DESCOMFIRST

Innovation of Eco-friendly Equipment for Child Growth and Development

Background

At present, there are still quite a lot of people who doesn’t realize the importanceof using eco-friendly materials in various aspects of making a product, includingproducts for children aged between 1 to 5 years old. Based on studies conducted by IPEN(International POPs Elimination Network, global civil society network), Arnika (anenvironmental organization in the Czech Republic), and BaliFokus, there were many products (including toys) that contain toxic chemicals, such as OctaBDE, DecaBDE, and HBCD, which usually used in plastic casing of electronic products. Beside that, there are still many children’s toys that contain Brominated Flame Retardant which can disrupt the hormonal system, Mercury which can damage the nervous system and reduce intellectual capacity, and even Ethylene Glycol which often found in doll’s hair has the risk of causing skin irritation. Those chemicals can danger human, especially children who plays with it.That makes the use of eco-friendly materials become the main basis in making products for children.

Eco-friendly material is material that was carefully produced with a sense of security, doesn’t give any impact on human health, and doesn’t have the potential to damage the environment (Kasali, 2005). The use of eco-friendly materials is very intensively carried out, since this is an effort in utilizing and protecting the environment with certain technology that has been developed by many experts. Eco-friendly material also needs to have the principle of being able to last for long periods of time, doesn’t contain toxins, made from materials that are environmentally friendly, and can be recycled, or packaged simply and minimally.

Children who are in the age range between 1 to 5 years old have very rapid growth and development. Growth is a change that is quantitative, measurable, and occurs physically. Growth can be monitored through measurements of height, weight, head circumference, and other measurements according to age by standardizing certain measuring devices. For children aged between 1 to 5 years old, motoric, sensory, and cognitive abilities are aspects that experience very rapid development. According to Hurlock (1998), motoric skills are a process of growth and development of a child’s movement through coordinated nerve, nerve, and muscle activities.

Optimization of brain development in children aged 1 to 5 years old can be done through children’s toys that can hone their motoric, sensory, and cognitive abilities, and also have a direct impact on how children build their self-confidence, enhance their socioemotional skills, train themselves to be independent, and form their character and self-concept. But in reality, this age range has been underutilized. In fact, the purpose of manyof children’s toys are still to entertain, rather than to develop. Most of the toys’s materials are also not environmentally friendly and have the possibilities to endangerchildren’s growth and development.

DESCOMFIRST 2020 noticed that those challenges need to be resolved immediately, especially using eco-friendly equipment for the sake of brain development of children aged between 1 to 5 years old. DESCOMFIRST 2020 provides the opportunities for students to participate in solving those problems. The theme of DESCOMFIRST 2020 is ‘Innovation of Eco-friendly Equipment for Child Growth and Development’.

This year, we focus on the children’s equipment. This equipment innovation for children aims to increase brain development in children aged between 1 to 5 years old by creating tools that can hone their motoric, sensory, and cognitive abilities that are ecofriendly.

Sub-Theme

The equipment is expected to be implemented, focusing on:

1. Products that can develop children motoric abilities

According to Fleishman (1967), motoric ability is a process of interaction between stimulus and response.

1. Products that can develop children sensory abilities

According to Piaget (2010), sensory ability is the growth of a child’s ability seenfrom motor activities and simple perceptions.

1. Products that can develop children cognitive abilities

According to Piaget (2010), states cognitive ability is the process of interaction that takes place between a child and his perceptual view of an object or event in an environment

Design Aspects

General

1. The idea of the product design must be an original design. It means the product must be original, uses new ideas, and has innovative improvement.
2. The design has never joined in any competitions and never been publishedthrough any media before.
3. The design can be implemented in real life.

Aspects to be considered:

1. Safety

The design must be made with attention to safety for children who used it in ordernot to endanger children whether in short term or long term.

1. Reasonable

The price should be reasonable, calculating the manufacturing cost, operational cost, and maintenance cost.

