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Hello everyone! Hope you all are doing well. This has been a crazy semester and we are almost over the line. I have really enjoyed this particular class and the opportunity to express my thoughts and share my product journey with all of you has been amazing and I hope you all had a great time going through my blog as well.

Since we are almost over the finish line, I would like to share my final product shape with all of you. And before we go forward, I will put the link of our video/infomercial that me and my partner created for our product, in case someone just wants to view the video before.

Please view the video by clicking the link https://youtu.be/60vEIXiqnpM

I started this journey with an idea about a smart bag and then transitioned to a chai machine idea with pods to changing it to a machine using open tea leaves. It has been a crazy journey and I definitely did not expect how hard it would be to come up with an idea to solve a problem. The customer and fellow classmates feedback has been very helpful to me and really played a big part and how my product has evolved over the last few months.

I teamed up with my partner Priscila Hudgins in working on creating an effective product and something that actually has a demand in the market.

The idea for a chai making machine occurred to me after experiencing two things. First was seeing my wife getting a little frustrated when she fails to consistently make the ideal cup of chai. The reason is many a times, the chai if not payed attention to is either overcooked or undercooked and the proportion is just off and you also have to pay attention to it when it is brewing. The second reason was when I came to the US, I saw all these cafe’s selling “Chai latte” (It is not even a thing because latte is different and chai is something else) and it did not make sense to me. The chai they sell is not the actual chai, rather just some spices mixed in milk. The real authentic chai, that is very popular in South Asia is entirely different and is made a different way.

So we created the idea of a Chai making machine that would be brewed the same way that it is supposed to be and would give the actual authentic taste, without any inconvenience or worry about not getting it right.

The machine is similar to a coffee machine in the way it looks but the chai brewing process is a little different. Below is a cross section of the machine and the process of how it works.

The one on the left side is the cross section showing the inside of the machine. There is a container on the left hand side for water and one on the right hand side for milk. The box at the top is for chai leaves (Any brand or flavor that you like or prefer). When the user turns on the machine, the screen lights up showing a few options. The user will have to choose if they want either Chai or hot water. When they select chai, there will be a prompt asking how many cups do they need. Once they select the number of cups, there will be an option to select if they need milk or not. After that, the screen will ask the user to select the strength of the chai i.e. light, medium or strong, using the blue dial on the top left. Once the strength is selected, the user needs to press the orange button, the blue light on the bottom right will lit and the chai brewing will begin.

When the process starts, the water will first enter into the main center body from the left side and the quantity would depend upon the number of cups the user used. The water container has a circuit that indicates the water level and if it is sufficient or not (Fig 1). Once the water is in, it will start boiling. There is a circuit (Fig 2) that will monitor the temperature of the water and once it reaches the boiling point, it will give an indication to pour the chai leaves in from the top. There is another circuit (Fig 3) that is connected with the strength dial and the proportion of chai leaves to be mixed with water, along with the brewing time. If the user has selected light strength for 1 cup, 1 tablespoon of chai leaves will enter the main chamber and will brew for 4 minutes. If it is medium, 1.5 tablespoon for 7 minutes and if it is strong, 2 tablespoon for 10 minutes.

Once the brewing is completed, the green light will be lit and the chai will poured out through the nozzle. There is a detachable mesh installed in the nozzle that will accumulate all the chai leaves. The user can simple take it out, clean and put it back in without any mess.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

So, this is the Chai Shai. It is supposed to make the experience a lot more convenient and give you the most authentic taste of Chai. It is easy to make, brings more consistency, easy to clean it up and requires no attention. The whole idea is to give people authentic chai flavor with easy to make process.

To get a better idea, please follow the link below to view video that we created to better portray the concept of how this product will affect your daily live.

https://youtu.be/60vEIXiqnpM

We hope you will enjoy it! Please don’t forget to leave your valuable feedback as always. Wish you all the best for the end of semester work!

Hello everyone! I hope you all are having a wonderful week.

My product journey has been somewhat of a roller-coaster ride. Starting with a smart bag pack idea to a simple chai maker and now a proper chai making machine; It has definitely evolved into a different product to what I had initially thought of. My product journey has been an incredible learning experience and I think after having another customer survey experience and getting more input, I have finally been able to create an attractive product.

I started off with an idea to create a simple chai making machine but the more I got the feedback from my customer and did my own evaluation, I realized I need to create a product that would give you more authentic chai drinking experience rather than another machine that uses flavor pods and is just a make-do option. After my last design i.e. V2 of my product, I have decided to go back to using open chai leaves than pods. The design screenshot is below:

On the right hand side is my final product of how it would look. The left hand side is the cross section of how the machine would actually work and give you the experience of authentic chai.

The user will put chai leaves inside the top container. The holder on the left is for water, which is connected to the center box through a pipe and the holder on the right is for milk. In the center is a screen through which users can choose the options for number of cups, if they need milk or not, do they want chai or just hot water.

