Publication Date
2025
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Background: From baby food to pickles, food jars are a common find in American homes. Unfortunately, the task of opening a stiff jar lid can be very difficult for consumers with lower grip strength, parkinsons, or arthritis. While there are a variety of products on the market to help make this easier, there exist few jar openers that can be used by these consumers. Objective: This project aimed to research and develop (R&D) an improved hands-free jar opener that is accessible for consumers with the most advanced cases of limited arm strength. Methods: R&D followed a Design Thinking approach with the phases of Discovery, Synthesis, Exploring Solutions, and User Testing. The Discovery phase included a market analysis of current jar opening solutions and need-finding interviews with community members. The Synthesis phase involved synthesising the gathered data into actionable insights and tools to keep the product design user-centered. In Exploring Solutions, a variety of concepts were explored as potential jar opening solutions through physical and digital prototyping. User Testing took the form of interviews with potential users where they were presented with the proposed solution and asked questions to validate the design and gather feedback. Results: A review of current products on the market revealed that there are only two hands-free jar openers available. Interviews with stakeholders showed that participants or someone they knew would greatly benefit from an improved solution to open stiff lids. Concept exploration yielded a hands-free appliance as the most successful design. User testing validated the functional and aesthetic design of the proposed solution and revealed that the target user group would like to have this.
Repository Citation
Portugal, Gabriel, "IOTO: Never open a stiff lid again" (2025). Libraries Award for Undergraduate Scholarship. 8.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/libraries_undergraduate_scholarship/8
Reflective Essay
