Organic Electronics: Engineering Grand Challenges
This was built as part of the CMU Graduate-level course "Grand Challenges in Engineering." The class focused on one of the fourteen Grand Challenges for Engineering posed by the National Academy of Engineering. Each group in the class focused on one of the Challenges, identifying a problem that related to that Challenge and developing a futuristic (20+ years) product concept that would address that problem. This course was in 2012 so it was fun imagining what the trends would be in the year 2032.
Our team's task was the improvement of Urban Infrastructure, with a focus on electronic waste recycling. We identified cell phones as one of the largest contributors of e-waste and sought to design a product that would be functional but still have low environmental impact when it reaches the end of its life. Our research led us to the concept below, a cell phone with organic-based electronics and recyclable parts.
The cell phone would feature a flexible screen, similar to the organic LED screens that were available in 2012. Wearable electronics were just starting to become popular, so we imagined that this futuristic cell phone would also become a watch or bangle that you could wear on your arm. The phone would also be equipped with sensors that could take health-related measurements like heart rate, calorie expenditure, and blood pressure. The phone hinges would need to be robust to withstand multiple bending cycles, but also be aesthetically pleasing. I was responsible for all CAD development and rendering in SolidWorks, and I am proud of the concepts shown below.
The most interesting thing about this course was that everything we imagined had the possibility of becoming reality...and it did! We dreamed up this flexible device with health sensors in 2012, and in 2015 both the Apple Watch and Fitbit Charge HR launched. In 2014 I had the privilege to work on the Microsoft Band, a flexible wearable electronic device that measured heart rate and calorie expenditure! In 2015 I also got to help launch the Surface Book, a convertible computer device with a dynamic fulcrum hinge that looked just like our phone concept.
Our model was based on the iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S3. We thought that physical buttons would continue to be the trend on future devices so we added physical home and back/menu buttons (similar to Android phones).
Phone in the "Watch Mode." This was the full range of travel for the phone, which was intended to fit around your wrist as a jewelry piece.
We included front- and rear-facing cameras, a flash module, speakers, headphone jack, buttons and micro USB charging ports on the model.
Here you can see the rows of sensors we imagined would be on the back of the device. This was very similar to other health sensors on devices that would eventually come out in the next few years (like the Microsoft Band and Apple Watch)!
Exploded view of the phone showing most of the components. We imagined that there would also be flexible circuitry that would be either lining the inside of the hinge components or going through the center of the device, as well as some batteries that were hidden in the top and bottom parts of the phone.
We also imagined that the device would come with an optional wrist strap, for those who would like to secure the device to their body during activities involving lots of movement (like running).