An example of an object designed to be repurposed after it has ceased to be used for its original purpose is the Sprout pencil, which can be planted once the functional life of the pencil is depleted.

We see IoT objects as being able to foster emotional value. An example is the Jibo robot, which announced its own ‘death’ when the company behind it shut down its servers. The owners’ emotional attachment to Jibo led many to deliberate what to do with Jibo’s material body, with some keeping it displayed on a shelf as a way of remembering its ‘life’, and others even debating whether to bury it as one would a pet.

Another example of the eemotional value of IoT objects is the Little Printer - an anthropomorphic IoT thermal printer. After its founders “bricked” the Little Printer, many owners kept it on their shelves, despite its loss of functional value. Observing the owners’ attachment to their Little Printers, an independent design studio called Nord Projects resurrected them by building a new app for the Little Printer hardware, giving it a new lease on life.

In 2017, Samsung Electronics founded its Galaxy Upcycling project which built up a 6,000 strong user-driven community with the remit to improve the lifespan of IoT devices like old smartphones. This led to some novel, practical examples of connected device upcycling by end-users such as an owl shaped facial recognition house security monitor (right). Unfortunately, the project was closed down by early 2019. Despite its short existence, the project demonstrates the imaginative design possibilities that end-users themselves may have for increasing the longevity and value of IoT device lifespans.