Das Team bestand aus sechs Leuten: Zwei Produktdesigner, zwei Metalldesigner und zwei aus dem Fachbereich Digitale Medien (eine davon war ich selbst). Alles über das dabei entstandene Konzept können Sie dem oben eingebunden und von mir eingesprochenen und editierten/animierten Video, sowie dem Skript am Ende der Seite entnehmen. Die Präsentationen sowie das Video wurden auf Englisch gehalten, damit mehr Kollegen des Kooperationspartners aus China (Midea) die Inhalte leichter verstehen konnten. Hier in diesem Text möchte ich jedoch zunächst betonen, wie genau ich mein Team und das Projekt gemanagt habe.

Teamleitung und Organisation mit Methode

Insgesamt hatten wir 2 Monate Zeit, um das Projekt abzuschließen. Am Anfang war die Motivation hoch, also veranstaltete ich mit meinem Team in den ersten 2 Wochen immer wieder Brainstormphasen. Der erste Brainstorm war ein freies Gespräch, um sich darauf zu einigen in welche Richtung es gehen sollte. Von Anfang an führte ich Zeitpläne und Checklisten und zu jeder gemeinsamen Sitzung habe ich ein Briefingdokument verfasst, welches ich auch jede Woche mit dem Dozenten durchsprach, um auch seine Anmerkungen zu erhalten. In der zweiten Sitzung sprachen wir über die neuen Erkenntnisse durch diese Anmerkungen und ab der dritten Brainstorm-Session war die Richtung klar und wir konnten konkreter werden. Ich teilte mein Team in ihre Kompetenzfelder ein und bat sie darum jeweils zwei Ideen in ein Dokument zu schreiben, die mit ihrem persönlichen Kompetenzfeld zu tun haben. Mein Gedanke dahinter war, dass ich meinen Horizont erweitern wollte und vermeiden wollte nur auf meine eigenen Kompetenzen zu achten. Auch wenn ich Roboter und Maschinen spannend finde, bin ich als Interaction Designerin eher auf Software spezialisiert. Konkreten Input von Produkt- und Metalldesignern für dieses Projekt einzuholen war demnach sehr wertvoll.

Nebenher hatte ich auch eine andere Intention: Da ich in der Vergangenheit manchmal die Erfahrung gemacht habe, dass einige Gruppenmitglieder im späteren Verlauf der Projekte ausgestiegen oder weniger motiviert waren (was zu einer schlechteren Leistung führte), war es mir diesmal wichtig darauf zu achten, dass jeder die Möglichkeit hatte seine Fähigkeiten einzubringen und am Ende stolz auf sich zu sein.

Die Funktionalität (mein Spezialgebiet) habe ich mit allen diskutiert, weil dies meiner Meinung nach das Fundament des Konzeptes darstellte. Jedoch habe ich viele Einwürfe der anderen dazu mit Anmerkungen basierend auf meinen Erfahrungen im Interaction Design optimiert. Der andere Kommilitone aus dem Bereich Digitale Medien hat sich hier besonders einbringen können, aber auch in Sachen Gamification und allgemeinem Spaß in der Interaktion mit den Produkten, da er auf Game Design und 3D Art spezialisiert ist – später hat er auch 3D Modelle unserer Maschinen erstellt. Die beiden Metalldesigner und die beiden Produktdesigner haben sich beide auf die Konzeptionierung der Hardware fokussiert. Während die Metaller hauptsächlich darauf wert legten wie praktisch und realistisch produzierbar die Produkte werden würden, kümmerten sich die Produktler eher um die Formalästhetik.

