Coffee, a beverage consumed by nearly every (young) adult on this planet. Black gold, the drink that keeps you awake and gets you through the day. Whatever the occasion, coffee is always there to accompany you. Coffee drinks consumed out of house are most often consumed with the addition of milk foam. The addition of milk fundamentally alters the sensory experience of coffee, it reduces bitterness, astringency and adds a degree of sweetness. Frothed milk especially enhances the texture and overall mouthfeel of the drink, contributing to a luxurious and novel sensory experience.

This luxurious feeling is especially present when consuming the drink, served with beautiful latte art, in a café. At home, this luxurious feeling is far from achieved by many people. Most often, the coffee drinks with milk are served with thick, airy and dull foam. An affordable product that can reproduce café quality milk from the comfort of your home currently not offered.

The need for such a product was identified during the master elective Build Your Start-up at the Delft University of Technology. This thesis aims to develop a working prototype of stand-alone milk steamer for coffee enthusiasts that allows them to create café quality milk foam at home. The results of this thesis will serve as a starting point for the further development to one day be used by many people around the globe.

During this project, the target group for such a product was formed and product wishes were identified through user research, market analysis and expert interviews. These wishes were combined to identify the required theoretical knowledge about milk foaming and foaming technologies for the further development of prototypes.

Fluid and thermodynamics models were created to aid the identification of promising technologies. Three heating technologies were identified that could showed promise for the creation of a stand-alone milk steamer. These technologies were evaluated using physical prototypes. Eventually, custom nozzles were designed to complete the prototypes. These prototypes were evaluated with experts and deemed very capable of reproducing café quality milk foam.

The final prototype that is revealed during the final presentation will serve as a prototype that serves multiple purposes. It serves as a technology demonstrator which can be further developed. Furthermore, it can be used as a tool to gather funds for the further development of the concept. All with the goal of eventually manufacturing and shipping a product to many customers.

This report details the design of a decentralized water treatment system for use in Nepal, which currently lacks improved sanitation for 10.8 million people and a water contamination rate of 71 percent. This contributes to the approximately 140,000 deaths per year from diarrheal illnesses caused by such bacterial contamination. To combat this, the Phutung Research Institute (PRI) in Nepal has developed a low-cost optical sensor that can detect pathogenic bacteria in water. This sensor is a vast improvement over existing tools used to assess water quality, such as consumable test kits or laboratory analysis. However, detecting contaminated water is only one of two steps necessary to provide safe water to those who need it - the water must be cleaned. Such is the purpose of this project: to integrate this sensor in a design that both detects contaminated water and purifies it for people in Nepal. In addition to providing a practical application for PRI’s technology, this project applies other areas of design to create a holistic product intended to operate through its complete life-cycle within Nepal. User ethnography was researched to identify a ubiquitous water tank system as the implementation point, allowing for a single design to be applicable throughout Nepal’s diverse population. This also yielded additional pain points that are addressed to increase the acceptability of this product design in Nepal. Manufacturing and maintenance research yielded a modular architecture that can be constructed in Nepal as much as possible, thereby shortening supply lines and reducing costs while stimulating the local economy. Such a system also allows for the maintenance of sensitive components in the field without specialist intervention. These elements were combined to create a TRL 6 prototype designed to detect bacteria within a home’s water supply and automatically eliminate it with chlorine treatment. It is intended to both demonstrate PRI’s technology and to facilitate field testing in Nepal. This was done while improvising a design method called ‘Who, Why, How into What’. A new method was necessary to organize a project in which multiple diverged areas of design development had to occur simultaneously over a short period of time, barring the use of more traditional and better-defined design methods.

