2023 / UPenn, Philadelphia. Teammate Jianxu Chai, Cong Liu, Janice Noh, Mila Sudarikova, Jun Wang

Transforming the vase into a cat toy step-by-Step

Different sizes

Offering different sizes for the Purrfect Versa-Vase allows customers to choose the one that best suits their intended use. These size options effortlessly blend into any floral arrangement or cat playtime setting.

The larger size, optimized for gripping around a bottleneck, secures the stable placement for use as a cat toy base.

The small size, designed for easy handheld use, provides a more intimate experience with the vase.

Solutions

The roly-poly’s stability comes from its weighted base. We explored several different methods, including adding a magnetic bottom for enhanced adhesion, incorporating weighting materials into the integrated base of the vase. Finally, considering the vase’s weight might make it challenging to clean, we decided to separate it into two parts: the weighted base and the vase itself.

Solutions

To ensure the two parts conveniently for user use, we considered a magnetic attraction, a screw cap design, and a mortise-tenon joint design. After prototyping and testing, we found that both screwing and mortise-tenon joint were ineffective in securing the heavy bottom and required significant effort. We settled on a strong magnetic attraction, as it provides a secure hold while allowing for easy opening with a gentle twist of the vase. However, studying the mortise- tenon joint structure greatly assisted us in determining the connection method between the cat toy and the base: the mortise-tenon joint plus a magnet become the way to connect the cats’ toy and the heavy base.

Based on the environmental life cycle assessment of our product, we anticipate most impact from the manufacturing phase. Although the materials planned to be used are all recyclable (the outer shell of both the top and bottom parts will be made from outer shells made from recycled HDPE plastic and the weight in the bottom part will be provided from weight provided from recyclable cast iron), the retrieval of these materials are costly in both time and resources.

We also anticipate that not all users will recycle our product after use which is why we included the costs of landfill in the recovery phase of our product’s life cycle. We hope to minimize as much material waste in the distribution phase of our product by packaging is necessary and not using in excess without reason.

We hope to enter the home decor market once our product is officially launched. This market has an expected growth of $806 billion by 2026 so it is safe to assume that the demand for home decor products will be consistently high for several years. We have priced our product competitively at a price of $19.99 for our current largest size. Our market research has shown that consumers will spend an average of $25 for a vase, considering its aesthetics and functionality. Considering marketing and production costs, our pricing leads to a projected NPV of ~$1 million over the course of 7 years that includes 4 years of development and 3 years of sales. We envision that our primary consumers will be those who live with cats so we hope to appeal to this niche market first and see exponential growth and exposure through this target market. But, we also have received positive feedback from non-cat owners who have expressed interest in our design due to its unique and aesthetic design. Eventually, we hope to have a product line that can cater to those with and without cats and release a variety of colorways and sizes.