Final Results

While the final tea leaf jar prototypes were well-received by the audience during the demo day, the time and effort required to make them the way that we did suggests that it would be very difficult to scale up the production of the jars. As most of the challenge was in applying the designs to the jar surfaces, it would be beneficial to explore other ways of painting the designs on. The jar designs should also be simplied as much as possible to shorten the production time.

Another problem encountered by the team was in the making of the lids. Originally, the entire lid (base and top dome) is designed to have the same texture. However, it was very difficult to give the styrofoam domes a smooth surface like the base, even with the putty. Therefore, moving forward, the top dome could also be made of foam core instead of styrofoam to achieve a more consistent surface finish.

The turning mechanism worked perfectly with the dedents providing tactile feedback to the players. However, some players commented that the jars were a bit jerky during the turning. This could be improved by using some sort of lubrication and ensuring that the Switch mechanism works well with the turntable.

The mechanical switch mechanism developed was not robust enough. Even though its unique and innovative design reduces the need for components such as a slip ring, the resulting mechanism actually got bent out of shape when the jars were turned too hard. As a mechanical switch may not be so reliable, it would be good to look at alternative mechanisms for detecting the state of the jar. Some alternatives would include non-contact switches such as magnetic sensors. RFID or even barcode scanners could be used to sense the different sides of the jars.