Good Shelf

Mockup

Who are our primary users?

Our user group is neurodivergent individuals, particularly those who experience executive function challenges and rigid eating habits. Common groups include Autism, Asperger’s, Down syndrome, and the bipolar community.

While this user group was the primary focus during our design process, we believe Good Shelf has the potential to be utilized with general populations, including other groups that belong in the neurodivergent community.

Our team decided to characterize our users by behavior instead of neurodivergent conditions.

So, what is the problem?

Neurodivergent individuals grappling with executive function challenges and rigid eating habits face hurdles with...

organizing, planning, and managing tasks &
adapting to big changes in diet, making it difficult to use up ingredients before they expire.

Executive functions encompass the following areas: initiation, working memory, emotional and impulse control, focusing, hindsight and foresight, and time awareness (Neurodiversity and Executive Function, n.d.). And executive function challenges are not just unique to neurodivergent populations. However, common pain points between the cross section of the two include: procrastination, poor time management (ex. Not being able to foresee how long a task will take), thinking one needs to do something but not remembering what it is, lack of internal prompts, and time blindness (Neurodiversity and Executive Function, n.d.).

How does Good Shelf solve this problem while utilizing AI?

Inventory Management Good Shelf links to smart fridge technology and supportive AI systems to constantly update and present an inventory and per-item location of each item.
Food expiration management When inventorying items, Good Shelf is able to keep track of printed expiration dates and sort them by urgency. For items that do not have printed expiration dates, like meals in tupperware, Good Shelf recognizes and keeps track of when the new item was first stored in the fridge.
Personalized recommendations To decrease food waste and allow individuals to use all excess ingredients, Good Shelf recommends recipes that utilize as many familiar, and “safe”* ingredients possible.

*Disclaimer: Good Shelf is not labeling foods or ingredients as safe and unsafe. When using the term “safe”, Good Shelf is mimicking the way its users often describe familiar, comforting, and/or non-sensory-triggering foods as “safe.”

Virtual assistant via chatbox Good Shelf has a virtual chat assistant in the navigation box to help users verbalize their specific needs and questions. This way, feedback is personalized to individual needs.
Predictive maintenance Good shelf utilizes predictive maintenance, the ability to identify existing and/or potential issues, by incorporating reminders.