Marktrecherche

Ab diesem Punkt begannen wir eine Research-Phase, um einzuschätzen wie realistisch und markttauglich unsere Ideen waren. In der Gruppe hatten wir einen Studenten aus China und eine Studentin aus Süd-Korea – ihre Ideen waren zum Beispiel eher ungewöhnlich, aber durchaus innovativ und für die jüngsten Generationen vermutlich interessant. Jedoch wurde uns als Zielgruppe der europäische Markt vorgegeben und durch Statistiken stellten wir fest, dass sich die Waschmaschinen-Angewohnheiten zwischen den Kontinenten deutlich unterscheiden. Basierend darauf entwickelten wir zwei Personas. Die hier gesammelten Erkenntnisse halfen sehr dabei unsere vielen Ideen zu filtern: Wir legten uns auf das Ziel fest eine Produktreihe zu konzipieren, die für europäische Kunden attraktiv und nicht zu kompliziert sein sollte. Tatsächlich sollte der Kunde fast nichts mehr selbst erledigen müssen, was der Top selling point für das Konzept der modularen Waschmaschine und seinen optionalen kooperativen Geräten sein sollte (entnehmen Sie Details dem unten eingeklappten Skripts und den Videos).

Ergebnis des Projektes

Wie zuvor angedeutet hatten wir am Ende viele unterschiedliche Ideen gesammelt und durch die hohe Motivation und Produktivität der Gruppe konnten wir es uns leisten noch mehr Produktkonzepte zu entwickeln. Nachdem das Konzept der modularen Waschmaschine abgeschlossen war, kümmerten wir uns um ein Thema, das uns allen am Herzen lag und auch seit Jahren steigendes Interesse in der Bevölkerung erfährt: Nachhaltigkeit und Umweltschutz. Im Research fanden wir die opensource Technologie der Nylon Beads (Kügelchen) von Xeros. Wir stellten eine Version der modularen Waschmaschine vor, die mit diesen Beads arbeiten könnte. Unser Interesse war dabei, dass diese existierende Technologie vielleicht von Midea genutzt und weitervermarktet werden könnte, um die Umweltbilanz von Waschmaschinen zu verbessern (lesen sie mehr im Skript). Nachdem mehr Wasser durch die Nylon-Beads-Waschmaschine gespart werden würde, war unser letztes Konzept eine Waschmaschine, die gar kein Wasser mehr verbrauchen würde: Die Plasmawaschmaschine. Plasma zu nutzen gehörte eigentlich schon von Anfang an zum Plan, da unsere naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät in Göttingen in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Fraunhofer-Institut an Plasma und Photonik forscht. Wie für die meisten, die zum ersten Mal das Wort „Plasmawaschmaschine“ gehört haben, standen wir zunächst vor einem Haufen Fragezeichen, weshalb ich sichergehen wollte, dass wir genug Research betreiben bis wir alle Eigenschaften und Potenziale von Plasma verstanden haben. Erst nachdem dieses Ziel erreicht wurde, passten wir das bisherige Concept Art auf die Nutzung von Plasma an und erklärten in unserer Präsentation genau wie die Maschine funktionieren sollte (siehe Video unten).

Midea war von allen Konzepten begeistert und ganz besonders von der Plasmawaschmaschine. Es wurden alle Konzepte zur weiteren Besprechung zum Hauptsitz in China weitergegeben und es wurde ein 5-Jahres-Vertrag zur Forschung an der Plasmawaschmaschine in Göttingen in die Wege geleitet.

Präsentation des Projektes

Im Folgenden können Sie das englischsprachige Skript zum Video lesen, welches auch eine Zusammenfassung des gesamten Projektes enthält. Zu jedem Thema habe ich einen Einzelausschnitt aus dem oberigen Video erstellt und in die Aufklapptexte eingebunden. (Die Illustrationen wurden von meiner Kommilitonin Sanghee Park erstellt. Videobearbeitung und Stimme sind von mir. Details stehen im Videoabspann.)

