Home Design About

 Roll-reminderNever be caught in an uncomfortable situation again!
Roll-reminder is a toilet roll holder that can detect when it is out of toilet paper and warns the user through noise and motion when they are about to sit on the toilet.
Project overview Design Brief:
Design an interactive artefact for the home that uses minimal technology to
enhance or add meaning to an everyday activity or experience.

Duration:
4 weeks
Role:
There was me and two other people on this project. During this project, we shared the responsibility for the idea generation, research, storyboarding, and prototyping and I was responsible for physical computing and the directing, filming and editing of the video.
 Initial explorations & research
We started researching to gain insights about home pain points and people's attitudes towards technology in the home. 

We did this through Observation around homes and tried to document evidence of people’s bad habits.

We also conducted Interviews, we wanted a large and diverse pool of interviewees to get a large pool of insights we did this in person, over Facetime and by text. We put all our research together in a mind map to visualize it. From this point we did secondary research and created How might we statements. From this we decided to focus on interventions in the bathroom. Chosen Moment of Intervention
We decided on this moment of intervention because it’s a common problem and leaves people uncomfortable and in some scenarios humiliated.


 Rapid idea generation and prototyping
Once we knew what we were designing for we started exploring the possibilities of what toilet rolls can do and how we could alert people to the fact it’s empty. We started making quick prototypes exploring motion, sound and colour.
Proposed ConceptThe concept we ended up choosing was a toilet roll holder that can detect when the toilet paper runs out and will shake as a subtle reminder when someone approaches the toilet.

The holder would use a colour sensor to detect the empty roll and the bar the toilet roll sits on would be rectangular to create more movement and be attached to a motor to make it spin. Further prototyping
We wanted our design to look
  • Playful
  • Friendly
  • Unobtrusive

We also wanted to make sure the placement of the sensors wasn't just an afterthought so we decided to make the holder into a fun character because the sensors resembles eyes.
Another thing we had to keep in mind was leaving enough room inside to store the Arduino boards, sensors, motors and batteries.
ArduinoThe mechanical framework of our project was made using Arduino components, we assembled and programmed it to achieve our 

Through systematic trial and error, 
we fine-tuned the mechanics to 
ensure seamless operation. CAD modelling and 3D printing
We wanted the toilet roll holder bar to seamlessly connect to the motor. We did this through making 3D models on CAD and then 3D printed them.

We had 4 iterations and picked the best one then we spray painted it so it would integrate nicely with the body. Building the body and AssemblageWhen building the body we carved the form out of foam. Then we vacuum-formed it out of PETG and then spray painted it. We also made brackets to hold the hardware inside securely.

 Finished Product


Video and ScreenshotsBefore filming we created a quick storyboard. Then we filmed and then we edited the video using Premier pro and After effects.




Previous: Blackout kit