The cost of producing quality electronics, including sensors, motors, solar panels, and computers has continued to decrease over the last several decades. Technology that would not have been at all feasible ten years ago can now be made cheaper, smaller, and longer-lasting than we ever could have expected. The windows in our homes have for the most part however, maintained standardized and manual functionally.
We have tried a few new concepts along the lines of motorizing window openings in hard to reach places and experimenting with sensors, but we’re interested in new ideas in these fields and beyond. What opportunities are there to merge electronics, computers, and other technologies with windows? Which of these opportunities can we take advantage of to build awesome new windows that consumers will want to upgrade to? How can we make windows part of the "Smart Home" revolution?
Propose a means to integrate technology and electronics into (smart)windows:
1. What is your idea to incorporate technology and or electronics into standard window formats?
2. What functionalities does your technology offer and how does it provide an advantage over standard/manual windows?
3. What consumer wants, needs, and trends from the Baby Boomer and Millennial generations will your window technology meet?
4. How much more would consumers pay for this technology and why will they be willing to?
5. (Optional) Sketches, CAD renderings, drawings, mock-ups, charts, videos, graphs or any other visuals that better illustrate your idea.
Things to consider:
- Prioritize! If you have multiple functionalities to your window tech, let us know which are the most important.
- Get Creative! Unique ideas with great functions will win us over in this challenge! Suggesting something simple like a button that can open and close a window instead of an old-fashioned crank will not be creative enough.
- Focus on value! How does your idea improve the window and the lives of the consumers that use it? We want ideas that consumers will be excited to incorporate into their homes and show off to guests and visitors.
- Show us your idea! It’s listed as optional, but including schematics, a sketch, or design rendering will go a long way in winning you this design-focused challenge.
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Submissions will be graded on the following criteria:
- Meets Deliverables
- Creativity
- Clarity
| Top 5 share $750 | Next 5 share $250 |
| $150.00 |
|
Nick Chapman Nottingham | |
| $150.00 |
|
Ansh Tayal National Institute of Technology Trichy | |
| $150.00 |
|
Ethan Chlebowski North Carolina State University | |
| $150.00 |
|
Michael McDonald University of Massachusetts - Lowell | |
| $150.00 |
|
Ross Baugher University of Florida | |
| $50.00 |
|
Kevin Chen Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey | |
| $50.00 |
|
Kohl Finley University of Akron | |
| $50.00 |
|
Gagan Makhija Indian Institute of Technology - Bombay | |
| $50.00 |
|
Alex Uebelacker University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee | |
| $50.00 |
|
Emily Rose University of Illinois |
