After thoroughly evaluating the power bank and station based on maintenance, with a maintenance specialist, we discovered multiple aspects that can be further improved.
As the cover of the station is made from transparent plastic, it results in a high requirement for maintainability. There is a regular need for cleaning, to assure a proper and inviting look. Transparent plastic also has the disadvantage of scratching easily and resulting in an unpleasant look. This can be resolved by changing the material to a more durable, less in need of maintenance, and opaque material.
The sliding door, utilized when the customer either retrieves or returns the battery, can be designed with a manual operation mechanism, eliminating the need for a motor, and ensuring more reliable functionality. To prevent the customer from sliding open the door before he is supposed to, and then resulting in injuries, a magnetic mechanism as a lock can be implemented. Immediately after the electricity of the robot arm is off the magnetic mechanism is turned off and the customer can manually open the door.
Looking closely into the disposing mechanism of the power banks to the customer, we encountered that the motor-powered collecting arm is quite energy-consuming. Drinks vending machines in general are energy-consuming and have to be backed up by a reliable energy source. They are also of high complexity and require high maintenance and have low overall reliability. This could be replaced by having a locker-like system, where the power banks have their own storage and can be taken and returned there. It would have the advantage of not having to rely on the whole vending system for contributing the power banks to the customer. The breakage of one locker does not influence the rest of the lockers.
For the suction cups at the power bank, the question came up if they are going to successfully stick on all the phones and phone cases. Here, some further research can be done to ensure consideration of all the phone types. Regardless, this solution is temporary as the forecast is that new phones will have the magnetic receptor enabling the power bank to stick to the phone without suction cups.
An idea to incorporate virtual reality in our business is by using augmented reality for the maintenance of the stations. The unique design of the stations requires specific knowledge about how to maintain and repair the stations in case of damage. For this, the repair worker uses augmented reality through either a device or glasses to get explained what needs to be done. This has the advantage of being efficient, as the worker gets the steps explained simultaneously with his doing, plus the maintenance team does not need big prior knowledge or skill.