During a short group project titled “Evolution-Revolution” our task was to revolutionise a common household appliance. For my group and I this was a vacuum. Our concept was to create a smart vacuum, which we named Pika Pika, which is the Japanese term for “sparkle”. PikaPika comes in two parts to effectively clean the house: Pika Maxi and Pika Mini. Pika Maxi would take care of the large open areas of the floor, whereas Pika Mini gets around the edges of the room and tight spaces such as corners and behind furniture. Pika Pika is not just a vacuum but a part of the family. It would learn the residents routine and schedules to find the most convenient time to get cleaning. So by this the activity of vacuuming is a thing of the past, Pika Pika will make sure the floors are always in good form.
An accompanying app displays the cleaning progress via a plan view of the house. Pika Pika then asks for feedback in order to improve.
To demonstrate the concept a prototype was constructed using blue foam and an RC car to show how Pika Pika would move across the floor.
