For our group, we have to design a product for our IMA fellow Nick. His problem with his phone is that: He spends more time than he wanted with it (about 3 hours per day). He also used his phone while he is in his bed before sleeping. Another problem is that his phone’s battery is pretty poor. According to his problems with his phone, we wanted to design a product that helps him reduce the unnecessary time he spends with his phone and the time he spent in his bed. After the group brainstorming, we decided to make a robot (Nick likes robot) with a box attached to it. We named it “Nick’s Boxx”.
Every night before he sleep, he has to put his phone in the box to charge. If he needs to use the phone, he has to ask the robot to open the box. To do that, the robot would ask Nick the reason why he wants to use his phone. After Nick gives out his reason, the robot will distinguish if it is urgent. If it is, the robot would open the box for him. If it’s not or just him wanting to check his wechat moment, the robot will refuse the request to open the box. But if there’s really something urgent happened, the robot can help calling emergency number for him directly. If Nick also tells the robot he wants to prepare the breakfast the night before, the robot will move to the kitchen by it self in the next morning to make it easier for Nick to start preparing his breakfast.
For our design, we combined Nick’s like, his habit and the his problem with his phone. Though it is a prototype, I think it will be very helpful to Nick if it can be a true thing!