What is the “Leila’s Potty Time”?

“Leila’s Potty Time” is a travel size, disposable and biodegradable child potty, intended for kids between 2 and 6 years old. 

What makes it unique is its ability to be folded into a compact shape that allows it to be transported in travel bags, most shoulder bags, and be transformed into a usable child potty when necessary. The structure itself is designed for multiple uses. A water tight plastic bag is fitted over structure to collect the waste after which it can be disposed.

The product is made out of corrugated cardboard sheets and as such is itself biodegradable.

How the Idea Came About?

What sparked the idea for this product was the necessity for such a product during the last vacation travel with two little kids. After some research we found that there are travel size potties available in couple of variations, multi-use or single use. 

However, multi-use travel size potties are generally made out of plastic and as such are too bulky and not quite ideal to carry around in suitcases or handbags.

Similarly, single use potties are usually made out of some type of biodegradable material such as cardboard, paper, etc. and usually come either in a preassembled box form or foldable arrangement. Preassembled potties have the same disadvantage as regular potties, they are bulky in size and shape.

Our foldable potties on the other hand address all these issue since they can be folded into a compact form. In contrast to other foldable potties, our product is designed for multiple use.

Product Development

Design

After several months of product design, fabrication and testing of several prototypes, we have arrived at a design that meets all of our objectives. Primary design requirements were compactness, lightness and sturdiness, ease of use, ability to support required weight and strict hygiene requirements.

The product consists of 3 major components: Top Ring, Bottom Ring and the Side Wall. The Top and Bottom Rings are, as the name suggests, two rings, one used as the seat and the other one as the ground. Those two are fully interchangeable. Both rings contain major opening for the placement of the waste bag (2 - 4 gallon bags fit best). Additionally, there are 6 Lock-In slots which safely lock the Side Wall in place and provide the structure stability. These two components are made out of double wall cardboard sheet for increased strength and sturdiness.

The Side Wall is a single wall cardboard sheet with perforations that allow it to be shaped into a hexagon. Wall also contains the Lock-in tabs that fit into the Top and Bottom Rings to provide structure stability. Additionally, the length of one tab was extended to function as the splash guard for boys.

In the folded shape the product is 9 inches in diameter and roughly 1 inch thick. When the “Leila’s Potty Time” is unfolded into its functional shape it is roughly 5.5 inches tall. The opening on the center is 5 inches at its smallest dimension. The total weight is less than 100 grams or 3.52 ounces.

Fabrication

At this stage we are using an Epilog laser cutter with maximum working space of 24” x 18”. This process is very simple and produces a very clean cut product. However, its major drawback is relatively slow speed which is not intended for large quantity production runs. While we plan to continue using this method for the fabrication of the products that will be delivered to our pledges we ultimately plan to use more appropriate mass manufacturing methods such as die cutting or stamping operations. Part of the future development is to research and identify appropriate fabrication method.

Testing

The final design had to undergo several tests. First test addressed the maximum load that the structure could support without showing any signs of buckling, crushing, deforming, etc. This test was performed by placing the product under a hydraulic press. A digital load cell was placed on the top of a rigid plate that uniformly distributed the load pressure from the press onto the top of structure. This testing showed that under uniformly distributed static loading this structure could survive without any visible signs of damage over 200 pounds of force. This load is more than adequate to support our target group.

The second test was intended to show how many times could the product be folded and unfolded before showing any signs of tear at the crease lines or any other location. Basically, this was done by simply repeating the folding and assembling the structure. We stopped the test after 50 cycles since no visible signs of damage were observed. We concluded that the product can be assembled and disassembled without any impact on the product’s integrity throughout the whole time of the product’s life cycle. The third and most important test was the real life application. Our product testers were real children from the correct age and weight groups.  We were observing product’s performance in everyday conditions as well as how well the product was received, i.e. its user friendliness among children and their parents. While the product performed flawlessly in controlled conditions, we do not want to speak about product’s reception among regular public because we are in fact biased by thinking that this product IS the best thing since sliced bread; we would however, like you to make that decision for yourselves.

Who we are?

Following people were involved in this project in their particular role:

Emina:    Product Testing and Mom

Leila & Belma:  Product Testing and Daughters

Dragan:    Prototyping and Friend

Lilly:    Graphical Design and Friend

How would we spend your money?

Largest portion of the money we raise would go to the manufacturing of the product and shipping it to our customers. The remaining portion of the funds would go towards making this product market ready. This includes the research of a more appropriate mass production process. Ideally, we would like to own all tooling and make the parts ourselves. This requires potential investment in the fabrication of the die cutting tools. As for the marketing, we plan to build a website as a starting point through which we would like to offer this product. Furthermore, currently this product is patent pending but we plan to file for the full patent protection.

With your help we will spend money in the following way:

·  Fabrication and Shipping:  45%

·  Mass Production Fabrication Research:   15%

·  Marketing:  20%

·  Patent:  20%

Rewards

At this point we are offering this product in four different colors: Yellow, Green, Blue and Red. Each set will come with 10 water tight plastic waste bags and one zip lock bag for storage.

·  $25 Pledge:  One set in your choice of available colors

·  $35 Pledge:  One set in your choice of available colors with personalized engraved note with your child’s name in the front of the Side Wall

·  $80 Pledge:  Complete set of four (one color each)

·  $120 Pledge: Complete set of four (one color each) with personalized engraved note with your child’s name in the front of the Side Wall.

Project Time Line

Once the project starts the fabrication process is divided into 4 steps. Assuming that there are no major delays the production time-line will look as follows:

·  Cardboard sheets purchase and delivery:  1 week

·  Cardboard sheets precutting for the laser cutter:  1 week

·  Laser cutting the units:  4-5 weeks

·  Packaging and Mailing:  1 week 

Risks and Challenges

Couple of things could slightly delay timely fabrication. First one is the availability of the cardboard sheets in desired color and quantity. To minimize this risk few sources have already been identified as potential suppliers. As for the laser cutting of the product, we use a publicly available laser cutter at a local fabrication shop. As such, we only have limited daily access to the laser cutter and can produce around 35 - 50 units a day.