Eco-Seed
"Eco-Seed" is a product I made in 2022 to solve the damage caused by people's excessive closeness to nature and received the Student Notable Honor from Core 77
After the home quarantine policy was lifted, China swiftly embraced a camping trend, seeking solace from the anxiety induced by COVID-19 and satiating its innate longing for proximity to nature. This led me to conceive Eco-Seed, driven by the ambition to mitigate the ecological footprint left by human campers and explore avenues for harmonious coexistence with nature.
The fifteenth goal of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals is 'Life on Land', with a key emphasis on promoting ecological restoration. The Eco-seed kit emerges as a potent tool to assist the United Nations in combating vegetation degradation caused by human outdoor activities. It endows the United Nations with the capacity to empower campers to actively participate in and uphold natural cycles, rather than merely focusing on forest management and imposing restrictions on outdoor activities.
In today's era of rapid innovation in almost all facets of life, it's easy to forget that one thing remains constant in speed, the growth cycle of natural life. As a result, I'm hoping that my initiative will not only inspire modern people to think, but will also help to reduce the damage caused by human activities the next time we come near to nature.
Time 6 weeks
Team Individual
Type # Sustainable Cycle Design | Material Design
Tool Figma
Design Brief
Background Research
Approximately 44% of trees and grasslands are destroyed during camping, 1/2 of which is due to campers preferring to camp where there are no human traces.
Camping Line
Primary Research
I created an interactive questionnaire using Miro and conducted interviews with various outdoor camping enthusiasts. This included two individuals with a decade of camping experience, a professional luxury camping enthusiast and the owner of a camping brand, as well as two college students who share a passion for camping. Due to the pandemic, I organized an offline workshop for some of them, while the rest participated through online meetings.
Design Process
Thinking Process
Idea & Definition
Sketch & Prototyping
Product Stability Test
Product Research & Mechanical Calculations
There are many different shapes of spikes for different terrains. Considering the Grassland-oriented and woodland-oriented design and the requirement for high strength and strong grip, I chose the following three spikes as my reference.
Based on the analysis of research, my product needs to be based on high-strength Nail-Shape Nails and incorporate some of the features of Y-Shape Nails to obtain relatively stable support and grip.
In theory, a steel or Al alloys solid stake with a cross section of 98mm² is strong enough to withstand a longitudinal tension of 2400 kg. Therefore, the choice of steel or aluminum alloy to make ground nails is strong enough.
All raw materials used to manufacture the product are available locally. For example, the seed material is provided by local forest camps, which, on the other hand, ensures the stability of the local vegetation species. The seeds are bonded in a way that mimics the nesting of swallows. A binder is used to mix the soil and seeds together and squeeze them into shape. The binder is made of only flour, sugar, white vinegar and water and is 100% degradable.
Prototype Assessment
With the solid stake and the platform, the Eco-seed kit helps the user to raise the tent 10-15cm off the ground and support at least 10 people when the conditions are right. After arriving at the campsite, the user needs to set up the Eco-seed component first, and then just set up the tent and fix it on the component as in normal cases, which will protect the lawn under the tent from damage and keep it away from bugs.
Another important task that Eco-seed allows users to accomplish is seeding. People in camping are always damaging the soil environment, which can cause more water runoff and wildlife migration. When the solid stake is pounded into the soil, the "seed part" of the Eco-seed is buried with the solid stake and remains in the soil after the camping trip, and is not pulled out with the solid stake. With sufficient moisture, seeds wrapped in biodegradable adhesives will germinate within a week. These seeds sown will complete the rapid restoration of the damaged environment and reduce the environmental problems caused by man.
