FloraCue

Trash Monitor and Climate Change Conversation Starter

FloraCue is a compact, box-like device designed to attach to any trash can, featuring a mechanical flower that reacts to trash levels. Using ultrasonic sensors and LED lights, FloraCue visually communicates the state of the trash can. When the bin is nearly empty, the flower is green and fully blooming, symbolizing health and sustainability. As the bin fills, the flower begins to wilt and change color to red, turning red and representing the harm caused by excessive waste.

Time

Team

Year

8 Weeks

Individual

2024

BRIEF

Given the provided materials, create a product that sparks meaningful conversation about climate change within a campus setting.

Mitigating climate change and initiating conversation amongst students.

Climate Change

Landfills are a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions, with U.S. food waste alone accounting for 170 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year. Despite growing awareness of environmental issues, the impact of daily disposal habits often goes unnoticed. This project set out to make those hidden consequences more visible and encourage greater personal responsibility in addressing climate change.

Student Conversation

A central aim of this project is to not only raise awareness but also spark dialogue among students. By embedding moments of reflection into everyday routines, the work sought to keep climate change at the forefront of campus life and foster conversations that extend beyond individual behavior toward collective responsibility.

MECHANICS AND DESIGN

FloraCue embodies a playful yet purposeful approach to environmental awareness through its interactive hardware design. At its core, the system integrates an ultrasonic sensor to monitor trash levels, an LED light strip to provide real-time feedback, and a motorized mechanism that opens and closes a flower-like form in response to user behavior.

The prototype is crafted from recycled everyday materials—spoons, straws, and corrugated plastic—underscoring the project’s commitment to sustainability. These modest components are reimagined into a cohesive design expression, where the blooming and closing motion of the flower transforms an abstract environmental issue into a tangible and relatable interaction.

Balancing functionality with symbolism, FloraCue communicates growth, decay, and responsibility through its physical gestures. The approachable and lightweight construction encourages curiosity, while the use of repurposed materials reinforces the message of mindful consumption and waste reduction.

USER RESEARCH

Think Aloud sessions showed that FloraCue’s “alive” visual cues effectively engaged users and prompted reflection on trash habits. Some participants, however, felt guilt when the flower wilted, revealing both its power to spark awareness and the need to balance emotional impact.

The UX survey showed that most users responded positively to the prototype, though opinions varied on the preferred speed of the flower’s movement. Some also felt the climate change message could have been clearer. In response, the final prototype refined the flower’s transitions to be more intuitive, enhancing its impact on waste awareness and environmental reflection. Overall, these adjustments helped strengthen both usability and the clarity of its message.

PROCESS

Rapid prototyping with components (ultrasonic sensor, servo motor, LED light strip, and power block)
Rough storyboard with initial idea (flower closing on proximity), later adjusted to close with an overfill of trash to bring more clarity to the concept of climate change
Low fidelity prototype with folding flower concept, later adjusted to mechanically open and close to provide more clarity on what the flower was doing