An example of how it works: Let’s say a user wants one cup of chai. They would choose the option of chai from the screen and then press 1 cup. As soon as they press 1 cup, it will ask you what strength chai do you want i.e. light, medium or strong. The user will have to choose the strength using the blue dial and then just press the orange button. (This is assuming the chai leaves are already filled in the top container).

When they press the orange button, the process starts. Firstly, the water will enter the center box through the pipe. Now the algorithm of the machine will be set so that 1 cup of chai will required 8oz water. 8oz water will flow into the box and the heating process will start. As soon as the water reaches the boiling temperature, the red light inside will light up and the chai from the top will enter into the boiling water.

Temperature sensor circuit: https://www.tinkercad.com/things/j12UZisrTUP-copy-of-chai-completion-temperature-indicator/editel?sharecode=bJ1_XQPvwUs7tsgOney8ML5dH9Nyn_RXgI6cmyWVTPA

For the amount of chai, the system will be set. For 1 cup of chai on light strength, 1 tablespoon chai will enter the boiling water and cook for 4 minutes. For 1 cup on medium strength, 1.5 tablespoon of chai will enter the boiling water and cook for 7 minutes and for 1 cup cup on strong, 2 tablespoon chai will enter the boiling water and cook for 10 minutes.

Strength dial and cooking time sensor: https://www.tinkercad.com/things/4dmCMytf0OM-chai-completion-temperature-indicator/editel?sharecode=f5sO5ugDAFEdbYDvG_TiLWw64y2g0UrNDX2fHcThVHw

When the chai is ready, the green light will lit and the chai will pour through the blue nozzle. There is a mesh plate above the blue nozzle. All the chai leaves will accumulate on the plate which is detachable. The user can take out the mesh later to dispose the chai leaves.

Water level indicator: https://www.tinkercad.com/things/10XNDFZ0m11-chai-water-level-indicator/editel?sharecode=qhgymhDcFrKgMAudBTn_nnf47Llw-UMjrMi1QJncI3Y

This new and refined model is exactly the way most authentic chai’s are made. This will continue to use the open tea leaves as opposed to the pod idea I previously tried to incorporate. The advantage with open chai leaves is that every user prefers different brands just like a coffee drinker. It is also cost affective because you can make a lot of chai if you purchase a pack of chai leaves rather than buying pods all the time.

I think this idea is good as it brings a more authentic chai taste, it is not time or concentration intensive and everyone can have chai just the way its supposed to be!

Please leave your feedback! You know it is always valuable. Stay safe!

Hello everyone! Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.

This last week was a little difficult for me to decide on how to move forward with my design and prototype. I decided to partner with Priscila Hudgens from our class as she also worked on something similar. We decided to partner up going forward so we can better refine the product and make it more attractive for our customer.

We decided to stick with chai making machine but obviously with changes to the previous model. We have updated the design by making a proper machine rather than a device. The main reason was based on the customer feedback I received in my previous interaction. One of the pain points I identified with the customer was time management and attention required to make the chai and also the disposing of the tea leaves after the process is completed.

I decided to update the model and make something that would be better suited for people who make chai regularly saving them time and especially very useful for people who do not know how to make chai and would be interested in a product like this.

Just to give an idea of the machine, there is a container at the top for adding tea leave pods, there is a blue dial that controls the strength of the tea i.e. light, medium or strong. There are two containers on either side; one is for water and the other is for milk. The orange button is a startup button and with the led lights indicating the process.

The way this machine would work is there is a an opening at the top. The tea leaves would be sold separately or in packs in different flavors as many users are particular about their flavors. The flavors for example would be, Cardamom, Masala, Cinnamon and etc. The tea pods can be seen in the second picture. They would just simply open by tearing the top part and inserted into the top container. (These pods are made up of recyclable material and can be recycled after the process is completed).

Once the pod is inserted, the user will have several options to choose from on the LCD screen. The user will have to choose if they want chai or just hot water from the machine. When they press chai, an option to select how much milk they want will appear. Once they select that, they will have to set the dial according to the strength they prefer and just press the initiation button to start brewing process.

It is a simple process but will give the users the flavor of actual tea leaves, it will save them time as they do not need to stand and wait for the water to boil and then watch while the chai is brewing and the pods are recyclable, saving the environment.

For the dial, I created an electronic circuit. When the dial is at light strength, the blue light will turn on indicating the process has started. The machine would run for 4 minutes and then the chai would come out with the LED turning green. Similarly for medium strength, the machine would run for 7 minutes and for the strong strength, the machine would run for 10 minutes but the user will have to insert 2 pods in the container instead of just one.

The potentiometer serves as the dial. Big shout to Will who helped through the coding for this as I was having trouble incorporating the potentiometer to the correct use.

I have another circuit that represents the water level indicator in the container holding water. The button in the circuit will serve as a limit switch and the lights indicate the water level, which will come up on the screen.

