EDP2022 [Ochiba-ken] Team Ludo
Introduction
Team Ludo had been working in collaboration with Mizuno Corporation to find a solution to the problem theme “Design a new sporting experience that leads to a cleaner environment in your neighborhood.” We are now excited to introduce you to our product that solves this solution called “Ochiba-ken.”
Ochiba-ken is a product that takes fallen leaves piled up at parks and converts them into frisbees for users to play with. The frisbees will be made with 100% plant material by binding the fallen leaves with a plant-based biodegradable adhesive. This allows the frisbees to compost back into the soil, helping keep the park environment healthy. Using the Ochiba-ken, users can help proactively clean up local parks by making frisbees to play with anytime. The Ochiba-ken frisbees also help keep the park environment healthy as they can be easily thrown away on the ground to compost nutrients rich soil.
Please enjoy our promotional video for more details about our product.
Video
Problem
We first had to decide what type of users we wanted to interview. This way, because our theme involved cleaning and sports, we needed a good user to which both topics applied. After looking through many of our interviews with various people in different sports and with varying cleaning problems, we found one that fit both issues the best. As we asked a parent if they did any sports or had any cleaning problems in their neighborhood, we found that they had little time to do sports and help clean their neighborhood because they were too busy taking care of their child. We further interviewed about their child and found that they do play at the park, but their local park is a mess with overgrown plants and piled-up fallen leaves. We also found that when the user goes to the park with their child, they don’t always have sports equipment with them as it was not always convenient to carry them around.
After investigating various local parks, we also found that there was no dedicated person to clean them. We found that many parks were cleaned through volunteer work. Since volunteers aren’t dedicated staff, how much they clean and how often varies. We interviewed an older man who is a volunteer cleaner for his local park. After interviewing him, we found that he and his friends are not an official volunteer group but are just people who clean when they have free time or on a walk.
After further discussion within the group, we found two new insights about sports and cleaning from our interviews.
Solution
To address these problems of not always having sports equipment available and the buildup of plants at local parks, the Ochiba-ken was born. We designed the Ochiba-ken to help clean the park by taking leaves and other plant buildup and converting them into frisbees. We discussed as a group what would the overall benefit of the Ochiba-ken be. Our conclusion was that by keeping the Ochiba-ken frisbee made from 100% biodegradable material, we can help clean up plant buildup. This also helps keep the park healthy through composting after use. This meant that, unlike other sports equipment, the Ochiba-ken frisbee would turn back into the soil, allowing for disposal anywhere that is dirt or has plants.
To make the Ochiba-ken frisbee, two components are used. The first is the Doghouse. The Doghouse will take in the leaves and other plant material to shred them down into material used for the frisbee. It also acts as a storage hub for any excess material for future use. The second component is the Ochiba-ken. The Ochiba-ken will take in or “fed” the shredded leaves to make the Ochiba-ken frisbees. The users are then asked to shake the Ochiba-ken’s hand, which will start the making process. This also makes the Ochiba-ken’s tail wag, indicating the production wait time. Inside the Ochiba-ken, the shredded leaves are sprayed with a plant-based adhesive made from a cornstarch solution. The spray leaves are then heat-pressed for five to ten minutes. After the frisbee is made, the Ochiba-ken will dispense it to the users.
Voice of Users
After finalizing our product, we conducted some user tests. We mainly tested with child users from the age of 9 to 13 years old with supervision from their parents. It was gratifying to see how much fun our users had using the Ochiba-ken and hear their valuable feedback. Our users had great fun shredding the leaves and making the frisbees. It wasn’t easy to stop them from playing with the Ochiba-ken to test out the frisbees. It was also fascinating to see how the children’s minds worked because they figured out how to make new shapes other than the frisbees. They told us that taking the freshly made frisbees while they are still a little soft and creating new shapes was a lot of fun. They made ring shapes, balls, shurikens, dog bones, and more. After making all the shapes, they wanted their parents were finally able to convince our users to go try the frisbees they made. This was also very interesting to watch as kids have a very different way of playing than us adults. Some frisbees they destroyed instantly by throwing them with all their might, while others lasted longer as they started to want to play catch with them. The other shapes were also used, such as playing catch with the balls or throwing the other shapes to see which would fly the farthest. The child users were also very innovative in their way of playing as they invented games that we didn’t even think were possible, such as playing a Japanese badminton-like game (Hanetsuki). They took some of the sturdier frisbees and made a small ball. From there, they hit the ball back and forth. They also invented a target game where they took the frisbees and threw them, and the other members would throw the ball they made at the target frisbee. As our child users were infinitely creating different games, our parent users had convinced them to end the test as three hours had gone by, and the parents were a little tired. Although some feedback we got was to make the production faster and the frisbees a little sturdier, we also got a lot of unexpected feedback. Some users wanted the Ochiba-ken at their school since they did not have a lot of things to play with during break time. Others enjoyed knowing that the frisbees would compost back into the soil since they felt they were helping the park. They also thought being able to break the frisbees more enjoyable since the end use of the Ochiba-ken frisbee was to break them down for composting. We discovered that the most remarkable feature of the frisbee was the ability to break them since most sports equipment and toys are made to not break. Through user testing, we found that the Ochiba-ken in the hand of children has infinite possible ways to play with.
