This project was an interdisciplinary group project from a design studio class at the University of Minnesota. I was in a group of 6 students of varying ages and majors and we went through the entire design process from brainstorming all the way to a final working physical prototype. Our sponsor for the class was Gems, so we were designing fun and functional home solutions.
When the Esscent is turned on, it begins to drip bubble solution and release the water vapor mist with essential oils. To begin the bubbles, the user just has to twist the tip of the spout to create a bubble film across the tip which the fan will push the vapor inside of to create a bubble. Once the bubble gets too heavy, it will fall from the spout and pop, releasing the vapor, once it hits the base of the Esscent.
My Toy Design team for the semester
Brainstorming Ideas
We started with brainstorming and market research alone as well as together as a group. We then narrowed down our many ideas into the top 6 by grading each idea with the help of 2 industry members who were our volunteer instructors for the semester.
My idea poster
Idea that moved forward
Idea that moved forward
Each of us then made a poster for one of the top 6 ideas. My poster was for our musical tea kettle idea. We then each had to do an elevator pitch for our class and industry members to narrow down our ideas to 2 to move forward with to prototype. The 2 ideas that moved forward were the light up solar powered path stones as well as the bubbling essential oil diffuser.
Beginning Prototyping (solar steps and bubble diffuser)
Off of those 2 ideas, we then made 6 different low fidelity prototypes of various ideas from our bubbling oil diffuser and solar powered stone concepts and got feedback from various industry members. We narrowed down those concepts to 2 concepts to make mid fidelity models out of.
Shown above are our Solar Step prototypes.
Shown above are our Bubble Diffuser prototypes.
Prototyping Round 2
For the solar powered stones we made pink foam molds to pour concrete to create stones. We made a base out of acrylic to diffuse LED lights and made an MDF base to house the electronics. For the bubbling diffuser we made a 3D printed ABS housing piece and painted it based on looking at glazed finishes. We then placed the electronics and a pump inside. After getting more feedback on these prototypes we then moved forward with the bubbling oil diffuser as our final idea but changed the form to make it more appealing.
Researching cost and manufacturing and planning our final presentation
We also worked on a business plan to estimate cost to sell and manufacture as well as plan our presentation for PLAYsentations, a theatrical presentation for the end of the semester to show off our prototype to families and industry members.
Final Prototype
The final model is made out of a 3D printed base to house the electronics and wrapped in a birch veneer. The tube is a painted acrylic and we used a balloon to act as our "iris" to create a bubble seal.
CAD model created in Solidworks by myself and the engineering student.
Here is an image of our final working prototype that was named Esscent. This is an essential oil diffuser that creates bubbles that hold the scent of your choice. You add the bubble solution to a reservoir and a water and oil mixture to a separate tank all held on the inside of the base.
PLAYsentation Presentation
