After writing the requirement specification for the robot, we came up with a bunch of sketches on how the robot could look like. Analysing the existing concept ideas, we could design a final mopping robot concept that would include the must-have features the best. 

I specified the design in a blueprint and then build it in Autodesk Alias. Afterwards, I  delivered it to my project partner, who rendered the robot in Maya.

In the end, we came up with a round basic shape, so that it can easily turn around in a corner and continue driving (the insights have shown that many current robots get stuck in corners).  

The rear side of the device is characterised by a concave indentation, where all connections for the charging station can be found (battery, water, cleaning liquid). The insights have shown that the tanks of current mopping robots are too small so they only allow to clean approx. 20 square meters - then the tank must be refilled manually. As the user would like the robot to mop their whole flat while they aren’t at home , it was considered a must-have feature, that the robot can refill himself. Therefore we also came up with a concept of a docking station, that could not only recharge the battery but also the water and cleaning liquid tank. 

Another users concern was that they were afraid when it comes to the combination of electronics and water. Therefore the design visually separated the electronics area (front part with high gloss material and touchscreen) from the rest of the tank area.  

As an extra feature we implemented a room fragrance function - therefore, two vitreous tanks are placed on both sides of the robot. 

The defined must have features and the design of the mopping robot were the base for designing the smartHome App. 

First, we structured the features into a system architecture and then designed wireframes for 4 specific use cases, which were chosen based on the defined features and scenarios. When the wireframes were designed, we created a simple click dummy to test with users. After several iterations we finalised the layout and started to design the conclusive prototype. 

In Use Case 1, the user starts the App and select a device. As he choses Charbie, he can start an immediate cleaning event for one or more rooms and also choose the type of cleaning (wet, damp, dry). Once the cleaning event is started, the screen shows the current state including remaining time and area. The user can pause the cleaning event and either restart it or reschedule the continuation for a later moment. The rescheduled cleaning event will be shown on the start screen.

In Use Case 2, the user can create a new cleaning order, which will be added to the cleaning schedule of the mopping robot “Charbie”. The user can choose the room, the type of cleaning (wet, damp, dry) as well as the start OR end time and the mode of repetition. The cleaning order will appear in the smart home schedule, where it also can be edited or moved to another day or time. 

In Use Case 3, the user can check the current water level in both the robot and the station. Moreover he can define a water level to get a notification. He can do the same thing for the dirty water level.

Use Case 4 regards the appliance of room fragrance. Here the user can either spray a specific room fragrance immediately or add a standardised room fragrance to the cleaning orders of each room.