1. Aesthetics

The design should be focused on art, beauty, and enjoyment to the senses of vision, hearing, touch, taste, and emotions, not just functional.

1. Ergonomic

The product considers ergonomics aspect, which must be complied with ergonomic principles.

1. Eco-friendly

The design must aim to save the environment (minimize waste, minimize pollution, using recyclable material, etc.)

Team Regulation

1. Team members are undergraduate students.
2. Team members are active students of their university (until June 7 , 2020 ).
3. Each team consist of two to three members from the same university with at least one student majoring in industrial engineering or equivalent majors.
4. Each team can only submit one design.
5. One person only belongs to one team.
6. The name of the team is prohibited to use their university’s name.

REGISTRATION & MINI PROPOSAL SELECTION

1. Download the zip file consisting of the registration form, statement of designauthenticity, and statement of copyright transfer at bit.ly/registrationmini

The file can be downloaded starting from December 23 , 2019

2. Complete the document of:
3. Mini proposal
4. Registration form
5. Statement of design authenticity
6. Statement of copyright transfer
7. Scanned student card
8. Letter of active student
9. Scanned ID card

* all documents must be in .PDF file type

3. Contents of mini proposal:
4. Cover
5. Background
6. Product specification
7. Product function
8. Participants are required to send the documents through the register section in descomfirst.ft.uns.ac.id (use .rar or .zip file type with the format Team’sth name_University name) before January 18 , 2020 at 11.59 p.m. (GMT +7)
9. The registration and mini proposal selection is FREE
10. Scoring criteria:
11. Completeness
12. Originality
13. Creativity
14. On time submit

Announcement of the participants who passed the selection of mini proposals will be announced via email descomfirst@ft.uns.ac.id on February 9 , 2020

Selection Stage

Full Proposal Selection

The team that passes the mini proposal selection will be able to continue the selection for full proposal stage of DESCOMFIRST 2020. The proposal selection process will be held on February 9 until March 8 , 2020.

The full proposal selection consists of:

1. Payment, in which shall be finished on March 15 , 2020. The registration fees of full proposal selection stage for each team are:
2. IDR 300,000.00/team for Indonesian Students
3. USD 40/team for International Students
4. The files to be submitted in this stage consist of:
5. Full proposal
6. Scan of the payment receipt
7. Send the documents to bit.ly/fullproposalregistration (use .rar or .zip file

th type with the format Team’s name_University name) before March 8 , 2020

at 11.59 p.m. (GMT +7).

4. Announcement of the participants who pass the selection of the full proposal

th will be announced via email descomfirst@ft.uns.ac.id on March 29 , 2020.

Further guidelines of the full proposal selection stage will be informed in the full

proposal selection guidebook.

Re-Registration and Final Round

This stage is valid for participants who qualify to the final round that will be

th announced on March 29 , 2020.

1. Each team of DESCOMFIRST 2020 participant is required to pay IDR

3.000.000,00 (Indonesian participants) and USD 250 for International participants

th for their registration fee to the committee. Payments must be made on March 29

th to May 4 , 2020. The registration fee is sent by transferring to an account shown

on the website.

1. Participants are required to send the transfer receipt to the email address

descomfirst@ft.uns.ac.id

1. If the committee does not receive the documents until the last scheduled

th registration stage on May 4 , 2020 11:59 p.m. (GMT+7), the committees have

the right to disqualify the team.

The 15 teams who have passed the full proposal selection will be able to continue the

selection of the final round of DESCOMFIRST 2020. The final round will be held in

th th Surakarta on June 6 – 7 , 2020 and all participants will be required to show an

explanation video, prototype and X-banner of the product. In the final round, the

selected teams should follow the activities of:

1. Presentation in front of the jury
2. Public Exhibition (Expo)

*Further information will be described in finalists guidebook

Timeline

CONTACT PERSON

Theo : +62 81324749873

Email : descomfirst@ft.uns.ac.id

Facebook : Descomfirst

Twitter : @descomfirst

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