Product Engineering Processes
Instructor: David Wallace
2012
Acting design lead in a team of 16 engineers for a senior product engineering class. Collaborating with the university’s local grounds facility, we found that washing waste bins was the number one unpopular responsibility. Waste bins have been manually cleaned using a pressurized spray gun, without proper cleaning products. In response, we developed a product that automates the process of sanitizing industrial trash cans.
We developed a machine that efficiently sanitizes trash bins in minutes. Design was driven with a strong focus on ergonomics — an easy setup with hands-free cleaning. One hand uses the counterweight lever to lift up the trash bin and the other hand is free to interact with the user-friendly interface.
Our design placed second in a competition before executives from a variety of industries.
A needfinding process was carried out through a series of interviews with grounds employees. This involved identifying pain points for cleaning trash cans, from the sheer number of bins that are washed, to the dangerous practices of dumping waste water.
