Concept

Our concept is simple

Our project will allow makeup users the ability to create unlimited shades of powdered makeup that cosmetic stores can’t provide, in a cost-effective and quick manner. The prototype uses an iOS app, Bluetooth-enabled smartphones, and an embedded printer component which incorporates fuel injector technology.

The Motivation

Currently, people are forced to choose between cheap limited shades of makeup and expensive unique shades.

With our prototype users will be able to print any color of makeup from home, using inexpensive base powder and selecting a color on the accompanying Chroma app.

Competition

Mink Pen

Our most direct competition, the Mink Pen is a product built for manually measuring ink and mixing your own makeup, a time consuming and messy process of over 12 required steps. Our product would eliminate all manual work the pen requires, allowing the user to simply select a color on the app and press print to have the Chroma printer give you an eye shadow substrate with the correct mix of CMY values. Read more about Mink here

MODA Printer

The MODA Printer has the user select a makeup look on a mobile app, place your face into the printer and will therefore spray the makeup directly onto your face. Our Chroma Makeup Printer provides the right amount of technology involvement in the makeup process by accelerating how makeup is created but not by putting the user at safety risk. Read more about MODA here

Requirements

Functional Requirements

Non-Functional Requirements

The user can select any color via the Chroma app using a color picker or by uploading an image

Quantity requirement: Quantity of the final product will be enough to last for 1-2 uses

Smartphone shall communicate with the Chroma printer via Bluetooth, and be able to send the CMY values from the app to the printer to begin a print job

Cost requirement: Chroma printer should be under $350, which is the price of competitive products

Upon receiving the message from the app, the Chroma printer shall expel atomized ink droplets proportional to CMY values onto a white powder substrate

Size requirement: Chroma printer should be smaller than a regular printer

The printer will expel ink droplets in such a fashion as to cover the whole substrate, as evenly as possible

Timing requirement: Chroma printer should take no more than one minute to prepare final product

Colour of the final product should be reasonably close to goal

User Interaction Design

User Interaction Diagrams

Use Cases

Ideal Use Case

  • 1. User places substrate into the printer
  • 2. User launches the Chroma application, and selects a color from a color picker or from a picture in their photo library
  • 3. The Chroma application sends the CMY values matching that color to the printer to initiate a job. The printer confirms there is a substrate in the printer and if so,attempts the print job
  • 4. The printer sends a bluetooth message back to the phone application confirming that the print job was successful or explaining why the print job failed

Error Cases

  • 1. If there was no substrate in the Chroma printer detected
  • 2. If the Chroma printer does not have enough CMY dyes
  • 3. If there was a failure with controlling the stepper motor or the ink injection apparatus
  • 4. If the phone failed to communicate with the printer via bluetooth
System Design

System Architecture

Hardware Architecture

Finite State Machine

PCB Design

Final Product

Printer

Front View

Top View

Side View

Plate View

Electronics

Demo Day Apparatus

iOS App

Select a Printer

Main Menu

Pre-set Palette

Print Complete Message

Print a color from a picture

About Us

Jenna MacCarley

Jin Bing
Lin

Nandini Ramakrishnan

Udgeetha Mallampalli

We are a group of Senior Electrical and Computer Engineering majors from Carnegie Mellon University, focused on embedded systems technology. Our inspiration for this project came from personal experience, being familiar with the frustrations of the overflowing makeup drawer. Recently there has been a lot of innovation in the 3D printing industry, so we thought, why not apply some of the same technology to short circuit the makeup supply chain?