Straybilizer: The Simple Movie Theater Solution
Overview
Problem Definition: Most standard movie theaters do not offer viewers a way to carry and hold concessions beyond what people can hold with their own hands.
We want to provide movie viewers of all ages a convenient and easy way to carry snacks from concession stands to their theater seat, and hold those snacks in an ergonomic way.
Proposed Solution: The Straybilizer is an ergonomic concession tray system, with two components to help customers carry and store their concessions in a movie theater with ease.
Production Cost: $17.21 Sales Price: $65.32
Duration: 16 Weeks.
Team: Hritik Kotak, David Herbert, Raunaq Kumaran, Jiahao Zhang
Motivation
The prompt given to us at the start of this project was, “Find an everyday life problem, and solve it!” As a sophomore taking my first semester long design project, this really got me excited. After a bunch of brainstorming, I proposed the idea of building a tray mechanism that would help people in movie theaters, something that would not be too costly for theaters and extremely convenient for customers.
This is how Straybilizer was born.
Stakeholders
Movie Theaters
Movie theaters would be directly affected by the Straybilizer since they would be our direct customers. We would custom make the Straybilizer for theaters based on the cupholder size and install the system for them. This would prevent any renovation costs for theaters to include a tray mechanism on their seats.
Movie Theater Employees
The employees at the theaters would be our other direct users, they would handle the loading up of the tray for customers and cleaning up after being used. This would save the theaters and the employees the effort and cost of replacing dropped concessions.
Movie Theater Customers
The customers would be one of our direct users, they would carry the tray from the concession stands back to their seat. This would help them carry more concessions and store them with reduced risks of any spills.
Tray Manufacturers
The tray manufacturers will be in direct contact with us for the requirements of the theaters. This would create an opportunity for additional employment.
Final Design
Simplistic, ergonomic and sleek.
This system was designed for ease of use and installation without compromising on the aesthetic appeal.
The housing fits into the existing cupholders attached to movie theater seats and has a bearing driven L-rod to provide rotational motion. The 2-piece tray set helps customers take the detachable tray to the concession stands and place it on the tray base at their seat for easy storing of concessions.
A complete design solution for a very common problem.
Because it is so easy to install and remove, even small theaters can afford to install these systems!
Design Features and Functionality
The Straybilizer can be divided into 3 main components, the housing, the base tray and the loose tray. The housing is the base of the assembly that fits into the cupholders and has the bearings press fit inside of it. The L-rod then fits into the housing and bearings to provide rotational motion and support the base tray. The base tray is like a topless container to hold the loose tray and the concessions in place, this is fixed to the rod and cannot be detached. The loose tray includes compartments for different kinds of concessions that can be taken off from the base tray and carried to the concession stands.