roskit IoT Concept

IoT Product Concept for Gamifying Public Space

Many large cities like Helsinki struggle with littering and keeping public spaces clean. Rubbish strewn across parks and bins stuffed to capacity have become a regular sight in the capital region.

This project focused on the design and development of an IoT product concept for gamifying public space. Our goal was to create an IoT device and a web application to encourage people to properly dispose of trash in public spaces.

My Responsibilities: research, concept design, web app prototype, hardware design, embedded programming

Roskit

We came up with a smart trash bin solution to motivate citizens to keep public spaces clean. When people throw trash in the roskit trash bins they get points to the web app. The key idea was to encourage people to throw trash where it belongs by gamifying the experience and providing incentives.

How it works

When trash is thrown into the bin user scans the QR code or the NFC tag on the bin with their smartphone camera to get the points. These points can be then used for e.g. public transport.

The system consists of three main elements: an IoT device in a trash bin, a web app and a cloud server with backend logic to communicate with the IoT device and the app as well as a database to store the data.

Web App

The app shows users their profile, where they see the total points collected and prizes they can redeem with the points.

IoT Device

The hardware of roskit consists of an IoT device that has an ultrasonic sensor, microcontroller, and a cellular module for wireless communication. The hardware is enclosed in a compact enclosure that can be installed in an already existing trash bin equipped with solar power.

Prototype

A prototype was created to test and validate our product concept and user interaction. The prototype was a small trash bin with an ultrasonic sensor and microcontroller programmed to detect when trash was inserted into the bin.

The mobile app was designed in Figma and then imported to ProtoPie to make it a functional user interface prototype. Integration between the bin and the app was implemented using ProtoPie Connect and an Arduino plugin.

Learnings

Through this project, I gained hands-on experience in applying a user-centered approach to product design, working in a multidisciplinary team, and understanding the technical requirements for creating a functioning IoT product.

The project was part of a course about IoT product innovation covering various aspects of user-centred design for product development and prototyping. The project consisted of designing and building a functioning interactive prototype for an IoT product concept.