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Introduction

Making handling of paper cups for visually impaired easier.

Hot beverages like tea, coffee, soup are an integral part of conferences. A lot of conferences take place in the country. India has about 15 M visually impaired people. We aimed to solve the problem of exclusion of such visually impaired people in conferences.

🎯

The goal is to make serving or self-servicing easier for the visually impaired.

Brief

Redesign the everyday paper tea cup for the visually impared to be used in a conference.

An early prototype of the spillproof paper cup.

Research

We identified the points of intervention by enacting the process.

We approached the visually-impaired people on the campus to study their challenges. In addition to that we also blindfolded ourselves to better experience the challenges and analyse them.

A stack of cardboard highlighting the corrugations that lend strenght to the sheets.

Observations and results

🏢 Environment: Larger amount of time spent on locating and identifying cups due to high uncertainty. Safety concerns maximum while attempting to locate and pick up the cup.
🗣Human to human interaction: Different people have different approaches and grips to serve the cup. Most people have the same grip for approaching the cup in blindfolded condition. Some approaches are safer, hygienic, optimal and more human friendly.
💦 Spillage: When the blindfolded user approaches the cup, the fingers hit the cup which causes spilling. If the tea is filled to the brim. It is difficult to hold the cup because of the temperature. The rim of the cup is weak and thin.

Conceptualization

Concept 1: Increasing the rim strength

From observations, it was concluded that the rim needs to be broader and stronger for better grip. To make the rim broader, we took inspiration from the corrugated sheets and formed a pattern for the cross section of the cup.

An early prototype of paper cups that make use of the currugation technique that makes the top of the cup sturdy and easy for the users to grip without deforming the cups. A swimming pool with floaters on the surface that stops water from spilling over the floor.

Concept 2: Reducing the spillage

Floats are used in swimming pools to avoid the waved formed by swimmers in their lanes. We tried to replicate the same principle in a teacup by making a smaller paper piece float on the surface of the beverage.

A photograph taken during the research phase to roleplay the scenario where a visually impaired person has to navigate, pick and then walk with a paper cup filled with beverage. A set of images showcasing the setting of the problem, a visually impaired person, a conference hall, and a stack of paper cups.

Final Concept

The corrugated rim

The rim has been given a corrugated pattern to give it strength which also makes it broader, which in turn makes it more ergonomic than the existing cup. It is generally difficult to bend paper against corrugation. Hence a few changes will be required int he manufacturing process.

A CAD model of the proposed paper cup using the corrugation at the top edge of the paper cup

The floating piece

The floating piece sits at the bottom of the cup. As you pour your beverage, it starts floating on the surface of the beverage due to density difference. The piece is held on by 4 strings which are attached at the bottom.
Stackability of the cup is not affected much by this intervention. The action of this piece was tested with physical prototypes. (

A cross section of the paper cup using a floater at the top.

The final spillproof cup in action