Overview
The product is a smart herb planter with a built-in dehydrator, thus offering both fresh and dried herbs to the customer. It also features a simple display to show plant "emotions" based on water levels. Besides, a connected application allows multiple controls of the herb garden to efficiently build a system around it.
Objective
The primary objective of this project was to integrate technology into the gardening domain to create an enhanced experience for the target users. The product aims to add value beyond existing designs by leveraging advanced technology.
Details
Module : Design and Technology
Duration : 3 weeks
Team : Rucha Nene, Siya Zanwar, Sailee Powar, Purvasha Choudhari
Mentors : Umang Shah, Shyyam Prajapati, Sharad Shetty
"Sustainability has sparked a Smart Home Greenery Revolution"
Evolution of indoor plantation
What next?
Existing issues
Brief
Background and Research
The global shift towards sustainability has inspired greener homes. After researching the evolution of indoor gardening and brainstorming various ideas, we decided to focus on herbs, creating a product that maximizes their flavor by offering both fresh and dried options.
Why grow herbs inverted ?
Form Development
Introducing,
a perfect smart garden for nurturing your herbs
Proof of concept
We have tested the automated system of watering of soil depending on the soil moisture value. When the soil moisture value goes below a certain limit, the face on the display is ‘sad’. Water is pumped to the soil until the value changes to and the face turns ‘happy’
Learnings
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Ideation should be efficient and creative, avoiding indefinite delays. Taking decisions and completing the project is sometimes more beneficial than seeking perfection.
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Refinement of the design after consideriing design for manufacturability.
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Inculcating technology into the product while maintaining a "mid-tech" approach is necessary for preserving the human-nature connection.
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Adhering to a consistent visual language for the user interface similar to the actual product to deliver a seamless user experience
My Role
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Desk research, identifying oppurtunity areas, providing the key idea of integrating a dehydrator, CAD development, design for manufacturing, rendering, mockups to understand proportions, branding and visual language design, wireframing, user interface and visualisations
Supported Application
The supportive application of the product is used for the following features :
Product Controls : Dehydration, light adjustments, herb health check
Other Functions : Shopping plant pods with subscription plans, recipes related to herbs
These features account for a comprehensive user experience system providing with services right from buying and subscribing to plant pods to maintenance of the whole garden.