Cure
Smart Cat Care
Concept Work / Shortlisted
Cure is aiming to solve the problems of having a cat in home by creating a mutual benefit both for the cat itself and the owner of it. Almost in every space that cat exists, cat’s feeding and cat’s scratching become the main concerns for people. Cure is trying to solve these problems with one product smartly.
BRIEF
Living with a cat is the most enjoyable yet tough experience we human beings may have. Cats are less attention demanding creatures than dogs but this doesn't mean they are easy to get along with. Some of the things to improve are:
- How to entertain Cat. Games, toys, etc..
- Furniture, bed, interactive spaces
- The solutions regarding their litter boxes
- Feeding solutions
- Their health, examination etc..
- Their scratching, messing things up problems
Me and my lovely boy
BAMBAM
I decided to explore the things with stars, which I find as most problematic areas.
RESEARCH
Cats - General
- Cat ownership is more common than dogs' globally.
- Owners spend $961-2,487 on their cats annually.
48% appreciate cats as they are entertaining
44% think they help stress relief
32% feel guilty about leaving their cats alone.
Pros of Owning a Cat:
- Low Maintenance
- Lower Exercise Needs
- Low Space Requirements
- Independent Nature
Cons of Owning a Cat:
- Limited Trainability.
- Scratching Behavior:
- Potential for Allergies:
Several pros of cats make them popular and their human are ready to spend for a good idea.
Cats - Feeding
Feeding a kitten, all at one time can create obesity.
Cats are creatures of habit. This can be used as advantage to create a regular feeding schedule.
Feeding can be used to educate the cat. Every time it shows an appropriate behavior, its human can reward it by feeding, so it learns.
Cats - Scratching
Scratching surfaces is instinctual feline behavior.
According to a survey:
58% of respondents report damage to household items because of scratching.
84% provide other surfaces to scratch
87% trying to train.
78% trim nails frequently.
67% use nail caps.
Cats - Education
While cats are less responsive to training than dogs, they can still be educated by creative ways.
Most are to trigger their curiosity
Familiar sounds
Food
Enticing smells.
Calling their names consistently.
Scratching is natural behavior of cats and is the common biggest problem for people. They all look for strategies to eliminate this.
USER RESEARCH
I asked a few people briefly these 2 questions
1 - How they take care of when they are away and leave their cats alone
2 - When they scratch their furniture.
“I am an artist and mostly work in my studio. If I need to have a trip, my mother takes care of her”
“I think the biggest problem is she mess up my studio, my tools, paints but nothing is more important than her”
“I am so angry with her when she does that. She has two posts but still insists on scratching my sofa. I always say no, shout at her but no, I couldn’t stop”
“I am an engineer and have to go to factory every Thursday and Friday. Every time I ask my neighbor to take care after my cat, every time”
“I think the biggest problem is my extreme concern when I am away. I ask my neighbor to send me pics of him”
“I am not angry with him anymore when he scratches furniture. He educated me, I gave up.”
SOLUTION
What I've learnt from research points out a solution that adresses three main areas. The need for the human to:
1 - Track their cats
2 - Feed them properly
3 - Prevent their cats from scratching and damaging goods.
3 Pillars of the Concept
MEET CURE
During Design Process, I came to a point that I could use food to educate them, which means, I could handle two of the pillars, feeding and solving scratching. By the help of some cameras and a Mobile app, I could also track them.
TURN SOUND ON --->
Feeder
With the help of built-in sensors, camera, Cure feeder releases food as soon as the kitten starts scratching the semi-sliding board.
Key Features
With the help of built-in sensors, camera, Cure feeder releases food as soon as the kitten starts scratching the semi-sliding board.
PERSONA
"When I am on a trip, my boy constantly occupies my mind. Is he okay? Did he eat enough? That much I love him. The only thing drives me crazy about him is his scratching habit and I don’t know how to stop this!."
Aycal
Aycal is a free-lance Designer. He goes on business trips a lot. He believes home is a sanctuary both for himself and his lovely cat and it needs to be clean, tidy and beautiful.
Bambam, his lovely cat, means so much to him. He gets worried about him while even on a short trip. Like in all relationships, there are some problems of course. Bambam, not surprisingly, likes scratching his furniture and Aycal really gets mad and needs something to stop this.
TECH-SAVVINESS
ITINERANCY
KEY NEED:
He wants to be sure if Bambam is happy when he is not home. He also wants to prevent him from scratching his furniture.
CURIOSITY
HMW create a solution for meticulous cat owners which not only enables them to take care of their cats when they are away, but also prevents their cats from scratching by triggering behavioral change in a smart way.
CASE STUDIES
According to User needs and Design Requirements, I looked at the market for benchmarking, find out case studies.
From Interactive toys to Cat tracking cameras, distant communication devices, scratching boards, automatic feeding devices, there are several products are existing.
IDEATION
Title: Cure
Subtitle: Smart Cat Care
Idea: Mutual Benefits for Lovers
Logo:
USER JOURNEY
TOUCHPOINTS
Cure - Smart Feeder
Cure Cat Feeder has customizable scratching board on it to enable feeding as a reward mechanism. Built-in sensors and other features help system works seamlessly. When ever cat scratches the board, system releases food to the container.
Cure - Mobile App
Cure app is the center of the interaction. Cats’ human can track, keep the record and even talk and play with them especially when they are away. It communicates with Cure Feeder and enables the users maintain their control on the system seamlessly.
Cure Smart Feeder
During Exploration of the physical design, the possible mechanism and the technical details drove the shape. Form followed function.
Lid
Main Body
Food Bowl
Scratching Board
Food Distributor
Food Container
Cure Mobile App
I tried to design the simplest experience on mobile as intuitiveness and accurateness encourage the users to engage.
USER FLOWS
Setup & Preparation of ID Card
After explored possible user experience wireframes by sketching, I conducted a User Flow of setting up the app.
Interacting
This is a User Flow of the user navigating in the app and interacting with the features.
INTERACTION FLOWS & PROTOTYPES
Setup & Preparation of ID Card
Interaction
CLOSER LOOK TO SMART FEEDER
SECTION A
SECTION B
Pneumatic raises and lowers to enable system on and off.
SYSTEM ON
SYSTEM OFF
Food carrying pipes
FOOD CONTAINER
FOOD DISTRIBUTOR
Slope to the center. This design of bottom enables the food accumulates in the center.
Slope to the corners. This design of bottom enables the food disperses to the corners, to the pipes.
FOOD DISTRIBUTION
When the system is in the off position, the plug attached at pneumatic fills the holes and prevents the distribution of the food. Whereas, that is in the on position, the plug recedes as a result of the confirmation comes from the sensor and lets the food distribution. As soon as the plug moves, the food accumulated in the center of the "Container" falls into the "Food Distributor" and disperses to the corners. The dispersed food then carried to the "Bowl" by the help of the pipes.