[expand title=“The Weekly Struggle: Does laundry have to be frustrating?“ tag=“h4″]

Thomas Herzog is a 32-year-old German man who works in administration. He works overtime on a regular basis and comes home late to his rented 64 m² apartment where he lives alone. He does not have much time to relax though, as the next job is already waiting for him there: Household chores. Particularly the laundry must be done. Especially doing laundry is very frustrating for him, since he is not experienced and does not really want to deal with it, too… In the past he has already ruined some clothes by choosing wrong temperatures or by mixing colors et cetera. The day has only 24 hours and Thomas would rather spend his free time after work with recreational activities. He has become accustomed to live out his hobbies consistently while the dirty laundry piles up everywhere. When at some point the clean clothes become scarce and he can no longer procrastinate washing all the accumulated laundry, the frustration grows even greater. Thomas therefore needs a solution that automates laundry washing so that he no longer has to worry about it and can enjoy his well-deserved evening rest. We designed three possible solutions to save time, energy and water. Two of these designs include waterless washing, but for now we start with our modular concept. [/expand]

[expand title=“Washing With Water: Smart Hamper and modular washing“ tag=“h4″]

When you use water and detergent to wash clothes, you must first check what fabrics you have and how much heat they can withstand without being damaged. It is therefore very important to separate these program requirements and colours before washing. To take care of this task, we have designed a new machine. The smart hamper replaces the normal laundry hamper, in which people usually gather all their laundry without an organisation system. The traditional way makes the washing process more complicated and inefficient, as the user needs time and energy for each of these many steps.

Instead of collecting laundry without organisation, our Smart Hamper separates the inserted laundry immediately. A sensor at the upper opening analyses the fabrics for heat resistance and colour. From there, the garment is classified and transported to a suitable compartment. In this case we’re talking about a model for a single household, so the device stores a rather low volume of laundry. Each compartment can be defined with different parameters such as washing temperature, color, spinning, etc. When one or more of these compartments are full enough, a signal is sent to either the user’s smartphone or to a household robot whose functionality will be explained later…

An A.I. decides which compartment is used for each category of clothing. For example: Mixed colors are assigned to the biggest compartment while white and boiling laundry are sent to the smaller compartments. The system learns what suits best for your daily routine. For instance, if you wear black clothes all the time, it would assign those to the biggest compartment instead. A smartphone app where you can set up a profile with your clothing and washing habits could be used additionally.

The components of the Midea Home – Smart Laundry Ecosystem naturally function independently of each other. This allows users to gradually invest in the components according to their personal priorities. For example, if one compartment is full, Thomas can pull it out like a drawer and carry the whole thing to his older washing machine or to our concept of a modern washing machine.

Alternatively, Thomas could purchase a household robot that picks up the laundry compartment and drives it to the washing machine. To provide this service the robot would communicate with the Smart Hamper and the washing machine, so it knows when compartments are ready to be picked up, etc. … A robot like this could be developed by Midea or by partners who are specialized in domestic robotics.

Fitting to the Smart Hamper we designed a more modern washing machine. It has a modular construction and can therefore wash different garments under different conditions. This means that in this default version there are three compartments of different sizes, which share the same water, but use different temperatures and programs. First we thought of fusing all mentioned features into one single device. Later we came to the conclusion that the separation into more devices would be more attractive to the consumer. The idea is that a user would rather buy the smart hamper first and that they would take some time to learn to love its features. After they developed a relationship to the product, we figure that they are more likely to buy the other linked products as well. A multifunctional washing machine could be too complex and expensive for a regular user. The inhibitions would be much greater. Another bonus: Selling more products separately will be more profitable for Midea in the long run.

Waterless Washing: Introduction

The modular washing machine saves time, but it consumes much water. This resource in particular is not available everywhere and in some areas access to potable water is limited in general. We don’t have to go so far as to imagine people in the Third World fighting for every litre of water. For example, astronauts on the ISS (International Space Station) cannot wash their clothes at all because they cannot store enough water. Instead, they wear their space suits for as long as possible, get new clothes over resupply vessels and then burn the old clothes along with other garbage. And of course, saving resources is also better for the environment.
[/expand]

[expand title=“Nylon Beads: Save water and energy“ tag=“h4″]

