Our Final Idea

After much deliberation over our final product after IVP judging, we have decided to push on with the current container security idea. It is the most feasible idea for our project, as after more extensive research on the Pladder, we have come to the conclusion that structural integrity wise it was not feasible for construction site purposes, there are not a lot of practical uses for a plank in everyday household activities and once again the structural integrity of the product was compromised therefore not feasible for use by firemen.

So for our current idea, and the one we will be presenting during the semi-finals judging, we have not exactly finalized the product yet, but the basic shape of the invention is there. It is essentially a belt that is wrapped around the lid of the container, securely fastening the lid to the container and also serving as a barrier to prevent liquids from leaking out of the container itself. The belt is made out of rubber, and it can be fastened on to containers of different size.

We aim to improve on the idea, as currently the belt does not make the container completely leak proof to the extent where if turned upside down and shaken to water will leak out. However if the container happens to go onto its side, there will be no leakage and normal shaking of the container does not cause any leakage. We aim at zero leakage for our final prototype.

The main problem with our current prototype is the fastening portion, which causes there to be a small gap between the rubber belt and the container itself, which is causing minor leakage. For our final prototype we aim at removing the metal buckle like mechanism which is currently slightly bulky with a flatter plastic one, that if secured tightly will not leave any gap between the belt and container preventing any leakage.

Previous Ideas

We had many previous ideas, but had no time to go through them! Hence we will be covering them in one post.

The Pladder:

This idea got us through the prelims, but we realised it was flawed in many ways. Basically, we wanted to create a product that can fuse the ladder and a plank together, making the construction workers have a easier time and to save costs. However, we realised that the integrity of the product may not be reliable, and the cost was higher than the two products separately.

After thinking for awhile, we decided to change the target audience to homes. However, there was a major flaw in our target audience, because in a house, there was no use for the plank. Hence we decided to change our target audience again.

Our last target audience we tried to do was fireman. In a case of a fire, a fireman would need a ladder and a plank to cross obstacles. However, this would impede the fireman because the ladder will be quite heavy and bulky and we were not able to make a ladder that would be able to hold the weight of a fireman, so we scrapped the idea.

June Hols

We started embarking on a new plan.
Which would be our current one too!
5 June 2011

> Problem
When carrying takeaway food, the cover/cap is not of good quality and as a result the liquid inside of the container will leak out very badly.

> Existing solutions
Of course, the existing solutions would be bottles and tupperwares but these can be expensive. Furthermore, you wouldn't see someone walking to Kopitiam with a metal tupperware to get some soup. Normally people choose to use the given containers. It would also be very expensive for the company to buy these tupperwares on a large scale and essentially "give away" to people when they buy takeaway food.

Next, are cup/container holders in cars. These do serve their purpose well, however, they are limited to cars and are essentially built into the car. Whats more, the size cannot be manipulated; it is fixed.

> Our Solution
Our solution is to make a device that is able to hold the liquid and cap in place
and is
>Multi-size
>Cheap and affordable

A 'belt'

Our Shoe Idea 4th April 2011

Today, Track and Field inspired me to think of a new idea. This idea allows one to make a multi-purpose shoe. This shoes comes with retractable spikes, for athletes to use when they train. The athlete can then retract the spikes after training, and as such he need not carry two different shoes with him.

Also, this idea is possible with rollers. This shoe will come with wheels for a child to wheel on. However, these wheels can be retracted to allow the shoe to be multi-purpose.

Our Water Bottle Idea - 2nd April 2011

A new idea that we came up with today, was to come up with a water bottle that is specially designed to enhance an athlete's performance. This waterbottle would have many features to help an athlete. The following are some examples:

Temperature Retaining:We did some research and found out on a website (http://walking.about.com/od/fluids/f/coldwatermyth.htm) that drinking cold water during exercise helps an athlete to perform at his maximum. As such, our waterbottle will include a feature that allows it to retain the temperature, or even cool down water.

Two Drinks at Once: As an athlete may want to store normal water and sports drinks at the same time, we intend to split the waterbottle into two compartments. This way, an athlete can drink two different drinks as and when he feels like it.

As Justin is in Track and Field, he will be the athlete we will test this invention on. We can then come up with further ideas of how the bottle helps him, and improve from there.

The above ideas are just a few ideas we have already come up with and we will improve on the bottle gradually and over time.

Expert Mentor Session 1 (Feedback) 30th March 2011

The expert mentors gave us helpful feedback after we presented our ideas.
The reception of the ideas were generally poor.

Here is the feedback for each idea:

Idea 1 (Paper Hand Dryer)

-Sanitation might be an issue and hygiene too
-What is the extent of the problem?, Is it useful?

