The Challenge: To design an affordable ultrasonic water meter that can fit on any pipe sized from .25in to 1in.
The Team: Three mechanical engineers and two industrial designers
The Sponsor: Soneter (a local start-up at the time)
Competitions: Georgia Tech Capstone Design Competition
Awards: Best Industrial Design Project and People's Choice Award
The Lesson: The most important thing I learned from this project is how to design a user interface from initial sketches, to wireframes, to mock-ups, to user tests, to prototype.
The Result: Our team designed a wireless, ultrasonic water meter that was able to fit on pipes sized from .25in to 1in. Our estimated price for the product was under $40. Our final prototype was completely functional and was continued in research and usage with our sponsor, Soneter. The water meter was designed in addition to an iOS application for consumers to use when monitoring their water usage. The application required a basic business plan to be designed in order for Soneter to make a profit off their highly affordable product. This plan was implemented in the creation of user levels on the application.