Focus/theme: dishwashing
Having planned on taking advantage of my Father and I mixing company at our joint dinner parties, I was a little sidetracked by my best friend getting engaged and my dad leaving town for the weekend.
That said, I made this work.
Soooo, a day late, I got me a pretty diverse group of ages and backgrounds:
In the mid twenties we had a painter, a Bio-medical enginer and a Dell I.T. administrative professional.
We also had a retired lawyer and a professional videographer.
For warmup we did a brief improve game where one person was handed an object and then they had to think of a new use for it before handing it on. We started with a wine glass that was later an Oscar, a telescope, a fez, a microphone, and later a bazooka.
The brainstorming went like this:
I primed 'em best I could and then set em to doing 3 minutes of brainstorming.
At the end of those I made 'em brainstorm bad ideas for 2 minutes (which is my favorite part).
I was tempted to made the guys go back to brainstorming but our I.T. professional suggested we take a break, drink a few, and then get back to it. In the spirt of "Yes, and..." I complied.
In the mean-time my dad got excited and decided to do some reinactments of certain bug lists.
Half an hour later I picked a role for one brainstormer to rolestormer and then they picked a role for the next brainstormer to rolestorm.
We got roles like this for 2.5 minutes:
Astronaut
Mortician
Water-conservation professional
Lawyer
Day care provider
Then we had 1 minute to brainstorm one good idea.
Sending each participant into the adjacent room to pick four or five of their favorite ideas, we came up with the following 20:
Bottomless sink (dishes fall to basement storage)
Faucet dispensing juice and booze
Bleach dishwashing fluid
Tornado sink
Shark teeth lined gloves
Hydrocholic acid blender
blood/grime erasing spray
rubber mat with studs to support plates in sink
selfwashing plates with grime resistant surfaces
disposal that sends used water to toilet tank
soap that contains pheromones (convinces partner to do dishes)
glove sponge
disposal with exposed/safe parts
sink that looks like truck crashed into wall (car cupboard)
sink that senses when dishes are clean with laser
cieling sink (sink that rises out of view to soak/contain dishes)
A ferret on Angel Dust/PCP to be let loose in sink with suds to wash plates
hardening dishsoap that cracks off plates when it is clean
sink without water or faucet
Direct quote: "sink with timed C4 explosives for extra incentive, because %$@# you, the dishes are done soaking, now you are just being lazy you worthless @#$#$"
sink in a ball pen
So, that was that. Then we drank more and had like a 3 course meal. Nice.
Total ideas: 56
Individuals: 5
Minutes: 8.5
I was kindof surprised to see my favorite ideas not chosen, being a dish-scrubbing slot adjactent to disposal drain, not to mention a dishwashing screen with gloves like certain lab chambers.
http://www.labsafety.com/images/regular/-LSS-_i_lbw146765.jpg
Firstly, the ferret on drugs plate-washing method might just be my favorite idea yet!
SCAMPER – I chose the Faucet Dispensing Juice and Booze idea.
Substitute: Can I use other ingredients or materials?
Expand to a “beverage-dispensing sink” that lets you add the beverages of your choice.
Combine: What can be combined to maximize the number of uses?
Additional feature that indicates when a beverage reservoir is low
Adapt: Is there something similar, but in a different context?
Indicate beverage options with tabs and buttons similar to a soda fountain machine
Magnify/Modify: Can I add extra features or somehow add extra value?
Link the system to the refrigerator to keep beverages cold and take up less counter space.
Put to other use: How could a child use it?
Faucet is made with easy-to-use buttons so a child can use it easily. This prevents dropping pitchers and getting Kool-Aid or milk all over the counter.
Eliminate: Should I split it into different parts?
Make beverage lines adjustable so you can add/remove them easily.
Rearrange: What arrangement might be better?
Build into the refrigerator door instead of sink so it takes up little room.
Now my second idea: Bottomless sink
Substitute: Can I change its name?
The lowering sink: platform gently transports plates to other compartment
Combine: What materials can be combined?
Soft, rubber-lined compartment keeps plates from breaking during transport
Adapt: What ideas could I incorporate?
Incorporate a conveyor belt to safely and quickly move dishes to drying rack
Magnify/Modify: Can I add extra features or somehow add extra value?
As the dishes are being transported, they pass beneath a drying feature
Put to other use: Can I use this idea in other markets or industries?
Fast conveyer belt positioned next to sink transports cleaned dishes to rack and sorts them for quick turn-around
Eliminate: Should I split it into different parts?
Separate compartments prevent breaking dishes and simplify design
Rearrange: What arrangement might be better?
Instead of moving the dishes, keep them stationary and move the sink to the dishes!