Since our client, Gregory, had a stroke, he has dealt with decreased proprioception. This makes it harder for Gregory to judge distances and measurements. This especially affects him when he cooks, something that he has loved doing his whole life. Since experiencing a stroke, Gregory has lost all feeling in his left arm and hand. It has been harder for Gregory to pour the right amount of coffee from a pot into a glass each morning, carry heavy objects, clean dishes, and open bottles. Gregory’s favorite food to make is soup. For his whole life, Gregory has loved making soup without a recipe by just eyeballing various measurements of ingredients. Because Gregory cannot accurately measure quantities now, it is tough for him to make soup in the same way that he used to.
A popular current solution on the market that helps Gregory is the MaxiAid - a device that is placed on the side of a cup and alerts the user through sound when the liquid reaches the top of the cup/mug. This is not an ideal solution because it cannot help Gregory determine the level at which he stops pouring; it only helps prevent him from overpouring.
Our goal was to design a physical product that can assist our client in measuring quantities accurately (according to his own determination of how much he wants) while cooking. We designed a product that utilizes a bobber and weight in order to determine at what level Gregory should stop pouring.