Design Process
Here is what our 6 month journey of the design process was like.
Diversity in the Group
Our group was the most culturally diverse in EDP. The group was comprised of people from the United States, Thailand, Indonesia, China, and Japan. Throughout the design process, we had many culture shocks and heated debates about topics such as the correct word, Cookies vs. Biscuits. Hope you, who are reading this, will pick the correct one.
Our group was culturally diverse but also skillfully diverse as well. This allowed us to design and prototype many unique ideas. Throughout the design process and the feedback we got, we were able to further narrow down our ideas until we got to the Ochiba-ken. Our previous prototypes includes Sandercise which is a cycling machine that will take oyster shells to grind back into sand; Scouter that creates a virtual network to scout how strong people in your community are in a sport to look for competition; and Zoomba which connects treadmills to a cleaning bot to create a game like interface to exercise in order to clean.
As we all had our own unique skills, we decided to divide our group into three teams. We had the mechanical team that made the internal functions, the design team that made the designs of the product, slides, and poster, and the bio team which worked on the biological impact of the product.
Mechanical Team
The first step was to decide the scope of how many functions and interaction parts the product should have to satisfy the new sports experience and cleaning design theme. After brainstorming various ideas, we gradually narrowed down the design through meetings within the group and with Mizuno Corporation. After finalizing the functional design, we did a final check through user tests. With the user test, we were able to further fine-tune the functions. Throughout the narrowing of function types, we relied on references from real-life applications and methods while using commercially available products.
An example of this was looking at leaf heat-pressing methods for leaf-based paper plates and finding commercially available alternatives, such as using a cooking heat-pressing machine for sandwiches. The most significant challenge for the mechanical team was balancing the feasibility of each function with the budget we were given. Several areas needed to be redesigned due to shipping, budget, and interactive issues. A notable example in our design was the mulcher to break down leaves and other plant material. The original version relied on an agriculturally used mulcher, but we had a budget and shipping issue with it not being delivered in time for the presentation. We also faced an interactive problem as we found that the mulcher may be too noisy and dusty for the users. Luckily we were able to modify a paper shredder to act as an alternative. Although we faced many challenges with function feasibility, we were able to adapt and modify many devices to best fit the design of our Ochiba-ken.
Design Team
For the Design Team, we mainly did fieldwork to analyze the park situation.
First, we went to the parks near Tokyo Tech’s Ookayama campus and did fieldwork. It saw that dried leaves were spread all over the park ground. Therefore, we had the idea to clean the dried leaves. After this fieldwork, we went to the parks to see the playground equipment. We found that park equipment was colorful, interactive, and had safe animal figures as the three main features.
According to our user Point of View (POV) and fieldwork, we decided on three design principles:
- Always accessible
- 100% eco-friendly
- Design for kids.
The first design principle was to make the Ochiba-ken usable at any park, even if ball activities are restricted. The second design principle allows users to throw the frisbee and leave it to compost. Being able to leave the frisbee without disposing of it left users with no stress about what to do with it after they were done. The third design principle was to make the Ochiba-ken soft, cuddly, and friendly to allow kids to use the product comfortably.
