No. 61
Teplo: connected tea pot for a personalized tea experience
By : Kazunori Kawanobe
Entrant’s location : 日本
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Description
Product Description: Teplo is an IoT tea pot which provides personalized tea experience. Teplo customizes tea brewing by recognizing each tea type’s ideal brewing conditions (like temperature and steep time) and combining this with user and environmental data including the drinker’s heart rate, body temperature, and room temperature for a personalized cup of tea.The teapot collects the user’s heart rate and temperature via a touch sensor. Environmental data (like temperature, brightness, humidity, and sound) is collected via various sensors on the device. Teplo then applies this information to the selected tea type and brews accordingly. For example, if a user is stressed, Teplo brews tea at a slightly lower temperature to make a more calming, sweeter tea. If a user is tired, it can brew at a higher temperature to increase caffeine levels. Product Concept: Traditional tea masters change tea brewing conditions by seeing or feeling the drinker’s mental and physical state. With the information they collect, they are able to brew a personalized cup of tea that the person can enjoy not only for its taste but for other factors such as intensity, sweetness, and warmth. Teplo’s concept is to capture some of that ritual in a convenient, beautiful design that puts brewing control back into the drinker’s hands. Product Specification: Length: Approx. 20 cm Width: Approx. 20 cm Height: Approx. 20 cm Weight: Approx. 1 kg Power supply: AC 100-120V ~ 50/60Hz, 800 W max. Main Material: Glass, PC, SUS, CPU: Xtensa® single-/dual-core 32-bit LX6 microprocessor(s) Memory: 520 KiB SRAM Wi-Fi connectivity: 802.11 n (2.4 GHz), up to 150 Mbps Bluetooth connectivity: Bluetooth v4.2 BR/EDR and BLE Mobile App(iOS and Android) Development Year: 2017-2019 Production Year: 2020 -
What did you create?
LOAD&ROAD developed teplo, an IoT tea pot which provides personalized tea experience. Teplo customizes tea brewing by recognizing each tea type’s ideal brewing conditions (like temperature and steep time) and combining this with user and environmental data including the drinker’s heart rate, body temperature, and room temperature for a personalized cup of tea. The teapot collects the user’s heart rate and temperature via a touch sensor. Environmental data (like temperature, brightness, humidity, and sound) is collected via various sensors on the device. Teplo then applies this information to the selected tea type and brews accordingly. For example, if a user is stressed, Teplo brews tea at a slightly lower temperature to make a more calming, sweeter tea. If a user is tired, it can brew at a higher temperature to increase caffeine levels. Teplo safely stores the data in its private server and analyzes it in order to understand the person’s lifestyle and taste preferences. The data is then used to make tea recommendations and to customize future tea brewing conditions.
Why did you make it?
When he was a MBA student at Babson College, Kazunori, CEO of LOAD&ROAD, started drinking tea and realized that tea brewing has two aspects. One is scientific aspects such as brewing temperature, brewing time, and amount of water. The other is tea experience from purchasing good quality tea leaves to brewing teas according to one’s mood and environment. For example, traditional tea masters carefully adjust numeric tea brewing conditions, but also they see or feel the drinker’s mental and physical state. With the information they collect, they are able to brew a personalized cup of tea that the person can enjoy not only for its taste but for other factors such as intensity, sweetness, and warmth. Teplo’s concept is to capture some of the ritual in a convenient, beautiful design that puts brewing control back into the drinker’s hands. People across the world are more and more interested in drinking teas these years, and there are many tea brewing machines. However, most of the machines focus only on functionality and convenience, not experience. Teplo has been built not to just pursue functionality and convenience, but also to provide whole tea experience by utilizing its built-in sensors and mobile app.
How did you make it?
Kazunori, CEO, has a background of mechanical engineer, and Mayuresh, CTO, has a software engineer background. When they started building the idea in Boston in 2015, they handmade multiple prototypes to develop basic technologies and proof their product concepts. Their lack of knowledge, experience, research and development, in tea area has been compensated by collaborating with experienced companies such as Maruyama Tea Corporation, KIRIN Holdings, and Asahi Group Holdings. In the transition from prototype to mass production, safety and quality have been improved in cooperation with companies such as Sharp and Sony. In addition, because it is a business that requires upfront investment, they received investment from VCs and the above-mentioned partners, enabling speedy business growth and realization of a vision. Now the team has been expanded from Boston to Japan and India. Japan team develops hardware and tea, and their team in India develops software.
Your entry’s specification
Length: Approx. 20 cm Width: Approx. 20 cm Height: Approx. 20 cm Weight: Approx. 1 kg Power supply: AC 100-120V ~ 50/60Hz, 800 W max. Main Material: Glass, PC, SUS, CPU: Xtensa® single-/dual-core 32-bit LX6 microprocessor(s) Memory: 520 KiB SRAM Wi-Fi connectivity: 802.11 n (2.4 GHz), up to 150 Mbps Bluetooth connectivity: Bluetooth v4.2 BR/EDR and BLE Mobile App(iOS and Android)