Oh yes, IPD (the competitive team design class) is in full swing. It's all due Monday afternoon. Luckily my team has worked together amazingly well and we are almost done. I just finished our 3rd prototype, which is pictured here in all it's green glory, and have a few alterations to make to our final product. Minor things though, not drastic redesigns. We are losing the rubber pinch points (the bag holders) as the bag stays put without them and they are costly to manufacture. Also the way the cordura fabric attaches to the body is being redesigned to keep the shoulder strap out of the way when scooping. Now all I need to do is make 3 more for Monday!
We had our final design crit yesterday with the professors and it went very well. Shaun Jackson and Bill Lovejoy called our teams design "sophisticated" "sleek" "cool" "hip" "urbane" and "possible winner". Oh yes.
Oh, the name, Ecopaw, is because the body is made out of recycled polystyrene and all the bits are recycleable.
Ecopaw comes with biodegradable bags and biodegradable poop stoppers (they are made from chipboard).
When done, toss the biodegradable poop stopper into the bag and it all will compost.
In this generation, the fabric cover pulls around back and is held magnetically.
The fabric cover pulled over the mouth of Ecopaw, again held magnetically in place on the back side.
The back side of Ecopaw, where the removable shoulder straps connect to the body.
Snap button closures on the front side as well.
4 finger rubberized handle for good grip in cold and warm weather.
The maligned Pinch Points, they don't work consistently and aren't really needed. They were also a pain to make. Although, Shaun Jackson (my thesis prof) was impressed at how resolved they were!
Looking down the mouth of EcoPaw. You can see the magnets on the bas and the inside of the snap closures.
Ecopaw in it's carry state. As the shoulder strap is removable, if the user wishes they could carry Ecopaw by hand.
So, seeing as how this is a design competition I was holding off posting until late in the game. If the other teams haven't figured out their design by now, well, I doubt they could successfully knock off my design in a weekend. I'm feeling pretty good about this all right now obviously.
Thanks for reading!