Bio Team
The bio team’s main job was to investigate how to make the Ochiba-ken environmentally friendly while keeping the clean design theme. We looked into various aspects of composting and the biodegradability of the entire product. We first investigated how composting can help the park. As park leaves and weeds are cleaned, they are often disposed of through waste management. This removes valuable nutrients the park plants need to maintain their health. By creating a better way to compost leaves and other plant material, we can help bring back more nutrients into the soil. The reason keeping the soil healthy is because it can affect the overall park environment. As soil “dies” or degrades, its ability to absorb and drain water decreases as well as its ability to give plants their essential nutrients worsens. Keeping the soil healthy improves water absorption and drainage, which helps prevent major flooding in parks. By better absorbing water, the park’s climate can also be better stabilized. This means during the hot summers, the water in the soil will evaporate, keeping the park a little cooler. During the winter, the soil will better hold the warmth from the sunlight, helping keep the park a little warmer. Not only does healthy park soil bring climate stability, but it also promotes plant growth. This means more flowers can be grown to bring more color and life to the park. This also helps keep the tree healthy, providing more shade. Promotion of plant life can also help keep the park’s climate stable, similarly to how healthy soil does. Composting the leave alone brings many benefits to the park.
In order to make the frisbees compostable, the Ochiba-ken frisbee had to be 100% biodegradable. This meant both the materials and adhesive. As we decided to use primarily fallen leaves, the material was guaranteed to be biodegradable. We then had to explore several options for the adhesive. We found that standard wood glue made from polyvinyl acetate (PVA) was biodegradable, but it came with challenges. Only a select few microorganisms, fungi, and insects can decompose this material. Even though it is biodegradable, it was seen to take a while to naturally degrade. We then explored more natural plant-based adhesives. We primarily look into cornstarch and potato starch glues. As both are simple polysaccharides or long chains of sugars, they are easy to naturally decompose.
Further testing with them, we found that potato starch forms a thick slime-like solution that made it difficult to mix into the leaf material. We used the cornstarch solution instead since it stayed liquid and easily incorporated into the leaves. With this, we developed a recipe to make a 100% plant-based frisbee that is biodegradable.
Final Prototype
After many hours of hardship, late nights, and struggles, we were able to all come back as a group after we finished each section and built the Ochiba-ken. Although the journey to finish the product was rough, we were able to come together as a team to power through to the end.
EDP Final Presentation and Live Demo
On the final day at the EDP Gala, we were able to put up an excellent presentation and live demo both on-site and through Zoom. Getting all the parts of the Ochiba-ken to the EDP Gala was difficult, but we safely got everything there.
Watching all the people have fun interacting with the Ochiba-ken during the demos was very rewarding, as it felt like all our hard work and struggles were worth it.
Lastly, we would like to thank our TAs for dealing with our messy prototype. We would also like to thank all of our mentors at Mizuno and the professors for their guidance throughout the project. We would have been very lost without all the feedback you have given us.
Self-reflection
Akima Connelly (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
EDP was definitely a long and difficult journey, but was an experience that I will never forget. When our group was given our theme from Mizuno, I felt very lost as I could not think of a way to combine sports with cleaning. Although it was tough having a diverse and open minded group was very helpful. Instead of staying confused on the theme we thought of many different ideas in many different directions. We never looked for negatives in an idea but how to improve them. I felt very grateful on how friendly and how well my team communicated.
EDP is not an easy course, but I am definitely glad that I was able to take it. The amount of experience I gained and the bond formed in my group will forever be important part of my life. Although all the positive experiences were import, the negative ones were more memorable. Knowing how to keep good communication and struggle together with the group instead of individually was a very valuable experience. I think since we were such a diverse and open minded group, we were able to effectively work together in a very efficient way. Some advice I would give to anyone who will take this course in the future is to make sure to voice your opinions in a constructive way. If you bottle in your opinions, it will only lead to greater conflicts in the future. Our group made it easy to voice our opinions which made communication very constructive. EDP is not an individual project and you will very much learn this throughout the course.
Miku Fujimoto (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
私がEDPでよかったと思っている点は、1. チームでお互いの意見を尊重しあい、役割分担がうまくいったこと 2. 企業プロンプトに忠実に答えを出せたこと 3. プロダクトが動く形になったこと。
1. 私のチームは、進行、制作においてスムーズに行うことができた。最初にお互いの得意分野を知ることにより、デザイン、エンジニアリング、バイオ班に分けた。そして、お互いの役割を信頼し、まかせることができた。
2. 「スポーツ」と「環境」を両立することは、最初、困難なことだと感じた。しかし、東工大付近をフィールドワークすることにより、打開策を得ることができた。
3. プロダクトができる過程をみせるのではなく、待つ時間を飽きさせないようなインタラクションを追加することができた。
本当にこの班で良かったとおもっています！最初から最後まで楽しんでやることができた。またマーメイドカフェに行ったり、コリアン食べにいきましょう！
Weiheng Hu (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
If I am required to describe the EDP and what we have achieved in this process with one word, my choice would definitely be ‘Amazing’. Personally, it is my first time working a long time (almost half a year) with a team and designing some physical things. Every step in this special process was fresh and intriguing to me. Of course, we ran into various problems during the design process, but we managed to solve them through discussions and teamwork. Find the problems -> exchange insights and ideas -> get a solution respecting everyone’s opinions. This process is just awesome and satisfying.