Morphing Matter is a soft-robotic material with a bit of a personality. When applied to the seated context, it can sense posture and simply nudge the user in the right direction by providing support through the contact surface. This project focuses on developing a scalable soft robotic material with programmable behaviour. The project is aimed at creating a tool for the exploration of how dynamic seating can be designed to trigger behavioural change for health and wellbeing. This highlights a quality that we can expect most materials of the future to demand: the ability to be dynamic! With

This report concerned the development of a soft robotic module for a seat pan, its optimization and application. The soft robotic module has an LED and photosensors for determining the distance of indentation and the passive force created by compressing the foam spring inside. An air pressure sensor is used to determine the active force created when an air pump inflates the bellow with air. The system is trained by machine learning to calculate predictions of these distance and forces in real-time. In several iterations of the module the reproducibility and accuracy were developed in such a way that it could be built into a seat. Two modules are built into a seat pan and interestingly participants on the seat were able to experience significant comfort differences, showing that the principle works. Further development is needed to make a seat pan with more modules, combined with a central computing system that monitors, records and regulates the modules. Exploration of simplification by using a linear regression instead of a neural network to calculate the active force is recommended, as well exploration of improved functionality by dividing the neural network that calculates the distance of indentation.

IMO - Millennium is a smart, modular au- dio mixing system. It is designed to cater to the music routing needs of a modern household. High fidelity, uncompromising, analogue audio pathways mixed with digital controls. Aesthetics that compliment music equipment of any era, and materials that
will last for ever. Starting off with two audio inputs and one output, it can also expand, with the installation of additional audio mod- ules, in order to accommodate more audio sources. Moreover, with extension plug-ins, it can support music protocols other than a raw audio signal, in order to keep up with new technologies. Those form fitted blocks can introduce Bluetooth, AirPlay, Optical, or even Phono Pre-amplification functional- ities and so on. Wi-Fi connectivity enables remote control of the console’s motorised volume knobs, through a mobile application. IR receivers and transmitters, hidden out of sight, can identify pattern signals of tradi- tional remote controls and replicate them, gaining this way control of other devices in the room. Each audio channel is also equipped with a customisable button and its function can be programmed to the users liking.
Sustainable design, with minimised environ- mental impact and great repairability. IMO is using a short bill of materials, most of which are either already recycled or great for recycling at end of life. Reversible fasteners are dominating the structure, without the use of any destructive adhesives. The sim- ple assembly of the housing and the elec- tronics, make repairs easy and essentially fool-proof. A single HEX key (Allen key), is needed to fully dismantle the entire product. Common, off-the-shelf electronics, that are easy to understand and identify, are used for the internal circuits. Internal circuitry communications are handled by connectors widely available to the public, making re- pairs even more manageable.

This master thesis analyses and proposes a design for a direct air capture (DAC) unit as part of a small scale, solar powered methanol synthesis plant. This project analyses the existing process and design by ZEF BV and explores solutions for mass manufacturing a direct air capture unit. As a result a concept design solution is found and analyzed on cost and environmental impact. To achieve this, several product design methods have been applied, including idea generation and prototyping, all in an iterative process. Sub-solutions have been designed an tested and are brought together in a system architecture to form a product. A direct air capture unit provides an access point to capture CO2 and water from air and turn air into methanol with the power of sunlight. A viable product design can be achieved by integrating product functions in single components rather than making components fulfill a single function. In this way,
resources can be used effectively. This thesis shows that it is possible to make such a product, however, many aspects leave room for improvement or may need to change depending on other the needs of other systems of a small scale methanol synthesis plant. It provides a base for a next generation of DAC design.