I showed the update model to my customer and they were more interested in the idea than before, especially since it catered to some of their concerns. But after talking to some other users, I believe this product will attract other users who do not know how to make the right chai more and will be better suited for them as well.

Please leave the valuable feedback!

Hello everyone! I hope you all are having a great week. I know a lot of you have been anxiously waiting for my next post/design, so wait no more. My design for this week is an electronic circuit that I have developed which I will be incorporating in my new design, which is named “The Chai Shai”. It is essentially a tea making machine.

Yes there are many tea makers in the market but all of them use tea bags (teabags are the worst). In Pakistan, we drink chai like people drink alcohol in the US. It is like a daily of 2-3 cups and we make it from open tea leaves, not the tea bags. My wife makes chai every morning (I make it too for her) but the most important thing when it comes to using open tea leaves is that you need to get the right proportion of tea leaves with the water and it needs to be cooked to the right temperature.

The problem she faces is a lot of times it is perfect but many times the ratio is off when she is making more cups or it is under or overcooked and then it gets frustrating especially when you are craving for a good cup of chai. SO I decided to make a Chai maker which will have two sensors, as shown below. The first sensor will indicate you the water level by led lights and will guide you how many tea spoon of tea leaves you need to put, guiding you to a perfect ratio. Red light indicates 2 cups pf chai meaning two exact tea spoon of chai and so on in multiples of two. The second sensor is a temperature sensor. When it is neutral i.e. green, it means it is being cooked and when it reaches the cooked level, it turns red indicating the chai is ready.

The challenges I faced was in understanding how to sensors should be connected in the circuit, especially the temperature sensor and then the most challenging part was to change the coding according to how I wanted it to work. It took me a while but I eventually got it close to how I wanted it. This could be a great anniversary present for my wife (Or me).

Please leave your feedback!

Hello everyone! Hope you all had a great week. This week I attempted to work on creating a simple circuit model on Tinker Cad. I think it turned out okay.

I attempted to combine 3 basic components and make one complete circuit. The components I used for my circuits include an LED, a Photoresistor and Piezo speaker. I definitely did not use all 3 for any bragging rights but I was just experimenting to see if the circuit would work if I arrange it in the order that I understood and I am glad it worked.

The first image shows the whole circuit with no simulation. I tried to connect the photoresistor with the LED light and attach the piezo speaker as well. Now when we press the push button, the sound from the piezo speaker comes out and the LED lights up as well but the brightness of the LED light depends on the outside brightness, which is the purpose of the photoresistor. (The dim and bright light simulations are show in the other 2 figures)

I did not really face any troubles making the circuit as the lessons were pretty clear and helpful. Also, as an engineer, some prior circuit knowledge did come in handy. It was more about just playing around and trying different things to see what works and what does not.

Would love to get feedback on this from all of you!

Living in New York, as a student, I am sure every now and then we have experiences shoulder or back pains while carrying our bag pack for long distances or have been a victim of sweaty shirt or worse, our cell phone battery is about to die and we badly need to use the google maps!

It does not happen that often but if you are a student, social and like to roam around, these are very frequently occurring issue. Though there might be solutions to solve this problems individually like carrying a power bank or have a light weight bag with sweat resistant material. What if I tell you there is a product that addresses all these issues with just product?

Oooo excited yeah? Let me introduce to you “The Smart Bag” (Manufacturing exclusively by Saadu Comforts).

This smart bag is the future. Some of the features of this bag are mentioned briefly below:

• Ideal Weight Display– There is a display screen installed on the inside of the bag. It will have 4 options. You can enter your age, height, weight and your body type. After entering these information, the display will show you the ideal weight that you should be carrying in your bag pack in Kg or Lbs. There is a small weigh scale attached on the bottom that weighs the items you put in your bag and will show a sign when the maximum ideal weight is achieved in the bag. You can obviously put as much stuff in the bag as you want but if your plan is to be out for long, it is better to stick to the ideal weight so it does not hurt your shoulders and/or your back when carrying the bag pack.
• Built-in Battery Pack– There is a built-in battery pack (10,000 mAh). You can charge your phone by simply plugging in the wire to your battery. Just to give an idea, a 10,000 mAh battery can charge an iPhone to full battery up to 3 times. TO charge the battery, just plug in the battery to a charger at night and it becomes fully charged in 6-8 hours.
• Sweat Resistant Material– The back lining is made up of a light weight, sweat and water proof resistant material which will neither put strain on your shoulder if you are carrying it for too long nor cause the back of your shirt to be sweaty and smelly. There is also a small opening at the bottom through which you can pass the wire of your phone with which you can use your phone or (look for directions on Google map) while charging your phone.
  Figure C

  

Please leave a feedback or suggestions regarding the product. Would love to hear from all of you regarding any other suggestions or improvements that can be done in the product. If you want to place an order, please contact me separately *wink*.