Furthermore, I really enjoyed the teamwork during EDP. We made a great team, where everyone could contribute and enjoy at the same time. The atmosphere was also great, which allows us to explore new possibilities. Our journey in this year’s EDP is magnificent! I believe this experience will remain in my memory as a lifetime adventure.
Sakura Niina (Musashino Art University)
The same is true for the other teams, it was quite hard to get used and also unique point about this course that was the design process of repeatedly presenting ideas and repeating reflections every weeks. Through those process, we found a unique tackle point, this time, we decided to focus on children, parks, and fallen leaves. The concept has become richer in personality, and I feel that we have come up with an interesting proposal that will convince the sponsoring companies. From the point of view of an art student, there is a design studio where we study at and it has everything we need, and the teachers and TAs are very close. It is also good point that you do not sit all the time but work by moving your body instead, so you never get bored. What I would like to say to art students who are still hesitant about participating is that Tokyo Tech students have tremendous prototyping skills, so I think you can learn a lot from Tokyo Tech students that you can’t learn at an art university!
Phurin Rangpong (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
The whole course was overall a fun experience. It was more of a learn-by-doing, got repetitive at some point. Sometimes, it was tough, confusing, and exhausting. Having confidence in myself and my team helped me make it through. Having a good time working with many amazing people was the greatest outcome of this class. I’ve never cared about the grade(fr). It doesn’t matter if someone can do it better, It doesn’t matter if someone has a better idea. What mattered to me was that everyone put in their thought/work that they can be proud of. So lastly, I hope all of you are proud of what we accomplished together.
Farkhan Abdillah (Tokyo Institute of Technology)
Personally, I love the course because of the full interaction between students to discuss ideas. For people who intend to work, it is really important to learn communication skills. You can learn it in the course! The discussions somehow were being held actively, and we can give our own opinions. Regardless having experience in design or not, I realized that every technical and design emotional perspective is necessary for the design process. Therefore, I really recommend the ESD course for those who want to explore the excitement of design thinking. For next year’s ESD students, my advice is that it is important to find the bond in the team first to gain everyone’s respect. In that thing, the discussions will be more fluid, and everyone can accept all perspectives. Also, please do not forget to have fun!
Message to Each Members
To Akima Connelly
You are the best mad bio scientist!(and good cooker, farmer, constructor, logical person etc) You have broad knowledge. Also, you are very kind and cheerful person. It was a very fun time constructing together. Thank you! (Miku Fujimoto)
Thank you for the man that always give the design ideas for the team. You also presented our final presentation very well. (Farkhan Abdillah)
Akima, thank you for being very kind to me and working hard for our team. You have extensive knowledge about the biology and I was so inspired by ochiba frisbee, you are a genius! (Sakura Niina)
You did a big part in making our project comes true, researching the making of frisbee, user testing, and presentation. You brought a good atmosphere to our group. Good luck with your research and all, I’ll be around so ask me for any help. (Phurin Rangpong)
You are always so friendly and outspoken on the team. I believe you lead the team with a strong spirit. I also love the various ideas and names you generated, they are all with a great sense. And the most amazing thing is that you made biology interesting! To be frank none of my previous teachers managed to do that. (Weiheng Hu)
To Miku Fujimoto
Thank you for being our driving force to get the project done. The energy you brought and proactiveness kept us focused and on track. Also, with your artistic sense we were able to make very pretty slides and videos. Without your hard work our final presentation wouldn’t have gone as smoothly as it did. Wherever you end up, you will definitely end up becoming the leader. (Akima Connelly)
During the teamwork in EDP, I believe you lead and support everyone in this team with your passion and ideas. You are one of the most decisive people I have ever met. And our teamwork and final product can never be that good without your motivation. Thank you for all the hardworking days and nights, especially before the final presentation. Finally, I love your paintings, that dog on the whiteboard is classical. (Weiheng Hu)
Miku, thank you for supporting and getting our team together. Such a good mood maker, also you have a good talent for design and thinking ideas. I thought many times that I want to be like you. (Sakura Niina)
