Recently, at the 13th Zhejiang College Students Career Planning Competition, Xu Jinnan and Zhu Jiahao, students of Hangzhou Business School of Zhejiang Gongshang University, won the third prize of the innovation and creativity category of this research group with “Maglev Drying Kit – Customized Drying Solution Based on Intelligent Control of Mobile Phone”, and successfully applied for a utility model patent.
Although it is only the third prize in the category, the two students have worked hard since 2019 for this project.
Inspiration for being smashed by hangers
“Our products use the interaction of magnetic forces to attract the drying rack to the hanger within a certain range, simplifying the drying process of lifting and taking by manpower, and realizing the convenience of drying.” Talking about the effort he has spent more than two years, Xu Jinnan is full of pride.
The biggest highlight of this innovative idea is the use of magnetism instead of manpower to repeat tedious steps.
Speaking of the source of inspiration for creativity, Zhu Jiahao said that just like Newton was hit by an apple and proposed the theory of universal gravity, Xu Jinnan was accidentally hit by a drying rack when he was drying, and he burst out with a new idea of drying convenience.
Xu Jinnan said that at the beginning, he just had such an idea, so he used his spare time to read entrepreneurial books such as “From Zero to One”, “Innovation Management” and “Entrepreneur’s Dilemma”, knowing that innovation does not need a lot of resources to prepare, just need to think about the common problems around you in life, then it is possible to produce a good idea. Because he was hit by a drying rack, Xu Jinnan suddenly found the inconvenience of drying clothes and began to think about whether there was a better solution.
Self-study code to bring ideas to life
Recalling the past, Xu Jinnan said that the road was not smooth.
Because of the cost and because the drying products on the market are relatively mature, Xu Jinnan’s idea is hardly favored by anyone, including Zhu Jiahao as his roommate.
Xu Jinnan explained: “At present, the magnetic force range of the widely used magnet is only about one millimeter, which is difficult to meet the application of magnetic force to the entire equipment and completely free the product from manpower. “The puzzle is like a basin of cold water mercilessly poured on passionate ideas. Unwilling to fail, Xu Jinnan found the teacher and asked for help. After learning that this problem is currently unsolvable in academia, he was not very happy, but he was not discouraged, but discussed with the teacher how to replace the lack of automation with other ways of presenting the effect. Xu Jinnan, who did not admit defeat, said with a smile: “I am very confident in this idea. ”
In the end, under the teacher’s instruction, Xu Jinnan chose to abandon the idea of complete automation of the product, and took into account automation while achieving convenience, adding the windproof and rainproof function to the drying rack, thereby increasing the practicality of the drying rack and perfecting the original idea.
After changing his thinking, he not only made him enlightened about the direction of the product he designed, but also successfully attracted Zhu Jiahao to join.
After the application of the idea was solved, they encountered a bottleneck on a technical level. Zhu Jiahao said frankly: “After all, I am not a computer student, and I encountered many technical problems when developing the App. So, he went to a computer science teacher, who recommended him many books and websites about application design code, and he successfully solved the technical problem through the resources provided by these teachers.
We hope to improve our products through our own efforts
Both students majored in business administration. From business administration to product design, interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary involvement actually takes time. Xu Jinnan thinks it’s worth it, and he still has a lot of shortcomings to improve. For example, the cost of clothes drying automation equipment is high, and the disadvantage in the competition is also what they must face, how to solve this problem, reduce costs, and accept their products in more markets, is also the direction they will strive for in the future.
To this end, Xu Jinnan decided to choose to take technology-related as the breakthrough point, study materials science or physics, and make a breakthrough in his studies, in order to improve the composition and production of products. They have a common wish: to look forward to completing this product with more professional knowledge in the future.
