Designing an Intelligent Connected Ecosystem

The Problem

Cooking at home can be stressful, especially when you are trying to multitask. A big pain point for many people, like busy parents, inexperienced cooks, or older adults, is the constant need to keep watch of the pots on the stove to make sure it doesn’t boil over or burn. As a result, cooking feels like a chore that traps you in the kitchen. An intelligent ecosystem makes sense here because it solves the major issue found in most kitchens, safety and efficiency. By connecting the pot to a phone and wearable, the system can monitor the food for you. This allows users to confidently leave the room or do other tasks, knowing they will be alerted.

My Role

For this project, I was responsible for the entire UX design and concept development. I created the user journey map to visualize how the pot, phone, and watch interact, and I built a components table to define the technical requirements and data inputs, such as the top-line sensor for boil over and the detachable spinner connection. I moved from sketching early wireframes to creating high-fidelity prototypes in Figma for the pot’s interface, the mobile app, and the wearable. A major design decision, adding the boil-over prevention, was inspired by my own grandma who often forgets boiling pots on the stove. I wanted to design a safety net for users like her. Finally, I used my motion design skills in After Effects and experimented with AI video tools to create the concept video, which was a challenging but rewarding process to learn.

Process

I approached this project by thinking about the smart pot not just as an appliance, but as a connected system that fits into a user’s kitchen set up. I defined the system boundaries by asking what happens when the user walks away. To ensure continuity across devices, I used a consistent color palette and shared UI elements across the pot, phone, and watch so the experience feels unified. I incorporated intelligence by designing a sensor system that detects rising foam to automate heat reduction. This guided my decision to make the app the place for adaptive dashboards that change from recommendations to live status, ensuring each device has a clear and distinct purpose.

Ecosystem Journey

The journey begins when the user plugs in the smart pot and powers it, triggering a ready state across the devices. To start cooking, the user opens the mobile app and selects a cooking program, which instantly transmits the heating and stirring data to the pot via Bluetooth. As the pot begins to heat, the user walks away, and the system maintains continuity by syncing a live timer to their wearable and phone. When the pot’s top line sensor detects the water rising too high, the system acts intelligently by automatically lowering the heat to prevent a boil over without user intervention. Finally, when the timer concludes, the wearable and phone vibrates with a completion notification, allowing the user to seamlessly hand off control by tapping “Start Smart Hold” on their wrist or phone to keep the meal warm from another room.

Components Overview

The Primary Intelligent Hub is the smart pot, which executes cooking programs and manages safety using sensors like a thermometer, a spinner sensor and top-line liquid sensor. This connects to the app with an adaptive dashboard that shows cooking programs, the pot’s live status, a manual mode, and a warm mode. For micro-interactions, the wearable serves as a notification center, using vibration feedback to signal when a timer ends and offering quick actions like adding one minute without opening the phone. The AI agent, designed with a calm persona, remains mostly ambient but follows specific requests like setting timers. To maintain safety, the AI agent is restricted from voice-activated heating and other control related commands besides setting the timer. Finally, the user maintains ultimate authority, managing specific variables like the spinner speed and warm mode activation, while trusting the AI to autonomously handle emergency boil over prevention.

Solution

Primary Intelligent Hub: The pot’s built-in screen shows the live temperature and timer, giving the user immediate feedback.
Mobile Interface: The app allows users to select specific cooking programs and view detailed recipe steps. This is where most of the customization features are located from changing colors to adding personalized cooking programs.
Wearable Touchpoint: The watch interface is simple and glanceable, letting users control the smart hold feature remotely. The screens are the simplest and easy to use for the basic controls.
AI Agent: AI will automatically detect a boil over and automatically reduce the heat to prevent a spill. It will also hold basic conversations with the user.
Human-in-the-Loop: A confirmation screen where the user decides whether to keep the food warm or turn the device off. The timer and the spinner is optional, the user can choose to add or discard this feature when using the pot.

Demo Video

Walkthrough of intelligent connected ecosystem

Reflection

I learned that designing for an ecosystem is different from designing a single app because you have to think about handoffs. You have to decide which device is best for which task. For example, a watch is too small for browsing recipes but perfect for alerts. AI could be used to make the system more predictive. If the user always makes oatmeal at 8:00 AM, the app could suggest pre-heating the water at 7:50 AM to save time. A major ethical consideration is user dependency. If the AI always prevents boil-overs, users might stop paying attention entirely, which could be dangerous if the sensor ever fails. To make it more inclusive, I would add voice feedback for users with visual impairments. Right now, the reliance on touchscreens might make it hard for some people to use safely. The biggest constraint was balancing features with reality. I wanted the pot to do everything, but I realized that adding too many features would make it too expensive and drain the battery too fast.