Inspiration

We wanted to find a problem that college students actually experience, so we asked kids around school what their current experience is with Yale Laundry. We heard about people getting hit in the head with dryer doors, laundry services providing wrinkled clothes, and roommates forgetting Tidepods or laundry detergent. However, the biggest problems we found and resonated with the most were stolen items, forgetting detergent, moving other peoples items, lint and germs on top of dryers, and maintenance of laundry machines.

A majority of complaints had in common was the lack of communication about what to do with a laundry machine that was done. We then made it our goal to solve this problem through communication.

What it does

MoveMe is an app that allows users to communicate with one another when using laundry machines. Users can see when their laundry is done, communicate with other people, and give permission for someone to move their clothes.

The washing machines would have a screen with a GUI and touchscreen capability. Users would also have the app with notifications turned on so they can see when their laundry is done. The app would be installible from a QR code on the washing machine.

Users have assigned bin numbers and storage units that correspond to the amount of washing machines there are. For example, if there are 8 washing machines and 8 dryers, there will be 8 storage bins locked and corresponding to the washer you put it in that would only be open with your approval in app.

When using the washing machines, users specify details regarding along how long it will take for them to get their clothes so individuals know when to come around. They can also give a time where someone is allowed to move their clothes. For example, they could say "I will be back around 5:10 pm. If I am not back at around 5:20 you can open my washer and put my clothes in the bin."

The laundry machine touchscreen also has quick prompts featuring: "Would you like me to move your clothes to the bin for you?", "Please come get your clothes.", and "You forgot to start the machine." The user on the mobile app can type full sentences to respond to the others.

The laundry machine and washer are locked in the app and only open with your approval.

How we built it

We coded an app that allows users to communicate with one another. Juntian learned to vibe code via YouTube and Cursor and turned all of our original ideas into a real story.

We took the problems we found from asking college students about their laundry experiences and turned them into features for the app. We also created an app demo to show how our solution could work.

Challenges we ran into

Because we were majorly relying on college users for our data, there was no guarantee they would respond, as responses were completely voluntary. This caused our first response from the message Jaiden proposed to come 2 days after posing the question, which, given our time constraints, was really scary.

Another challenge was realizing that everybody has different issues. In the brainstorming process, we came across a girl who has trouble reaching bins, a problem that we have never had to encounter. This put into perspective how important it is to specify the genre or amount of people you are trying to reach.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud that we took a problem that college students actually experience and turned our original ideas into a real app concept and demo.

We are also proud that we found a problem where there are quite literally no solutions to stolen clothes and moving other people's clothes out at Yale. We focused on these problems because they affect the majority of people in our intended market, which is the general Yale student population.

Theoretically, our solution would lower the rate of stolen items tremendously, as not just anybody can open laundry machines anymore. Movement of items would now be easily communicated beforehand, and the frequency of dissatisfied college students with clothes being lost or put in random places decreases tremendously.

What we learned

We learned that everybody has different issues with laundry. Because of this, it is important to specify the genre or amount of people you are trying to reach.

We also learned that there are problems that we did not originally think about, like people having trouble reaching bins. We could have discussed with other college student populations about their laundry struggles and created physical solutions to separate laundry issues, such as a dispensable Tidepod machine for people who forget their detergent or automating detergent within the machine so students don't need to buy it.

What's next for MoveMe

We want to use feedback from this pilot to help future versions. We also want to explore a new design with washers at the top and dryers at the bottom, where a chute would open at the end of your wash cycle and gravity would funnel your clothes in the wash into the dryer and start automatically for you. Users could add customizable drying settings beforehand and implement the clothing locker solution for the dryer afterwards.