Project Narrative

Kimberly is an individual with Usher’s syndrome who struggles with vision and hearing loss. She spends a lot of time in her kitchen as she enjoys cooking. Particularly, she needs to spend additional time positioning pots and pans on the stove and relies on her phone to centre the pots. A design that can remove the need for phone use and maintain an organized stovetop would be ideal and safer. Contact points must be high contrast to ensure that Kimberly does not burn herself. An easy-to-use product would also be ideal to make cooking more efficient and easier to setup. Additionally, a budget of $100 should be used to make sure that the design is cost effective

Team’s Work and Personal Contributions

Project Objectives

• ✓ Easy to Use: Should be intuitive and require minimal setup or instruction.
• ✓ Consistent: Must reliably guide pots to center and hold lids securely with each use.
• ✓ Low Cost: Must stay under the $100 CAD budget.
• ✓ Easy to Maintain: Should be simple to clean and maintain without disassembly.
• ✓ Quick Setup Time: Must be faster and more efficient than Kimberly’s current phone-based method.

Technical Constraints

• • Must withstand high stovetop temperatures
• • Must be food safe and easy to clean
• • Visual components must meet contrast ratio (≥5:1) for visibility
• • Budget constraint: < $100
• • Must enable hands-free operation as much as possible

Core Functions

• 🎯 Assist with accurate pot placement over burners
• 🔐 Securely hold pot lids within arm's reach