You did an outstanding job on presentation media and video. You have a great personality (for an Aussie) and brought our team together. I’ve never been angry or meant bad, I’m just like that, my bad. Good luck and have fun with the chocolate festival. (Phurin Rangpong)
Thank you for being the person that always ignitate the ideas for every design process. You also the girl that motivates the team. (Farkhan Abdillah)
To Weiheng Hu
You are the best presenter! You look very confident and calm when you present. You are good at explain our ideas. Also, great jokes in the presentation. (Miku Fujimoto)
Although English is not your first language, you were our best presenter. Knowing you are the presenter was very reassuring since I knew that the final presentation would end with a success. Knowing how English, Japanese, and Chinese, I know you will do great things in the future. (Akima Connelly)
Hu, thank you for being kind to me and helping to make slides. You have excellent skills in speaking English and I admire that. We walked to parks together and it was so much fun! (Sakura Niina)
Great job in prototype making and the final presentation. You brought a lot of good ideas and perspectives to our project. Heard you wanna visit Thailand, I can recommend some places, idols too! Had fun talking with you a lot, I’ll see you around. (Phurin Rangpong)
Thank you for always speak so active in the presentation, and you have the best jokes in the final presentation. Have fun for watching the nogizaka concert! (Farkhan Abdillah)
To Sakura Niina
You are the most talented and charming artist friend I have ever had! Personally, I always feel that artists are impressive and powerful, but I did not get to know any good artists in real life. Now I have an excellent ‘example’. Thank you for designing the prototype and making a brilliant poster for the final presentation. I would love to see your artwork one day. (Weiheng Hu)
You are the best designer of the team! Your sketches always helped us to build prototype. Also, your poster was the best one in the final! (Miku Fujimoto)
Thank you for always being the positive one in the group. Without you always keeping the group cheerful, I think we would have had a lot more trouble and conflict. You being a great artist, speaking English fluently, and having great insight with product design, I know you will thrive no matter what field you decide to go in. (Akima Connelly)
Thank you for being kind and you are our designer of the team, and good luck for another university project. (Farkhan Abdillah)
Amazing job with graphics, cute designs, and a poster. Your art and ideas gave us a good direction for the project. You worked your best even though our schedule is rough for you. Best of luck in anything you do! (Phurin Rangpong)
To Phurin Rangpong
Phurin, thank you for putting so much effort into our prototypes. I was surprised every time I saw that you made prototypes also you have an excellent talent for remodelling machines. (Sakura Niina)
Our best engineer! I cannot imagine how our prototype would end up without you. You have such a strong motivation for action that I start to believe that you might be able to build your own ironman suit someday. And thank you for all the idol talks, I really enjoyed them LoL. By the way, Christmas and Valentine’s are not conspiracies of the government. (Weiheng Hu)
You are the best engineer!! You have skills to make imagination come true. Also, you are good at everything including sketches and modeling. Hope you’ll enjoy this years Valentine’s Day. (Miku Fujimoto)
Thank you for always proactively building our functional parts. Even without asking, you are always testing and researching how to make our product better. Watching you always quickly build and test thing, I know you will end up as a great engineer one day. (Akima Connelly)
Thank you my engineer for designing the prototype. You are really helpful and kind in every meetings. (Farkhan Abdillah)
To Farkhan Abdillah
It was so much fun working with you my Bro. Did a solid job designing/making the prototype. Good luck with your job hunting and whatever you’ll do. Show me the restaurant where you worked at some time. (Phurin Rangpong)
Farkhan, thank you for being kind to me. I thought you are very good at explaining presentations, also I was so glad you came to my university.(Sakura Niina)
Thank you for always being supportive on the team! I always believe that you have a very special and great sense of designing and prototyping, and our final work proves that it is true. Through teamwork and talks, I get to know that you have a passion for life which I admire a lot. By the way, I really want to visit your restaurant, Mr. Chef. (Weiheng Hu)
You are the best supporter for all of the process. You involved in all the process of EDP. It wasn’t successful without you! (Miku Fujimoto)
You are one of the kindest people I know. You were always cheerful and I can’t even imagine you getting made. Also, thank you for all your help. Even without asking you were always there to help. Without all your help I truly believe all of us might have burned out from overwork. Wherever you end up, you will definitely become the most valuable person. (Akima connelly)
Slide
Poster