We have reached a point where we cannot make our current washing machine technology much more efficient. Compared with a 30-year-old machine that consumes around 180 litres of water per load, modern machine consumption of only around 50 litres seems to be a significant advance. But to make a real leap in efficiency, we literally have to think outside the box. For this purpose, we present an already developed and proven technology: the Xeros bead system. This means that most of the water is replaced by polymer beads of a size between 2 and 3 mm. As soon as they get wet, they open their structure like a sponge and can then absorb particles, stains and paint residues. When mixed with the laundry, they behave like a million small hands that provide an excellent cleaning effect on the laundry surface while at the same time being very gentle on the textile that it even exceeds its usual lifetime. As the beads can absorb dye, the laundry does not have to be sorted by colour. And these beads will not only be used once, but hundreds of washing cycles.

During their service life they do not leave the machine. They move from a storage compartment through a specially designed drum, twirl and are returned to their storage. And once their structure is worn-out, they are collected and completely recycled by a service partner, which is very easy because they are made of only one type of polymer. Since a mechanical part is now also included in the cleaning process, hot temperatures are no longer necessary, which saves up to 50% of energy costs. With the help of a detergent specially developed for this technology, a thorough antibacterial effect is also achieved, even if only 50% of it is needed compared to conventional cleaning agents. As microplastics and synthetic fibres from fabrics are becoming a major problem for our environment, there is a special filter system inside the machine that prevents these particles from escaping from the machine.

And now for the best part:
Xeros has made its technology open source and is looking for partners to distribute this technology worldwide to make a real difference in environmental protection and the conservation of a valuable resource. A developed system already exists, so that this technology can be retrofitted into the usual household machines and integrated into existing infrastructure and assembly processes.[/expand]

[expand title=“ Plasma Washing: Conserve Water And The Environment“ tag=“h4″]

The next step after saving most of a resource is of course saving the entire resource. For this purpose, we present a theoretical concept of a washing machine that works exclusively with energy in the form of plasma to clean the laundry. Plasma is a state of matter, besides solid, liquid and gaseous. In the earth’s atmosphere it is usually created artificially by adding more and more energy to a gas until its atoms reach an ionised state. Natural plasma can be found in lightning, parts of the sun and solar winds, for example. Although plasmas can reach temperatures of tens of thousands of degrees Celsius, there are also cold plasmas that can exist at room temperature, depending on how many of their atoms are in the ionized state. Since it can be created from any gas mixture, it can have a variety of properties and effects that can also be adapted to your own needs. The parameters of plasma influence its ability to react chemically and physically with matter, which is used in many ways at this point in time and at the state of the technology: In medicine and industry, for example, it is used for disinfecting and cleaning inorganic and organic tools and surfaces and for preparing for further treatment. It is very effective against any kind of stains, bacteria or even odour-inducing molecules as it also cleans on a molecular level. The goal would be to explore and develop a plasma that reacts with the stains and molecules that are normally found on dirty laundry but protect the textile itself. It could be used in a washing machine with a modified chamber that exposes the laundry to this reactive plasma, which can float freely through the textile because it is also gaseous. The process would not take long, as the stains would react to gas and dust. The atmosphere inside the machine would be evacuated through a filter, so no kind of pollution would be left behind. Since there is much more potential in plasma, there may even be a way to treat the laundry so that it is dirt- and moisture-resistant for even longer, which could increase the wear time until the next cleaning and extend the overall lifetime. Environmentally friendly energy is more and more available, and if energy is all we need to clean our laundry, there would be only a minimal environmental impact from a process that once wasted a vast amount of resources.[/expand]

[expand title=“Conclusion: The end of the project“ tag=“h4″]

Let’s summarize the results of this semester:
We have researched modern and resource-saving cleaning technologies. From there we have designed three ways in which a washing machine of the future could work. For the first design, we conceptualized a Smart Hamper that separates and stores the garments before washing them with water. A simple household robot was added as a transport unit to fully automate the washing process. Then came the nylon bead technology by Xeros to use much less water and at the end we found a way to clean the laundry entirely without water by using plasma instead. So we have designed a total of five devices, which you, Midea, can further develop and turn into reality.[/expand]