Idea 2 (Oily Floors)

-The solution is impractical and not effective
-Had to consider the cost and selection of material

Idea 3 (Messy Wires)

-There are many existing and similar solutions existent
-Could consider the safety and convenience of solution
-The problem is not evident and not clear enough

These were the feedback we received from the Expert Mentors.

Expert Mentor Session 1 (Ideas) 30th March 2011

Today Koh Yi Da (me) and Samuel Wong were present for the
feedback session with the Expert Mentors.

Our three new ideas that we presented were:

Idea 1

Problem
It takes time to dry your hand after washing it.

Existing Solutions
The commercial "box" dryer is slow.
The high pressure air dryer is relatively slow
and expensive.

Proposed Solution
Our proposed solution is to roll the hand between
two rolls of toilet paper. This way the hand can
be dried fast.

Idea 2

Problem
Messy and Bulky computer charger and wires

Existing Solutions
As what we have found, the closest solutions
were designed for wires only rather than the
wire and charger.

Proposed Solution
Create a basket-like structure that has many
compartments big enough to hold the computer
charger and also hooks to hold the wires.

Idea 3

Problem
Floors tend to get oily and slippery after a
cooking session, (especially frying).

Existing Solutions
From what we have found, there were no real
existing solution except to mop the floor
with an effective oil removing chemical.

Proposed Solution
Create a mat that can absorb oil well and is
cheap and disposable.

These were our new ideas.

Draft Session 1 21th March 2011

Today was the draft session with the rest of the people in IVP.
We shared our ideas and the audience gave us feedback on our ideas.
The reception we received was generally negative.

Idea one - "Heatbox"

This idea was easily "shot down".
Within 3 Mins into presentation Ms. Sim presented us with a picture
of a metallic bottle-like container which has a vacuum layer separating
the food and the inner surface.

Idea two - "Safety Lighter"

This idea suffered the same reception as the first idea ("Heatbox").
Similarly, within in a short time after we started presenting the idea,
Ms Sim showed as a picture of a gun-shaped lighter. Just that the "barrel"
was much shorter and compact. The flame was also able to be facing a
constant direction regardless of wind or position of the lighter.

Reflections:
Although the reception of the ideas itself was very bad, we however learnt
much from the session.
The most important thing we learnt is to be extremely sure when we search
for existing solutions so as to not work on something for nothing.

Meeting Session 3 10th February 2011

Today, Koh Yi Da and Justin met up to decide on a second invention considering the instability of our first idea.

Problem:

When using a lighter (conventional small rectangle lighter), if the wind
is blowing against you, the flame will burn your thumb. This happens too
when you point the lighter down and light the flame.

Existing Solutions(Flawed):

Existing solutions we found were ones that are similar in ecstatics to a
gun where you press a trigger and the flame will be present at the extended
tip. However they were rather large and uncommon.

Proposed Solution:

There are basically 2 types of solutions to the problem.

1. Extended the vent where flame comes out from vertically, and enable it to
be fold-able.
2. Build a shield in between the vent and the trigger so that the flame cannot
burn the finger.

This concludes our meeting session.

Meeting Session 2 - 15th January 2011

We met up today at Justin's house to discuss on our previous idea.
Kay Han was not present as he could not wake up early enough to
meet at Justin's house, apparently.

The main efforts today was to be put into designing and the concept
of the "Heat box".

We decided the the cover (lid) of the box itself must be able to create
a vacuum inside the box itself to keep the food fresh. This can be done
rather simply.

The main debate rises in the design of the method to keep the food in
the container itself to be kept warm.

There are 2 main concepts.

1.
A vacuum in between the food itself and the inner layer of the box.
-This way the heat travels extremely slowly through the vacuum.

2.
Fabric encased in plastic casing. This fabric will then be stuck
to the inner layer of the box.
-This way the heat travels very slowly through the vacuum.

This concludes the session.

Meeting Session 1 - 29th December 2010

Today was basically a meeting session. At this date we have confirmed our group to consist of Koh Yi Da, Samuel Wong, Justin Tay and Lee Kay Han.

We decided to embark on our first invention.

The problem we came up was that...

Food is difficult to be kept fresh and warm when we want
to bring it around. Eg. to School, to workplace, to someone
else's home.

Existing solutions...

Tupperware plastic boxes. These can keep heat to a certain level but
the freshness of the food inside is speculative.

Our objective is to...
Create a box shaped container that is able to keep food warm up to 2~3hours
and at the same time keep the food fresh.

This concludes the first meeting session.