almost half a year that I took this course. I still remembered; our team had been through lots of hard times at first. Right after knowing the theme, we were so excited to design something, however, after many interviews we still could not find a unique insight. No matter how many product sketches we came up with, we did not get very good feedbacks. At the same time, our team with people of different cultural backgrounds also faced a serious problem with the team communication. We were the last group to finish the first prototype. I felt that everyone was really worried about us, considering our team situation at the time. Honestly, it was really hard back then. However, with all the supports from professors and Panasonic mentors, we collaborated more on group activities and gradually found our team direction. Looking back, our product has changed a lot since the first draft. We started to get more and more positive feedbacks from target users after our first prototype and I believed, that encouraged us to finally gave birth to the final product, hi-giene.
XU Sanchuan: Basically, despite all the difficulties we have faced, the outcome seems good. We have conducted very useful interview and found interesting and valuable point of view, and from that we further developed a product with meaningful functions and potential market. We made a working prototype as we could thanks to teammates’ hard work. We did several idea reworks based on our user tests. Looking back at what we had at the start, the course and activity really taught the essential skills in engineering design, from ideation, designing, prototyping to optimizing. Best experiences always came along with the real operations, and through these hand-on experiences, I learned a lot.
Yushuai Bai: Through this course, I learned a lot and actively communicated with the same group of students. But I also found some of my own shortcomings and gaps in comparison with others. I hope I can gradually improve and enrich myself in the future.
Message to each member
To Kanehara Wakana:
>Your story boards and sketches are always imaginative and cute, I really like them. Thank you for being willing to make the effort to express yourself in English, that’s not easy, but you did it, and thank you for always giving us emoji response for what we said in the discord channel. Thank you for making beautiful posters, it is so great to be in a group with you! (Li Pengcheng)
>Since we were only two Japanese students, I talked to you most and I think we’ve helped each other. It was quite fun working with you and your creativity and effort were amazing. You sometimes hesitated to speak in English but I truly respect your attitude. 本当に頑張っていて素敵だったと思います。お疲れさまでした！(Mami Tamura)
> I really love your drawing, Wakana-chan. Many of your product ideas looked amazing as well. I know it was not easy, and I truly appreciated your effort in trying to speak English with me. One more thing, thank you for the lovely poster. (Panida Povarasoontorn)
>Although it has been hard for you to talk English with us, you still put great effort into our team communications and tried best to help out the team, thank you so much for that! Your great skill in drawing product sketches, storyboards and interesting designs always impressed me. The final poster looked fabulous thanks to your devotion in designing! It is so great that our team had you. Wish you all the best.
(XU Sanchuan 許三川)
>I like your drawing. Each time you provided us different kinds of prototype sketches. That was amazing. Thank you! (Yushuai Bai)
To Li Pengcheng:
>I appreciate all your hard works and thank you for speaking to me in Japense, it was a great help. I was presonally glad to communicate with you!(Kanehara Wakana)
>We hadn’t talked much because our mother tongue was different and we spoke often in our main language. But I know that you worked a lot. Sometimes you amazed me that you have already finished what I was going to do. (Mami Tamura)
> We really went through a lot together, didn’t we? Thank you for always staying late helping me out with the prototype. You know what? You really were a lifesaver back then! Another thing, thank you for the video. It was creative and I love it very much. (Panida Povarasoontorn)
>You are, maybe, the one who I spent the most time with, on discussing, idea generation and prototyping. Thank you so much for all the effort you put in deciding product specifications, realizing multiple prototypes, amending PPTs and your snacks shared while we were prototyping together! It is impossible that we finally created such a beautiful prototype without your help. I know that one day you and Panida even stayed till midnight for prototyping when I was not available. I am really moved. Besides, you really put a lot of efforts in creating that wonderful video, and it is crucial to our final presentation. Thank you again for all the efforts, it has been a wonderful experience to work with you! And I wish we can have other opportunities to work together again.
(XU Sanchuan 許三川)
>You helped me a lot on group working and languages problems, like a sister. You are a very kind person. Good luck and thank you! (Yushuai Bai)
To Mami Tamura:
>Since you are the only Japanese friend in our group, It was so reliable!
I appreciated you interpreting my idea.
Thanks for cooperating as bridge between the teacher and colleges.
It was fun to have a partner with similar thoughts about design. It would be nice to have more talks about it later on. (Kanehara Wakana)
>It’s a shame we didn’t get to discuss more with you and get to know you better. Thank you so much for always translating Japanese feedback and questions for us. And thank you for all your efforts in creating the posters and product names! Your ideas are always interesting too. (Li Pengcheng)
> Though we hadn’t talked that much, I liked how you always came up with an interesting insight each and every time. You even gave a name to our product which sounds exactly like “hygiene” and I like that a lot.
