Changing your pad in public can be gross clean and simple.

2017 Most Innovative Project Award in the Design Expo at Carnegie Mellon University

Padloq is an IoT Enabled sanitary napkin disposal system for public restrooms. It is a hands-free opening method of disposing of sanitary waste (e.g., pads and tampons), and allows custodians to clean the bins without direct contact.

On a team of 5 mechanical engineers, I was responsible for overall form, user testing, and usability.

We discovered the myriad feelings surrounding the problem using:
- 150 User Surveys
- 4 Custodian Interviews
- 5 Facilities Manager Interviews
- 7 Low-Fidelity Prototypes
This led to quotes like:
- ”There’s an expected honor system for the first girl to open the bag for next girl - feel like not many people know this.” - Custodian
- “[Cleaning up these bins] is just nasty… I don’t even want to look at my own waste.” - Custodian
Define the brief using anecdotal evidence
Every gender-neutral or women’s public restroom stall has is a disposal bin for used pads and tampons. These are often brimming with waste leading to:
- user disgust, shame, confusion, etc.
- custodian disgust at having to clean the bins out manually
- facility management frustration at flushed pads clogging pipes
We deliberated on our own independent experiences with the topic, the first of which being:
In 7th grade summer camp, all of my cabinmates were told “until these sanitary napkin bins are cleaned, no one is going anywhere.” After a silent 2 minutes, I volunteered to clean out the bins for other people’s period waste. It was… traumatizing. That experience led me to work on this project without hesitation.
My team of 5 and I developed 3 rounds of prototypes from low to high fidelity
I was responsible for overall form and mechatronic usability, while others were responsible for tasks like construction, material selection, and programming.

A year later, after taking the project on with a new team member, I created the fourth round of prototypes using CAD and additive manufacturing.
After prototype 3, we delivered the result to the consumers and custodians, leading to
quotes like:
- “I love the design. [It’s] sleek. It’s really nice. Seems user friendly.” - consumer
- “Oh, housekeeping is gonna LOVE this!” - custodian
- “I like this, much better [than the current bins]. I’m really excited. I hope this will be in toilets [stalls] everywhere.” - custodian
- “The size is perfect. It’s easy to work too. And some people don’t like to touch their own stuff, so this is great.” - consumer
- “I didn’t have to lift anything, this is already a good thing...Thats the genius of it, I don’t have to touch it” - consumer