SMACK & The Sunny Study
Problem Statement
Glare from the sun prevents Dartmouth Students from effectively and safely using their computers/tablets while studying outside.
Users & Purchasers
Users
We will initially market this product towards Dartmouth students, specifically those who enjoy studying outside. There are also expansion opportunities to students people who work from home.
Purchasers
Students and employees who want to spend time outside while also having high levels of online work. Educational institutions & libraries to rent out to students and others.
Specifications
State of the Art
Canopy: Philbert Sun Shade
Portable Desk: SportBrella Folding Table
User Feedback
What are some factors that prevent you from studying outside? Dartmouth students responded:
“The glare is the main factor preventing me studying outside, but I am also concerned about my technology getting dirty.”
“There aren’t enough tables, and where there are tables, I often receive direct glare”
“I would do it more but the glare makes it literally impossible”
“computer heating up from sun, glare”
“Places to sit and seeing my screen”
“screen brightness only goes up so far”
“lack of study spaces outside, screen glare”
Open Feedback: What do you like about the concept and product? What would you change?
“I really like the portability and that it can fold easily and fit in a backpack like a folder.”
“AWESOME. The greatest problem with studying outside is the sun, and you dealt with it. Kudos to you”
“Great concept! Definitely can improve aesthetic appeal”
“Great concept, but a little impractical to carry in your backpack with all of your others books, computer, iPad, etc. thinking specifically within the context of college life. Also, don’t know how comfy someone would feel to pull this out on the green or something.”
“Portability”
Testing
Glare Reduction
Glare reduction is very important in showing how effective our product and competitors' products are at reducing the risk of eye strain. In order to test the glare reduction we set up a dark room where we were able to analyze each product. This room was completely dark except for one sun lamp, we then positioned the computer 5 feet away, facing the lamp. Using a luminance meter we measured the amount of glare coming from the screen. We used this process with only the laptop, the laptop with SunShader, and lastly the laptop with our product. Using the measurements we got from the luminance meter we plugged them into a Disability Glare equation which in turn showed us how effective each product was at reducing glare.
Our testing showed that the SunShader (Rival Product) reduced the disability glare by ~3%, while our product the Sunny Study was able to reduce disability glare by ~5% which was more than 1.5 times of our rival. We plan to reduce the disability glare by 10% as we improve our product.
Ease of Assembly
This was a very important aspect of our product since we do not want users to spend copious amounts of time trying to set up our product. To test this we timed ourselves setting up the SunShader, a collapsible table the SportBrella, and our product the Sunny Study. We repeated this process ten times for each product and took the average.
The results show that the SunShader was able to be set up in ~15 seconds, the SportBrella in ~53 seconds, and our product in ~27 seconds. The time of 27 seconds is suitable but as we improve our product we expect this time to go down.
Strength
Strength is important since we want our product to be able to hold a laptop comfortably while also being able to withstand any unintended forces such as the user leaning on the desk. To test the strength of products we incrementally added weight until failure. We tested both the SportBrella and our product. When testing we witnessed that the SportBrella was able to hold ~25 pounds, however, as more weight was added the legs began to bend. When we tested our product we were able to hold a whopping 5 pounds. As the next set of weights was added the 3d printed hinges snapped and the table collapsed. We plan to tackle this problem by molding the hinges which should add more structural stability. In the future, our goal is to be able to hold 15 pounds comfortably.
Weight
The weight of our product is vital since if our product is overly heavy the users will be less likely to carry it around with them in their backpacks. We weighed all of the products and all of which were under 5 pounds, our product weighed in at 4.0lbs, the SportBrella weighed 2.1lbs, and the SunShader weighed 1.3 pounds. Although our product was under our 5-pound goal, we believe that the weight will be reduced more as we continue improving our design.
Testing Summary
The following chart shows the summary of the testing we conducted.
Prototypes
Final Prototype
Ethics & Sustainability
Ethics
To ensure safety, we must ensure we are avoiding materials that are recognized as carcinogens. Materials should be sourced in an ethnical manner. Labor laws must be followed during testing and manufacturing.
Sustainability
Currently, the materials used for the Sunny Study consist of Acrylic, PVC, Plastic, and Aluminum. We aim to find more sustainable materials to use. We also aimed to make our product easily disassembled. For manufacturing and transportation, we will make sure to use sustainable packaging materials, deliver in bulk to reduce carbon footprint. In future prototypes, we aim to increase the sustainability of our product by making a canopy prototypes out of thin acrylic and switching to bioplastics.
Business Plan & Economics
Business Plan
Economics
Our economics is based on a monthly basis. Pricing for laser cutting is based on a 5-year plan to purchase a laser cutter including interest. Also, being a startup, the reason the machinery and assembly costs are so low is that the executives would be doing most of the work. The variable prices are also inflated, these prices are expected to decrease when buying materials in bulk. From our research, we concluded that there are roughly 11,000 items similar to our product being sold each month. Using this value we were able to see how many units we would need to sell in order to break even, however, this is also based on our inflated variable costs. As our product improves and we decrease the price we will be able to break even at an affordable cost without taking up 25% of the market.