(Panida Povarasoontorn)
>It is a pity that we did not have much opportunity to talk or make discussion within this course. Thank you for translating comments into English from Japanese.Thank you as well for helping with the poster and product name. I wish I could know you better if I had other chances.
(XU Sanchuan 許三川)
>You often interpret for us, so that we can better understand and communicate with teachers and Panasonic people. Without you we would not have the current results, thank you! (Yushuai Bai)
To Panida Povarasoontorn:
>Thanks for listening all our opinions actively and bringing up subjects about our design work.It was an honor having you as a group member, who have great talent in engineering and in design. Learned a lot from you.
(Kanehara Wakana)
>Every day we worked together I was amazed by your enthusiasm, curiosity and wit and awesome hands-on skills! You know, I was not a good crafter or confident person, but working with you has really made me enjoy the feeling of making things. Thank you for all your efforts in group discussions, prototyping, making ppt’s etc. Your programming of the motors and LCD screens was incredible and made our prototype so perfect！Finger heart！
(Li Pengcheng)
>If Sanchuan was the leader of our group, you were the balancer of our team. You always looked around the team and concluded well. You made us so relaxed to speak up. I really liked the way you talked to Wakana-san in Japanese. You always showed attitude to listen to everyone. (Mami Tamura)
>In my opinion, you maybe the one who contributed the most for this team. I literally can’t find a thing we created that is without your effort and help! Thanks for all your devotion in creating PPTs, generating ideas, purchasing and prototyping, which are essential to our success of realizing this idea. I am impressed by your perfectly programmed motor and LCD board, they just couldn’t look better! Without your effort, everything we had achieved would be impossible. Thank you so much for creating the prototype with LI when I was not available, I heard one day you even stayed up till midnight. I am really moved. Thank you for all the effort! I had wonderful time working together with you, and I look forward to any future cooperation with you!
(XU Sanchuan 許三川)
>You always have many good ideas. In our work and communication, you can always come up with new and constructive ideas when we had some troubles. You did much efforts in the final prototype! Very glad to be your friend. Thank you! (Yushuai Bai)
To XU Sanchuan:
>I’m thankful for your leadership and cooperation. Also very kind of you to translate English and Japanese in the middle for me, and thank you for listening to our group members’ ideas! (Kanehara Wakana)
>Six months went by so quickly and suddenly the course came to an end. Although we don’t have to go to the design factory every day anymore, I still miss those days when I discussed ideas and made prototypes with you. You are a rigorous and creative designer, from the birth of an idea to the creation of a prototype to the final publication, every step of the way is made possible by your great efforts. It was really fun to work with you and I always felt safe to see you sketching and calculating in front of your drawing board. Thank you for making our product and publication so amazing, and I look forward to working you again! (Li Pengcheng)
>You always worked so hard. Your design of the product was amazing. I am pretty sure that we hadn’t managed to make product without you. You were our leader. (Mami Tamura)
> You never failed to impress me with your product designs. I think you are very good at designing, and that is why working on the final prototype together with you was loads of fun. Also, it is all thanks to you that we have such a beautiful product model. (Panida Povarasoontorn)
>You like a team leader and always rush to be the first one to provide us with ideas, answer teachers’ questions, and give speeches. We can all see your contribution. You are the key person of our group. Thank you very much!!(Yushuai Bai)
To Yushuai Bai:
>You were the one who had a great Japanese level which I am greatful for, assisting me when speaking English. Thanks for your actively sharing your ideas, without you we wouldn’t have made it. It was nice having communications with a nice person like you. Thanks very much
(Kanehara Wakana)
>You were the first person to come up with the idea of a small washing machine for underwear, which was really interesting and instrumental in the creation of the product. Thank you for the idea of using a cardboard box to hold a small bucket, and for always sharing your creative ideas with me！
(Li Pengcheng)
>Although we haven’t discussed much, you were the our starting point that we started from your interview result. We couldn’t even start without you. (Mami Tamura)
> You were the very first person to suggest the idea of disinfecting the underwear. I thought this idea of yours was pretty interesting and we got many positive feedbacks afterwards. For the final prototype, thank you for helping me with the coding. (Panida Povarasoontorn)
>Thanks for the idea that you first prompted up about making a small underwear washing machine. We eventually developed our product based on that, which shows its importance. It’s a shame we did not have much discussion during the course, and I wish I could know you better if there are other chances.
(XU Sanchuan 許三川)
Presentation slides
Poster
