As a team we designed a smart ring called Nootro to help employees with their stress management.
Problem
Many employees have experienced burnout at some point in their careers. Burnout leads to disengaged employees and is costly to companies.
Insights
59% of individuals who have been diagnosed with burnout are also diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.
Solution
Nootro, a fidget spinner smart ring that coaches employees how to have better stress management in their everyday lives.
Brief
The pandemic has forced many people and many companies to re-evaluate what “work” looks like. In the time when most knowledge-based work is done from home the productivity has grown and meetings became more inclusive. At the same time the number of those meetings has increased and all the workers, on all levels of the hierarchy, complain about the “Zoom fatigue.”
Goal: Re-evaluate what knowledge based “work” looks like and imagine a better way to work.
Project Objective
The project brief asked to re-imagine the collaborative process. A person needs to be stable and present to collaborate productively.
It’s impossible to be present when you’re in a stage of burnout.
Therefore, by solving the problem of burnout, we are, in turn, re-imagining the collaborative process as one that involves healthy relationships, enthusiasm, resilience, and fully present team members.
Target Audience
Males and females 26-50 years old working 40+ hours per week and have an annual income of $120,000+. (Think founders, CEOs, engineers, developers, members of independent VCs, and directors)
The platform empowers teachers to create a project-based learning virtual environment. A Smart Assistant API will be integrated to help moderate and share information based on learning material without the use of the internet.
Stats
Pivoting
Ear Cuff
Through our rounds of presentations we realized designing an ear EEG was not feasible for measuring stress levels in employees.
Some limitations we ran into with an ear cuff design were its small size, limitations of sensors, and catering to a wider audience.
Smart Ring
A smart ring can have a variety of sensors to measure employee’s levels of stress. We also wanted to design something that caters to a wider audience. Some employees might not want to wear an ear cuff.
Why a fidget spinner ring?
59% of individuals who have been diagnosed with burnout are also diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.
Physical Prototyping
We each prototyped the ring using different materials to showcase the fidget spinning mechanism. The different materials we used included plastic, cardboard, and clay.
The charging docks were put together using a variety of materials. Our goal was to design a wireless charging dock that could be used with different ring sizes.
Ring Mechanisms
3D Modeling
Tech Specs
Ring Materials
Outside: ultra-light titanium alloy with a scratch-resistant coating.
Inside: medical grade biocompatible plastic with steel and gold plating on the charging contacts.
Mobile UI Notifications
While the Nootro ring is measuring data from its users the compatible app will make sense of this data and send meaningful insights to the user where they can learn more info about how to have better stress management.
Mobile UI Feedback
Before feedback
After Feedback
Successes
Challenges
Future Possibilities