Noah Koshy
Designer · Sydney
Case № 08
Physical Design
Sprout Cat
In a team of five, I owned the design and creative narrative of a cat-shaped plant health monitor, which won both the Best Prototype and People's Choice awards at the inaugural 2022 UTS Tech Festival.
RoleDesigner & Maker · UTS
Team5 people
Timeline
I ownedSolution Design & Creative Narrative
Note to self
A video walkthrough of the finished prototype.
Play the video to hide the "Note to Self" sticky.
The sixty-second version
Problem
People who had kept plants during COVID lockdowns were struggling to continue maintaining them.
What I did
I designed how the prototype would function, and wrote the creative narrative that tied its features together: a pot plant insert with a digital face showing how healthy the plant is.
Result
It won both the Best Prototype Award and the People's Choice Award at the inaugural 2022 UTS Tech Festival, as the only group to win more than one award on the day.
- 2 awards
- Best Prototype and People's Choice, at the inaugural 2022 UTS Tech Festival
- Only group
- to win more than one award on the day
- 6 paper prototypes
- made by me as propositions, each included in the final design partially or fully
↓
More details below if you want the reasoning.
§ 01
The Problem
Plants kept during COVID lockdowns, and owners struggling to keep them alive.
"A real-time plant health monitor measuring light, humidity, pH level and moisture of a plant in real time, housed in a cat-shaped box to be inserted directly into a pot plant."
What I couldn't change
01
One subject, from February to June 2022, to go from ideation to a working prototype.
02
A physical build was a new development method for everyone in the group.
03
Everything had to fit into a pot plant insert, with the electronics controlled by an Arduino.
§ 02
The Work
The finished prototype, and the day it won two awards.
Plate 01. Final prototype on display.
Plate 02. Team photo at Tech Festival.
Plate 03. Award presentation.
§ 04 — Decisions & trade-offs
One particularly notable finding was that when there was an emotional attachment between an owner and their plant, it correlated to better care and a reduced likelihood of the plants dying prematurely.
One decision that led to that finding, and one that was built on it.
01
/ 02
Decision 01
Who I chose to interview
Chose
Focusing my interviews on the positively ageing population.
Gave up
Interviews with a younger demographic.
Why
They were more expressive about their wants and needs from a problem-solving product.
Decision 02
A digital face for the plant
Chose
A digital face showing expressions based on the measurements of the plant, and whether it sat in an ideal healthy range.
Gave up
The other ideas proposed during ideation, many of them rejected due to time, resource and value constraints.
Why
This Tamagotchi-inspired mechanic was designed to strengthen the emotional connection between an owner and their plant, whilst ensuring information could be visually understood at a glance.
§ 05
Impact & what I'd change
My first physical prototype, and the only group to win more than one award on the day.
Looking back
Our group and the end product were both highly successful, with us being nominated by our tutor and approved by the subject coordinator, to present at the inaugural UTS Tech Festival, and as the only undergraduate group from this subject to be offered this. If I did it again, I would test it with plant owners from the target audience as well, not only with our tutor and fellow students.
— Noah
Physical Design · Data Visualisation
Best Prototype & People's Choice Awards
Arduino, Physical Electronic Sensors
§ 06
Plates
Two stills from the video: the device up close, and on the demo table.
Up close, with the live readings beside the face.
Demo table.
© Noah Koshy, 2022-2026.
Sprout Cat · Scrapbook-styled Portfolio