The goal of this Master thesis was preventing the onset of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI), Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) and technostress among computer workers through encouraging them to take more breaks at work. The project was executed in a collaboration with TU Delft and R-Go Tools and took approximately six months. RSI, CVS and technostress affect the personal as well as the professional happiness of computer workers. Among different preventions, aimed at decreasing the risk of developing these syndromes, implementing frequent breaks at work, especially macro breaks, seems to be very promising. Unfortunately, the existing anti-RSI software, aimed at facilitating breaks at work, is considered to be annoying and disturbing. Therefore, the majority of computer workers still take an insufficient number of breaks, putting themselves at a high risk of developing the aforementioned chronic diseases. The analysis of the problem included literature review, company analysis, user research and context analysis. Afterwards, different ideas addressing the problem were generated based on the formulated list of requirements. Consequently, the best ideas were developed into concepts. In the end, Break Bottle was chosen as the most suitable solution for the assigned problem. This concept is a smart bottle which encourages users to drink water, to refill the bottle and, eventually, to go to the toilet. The signals come from changes in the appearance of the object. Consequently, the users are expected to take three different macro breaks. The lights were chosen for communicating with the user. Different light sequences are supposed to trigger different responses from the user. The lights are placed inside the shell behind transparent indents. The form of the bottle enables firmer grasping and holding of the object. The grey paint and the green lights together make the bottle look either lively or lifeless depending on whether the lights are switched on or off. Moreover, the product fits well in the office environment, presenting itself both sleek and elegant. The existing anti-RSI software of R-Go Tools needs to be adjusted for controlling the bottle. The type of signal coming from the bottle depends on whether the user drinks the sufficient amount of water and takes enough breaks. A crucial part of the software is a seduction algorithm whose aim is to indirectly make users take more breaks at work. The main objective of the project has been met since the designed product facilitates taking bre¬aks at work by computer workers. The annoyance with the product is expected to be lower than with the existing anti-RSI software since the users already accept the proposed breaks. Moreover, the product facilitates taking macro breaks which increases the chance of preventing the onset of RSI, CVS and technostress. Since the bottle looks very appealing, it is foreseen that the users will be willing to interact with it. Therefore, it is expected that computer workers behaviour will change in response to the appropriate signals coming from the product.

One of the major challenges that low income countries have been facing for decades is to attain food security. The project covered in this report investigates how solar adsorption refrigeration technology can be used to achieve a higher level of food security in West-Africa. More specifically, the study aims to conceptualize suitable product proposals that integrate the technology in order to improve food security, be profitable and provide a more environmentally sustainable alternative to current food conservation practices. To this end, the principle of food security is explored. Technological and contextual research
is subsequently executed. Findings are incorporated in the design phase during which 3 concepts are proposed and evaluated. The most promising concept, the Solar Stall, is detailed in the embodiment phase.

“Food security, exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for
an active and healthy life” (US Global Change Research Program et al., 2015). Solar energy based refrigeration means can improve food security in two manners. Firstly, solar powered refrigeration presents the opportunity to adequately preserve produce, extending shelf life and therefore reducing produce loss due to spoilage. A reduction of produce loss in turn provides a higher level of food security. Secondly, solar powered refrigeration can enable an
increase in domestic food production, which has a major impact on food security. These two components are leading parameters throughout research and conceptualization.

Solar adsorption refrigeration utilizes the processes of adsorption and evaporative cooling to provide refrigeration. These processes are driven by temperature fluctuations within the system, which are instigated through solar heat capture. The main advantage of solar adsorption refrigeration is that it has the potential to be very cost effective, making it particularly suitable for low income coutries. Its main disadvantage is a relatively restricted efficiency caused by poor utilization of heat to trigger
adsorption. The underlying reasons are
addressed within the technology section of this report.

The state of food security differentiates among all nations in West-Africa. The contextual research that was performed during this project therefore looks at both Ivory Coast, which is considered to exhibit a high degree of food security, and Liberia, which is considered to exhibit a low degree of food security. An understanding of these extremes allows to establish a spectrum of data that is representative for the entire West-African region. The value chains of perishable goods of both countries were analysed. Based on early findings, the research
is narrowed to specifically consider the retail link of the value chain, where produce is sold in open-air markets. The research concludes that the stimulation of domestic food production in countries with a state of food security similar to Liberia, should be the main objective of
the product proposal. Furthermore, the research points towards fish and meat retailers in the open-air markets, which supply the general public with their daily groceries, as the most beneficial target group.

Three suitable concepts have been developed and evaluated based on their impact in terms of food security, profitability and environmental sustainability. The Solar Stall substitutes the current market stall and incorporates a cooled compartment for produce conservation. This concept was considered to comply best with the specified requirements and was therefore
detailed during the final stage of the project.