Dyson Airwrap
About Our Project
According to the research of “Curling iron-related injuries presenting to U.S. emergency departments”, there are an estimated 105,000 hair care product-related injuries in a five-year period, of which 82,151 (78%) involved a curling iron. The most commonly occurring injury was thermal burns.
In 2018, Dyson announced its second beauty gadget since the Supersonic, with a hair curler that relies on air rather than extreme temperatures. The product, called the Airwrap™ styler, is powered by Dyson’s V9 motor, and it dries hair via a phenomenon called the Coanda effect, which also attaches and wraps hair around the barrel automatically. Compared to other traditional hair curler relying on heat alone, using air flows can help to avoid hair damage or burning of touching the high heated barrel.
To figure out how the technical structures operate together for avoiding hair-curling burning and who is affected by Dyson’s new invention of Airwrap hair styler regarding the user safety issue in the society, our group aims to deblackbox Dyson Airwrap™ hair styler as a sociotechnical system for user safety.
Beauty editors, hairstylists, and social media influencers at the Airwrap’s launch event in New York witnessed this groundbreaking easy-to-use and safe hair styler demoed by the celebrity hairstylist and Dyson ambassador. Though the technology comes at a price (it costs near 500 dollars for the basic kit with a mix of the curling barrel attachments, brushes and drying attachment), this hasn’t stopped people from buying it since the ads of good performance on avoiding burning as well as offering various kinds of hairstyling. Dyson Ltd. stated that the first supply of Airwrap sold out within a few days of its launch, and the demand for it continues to rise. Whenever more units become available by the manufacturer, they quickly get scooped up. According to online customer review (Dyson’s Airwrap Was the Biggest Hair Launch of 2018 — But Is It Worth the Hype, 2019), people like the quick and safe features of this product. It’s an enhancement of advertising and keeps the Airwrap’s popularity: “If your hair is extremely damaged from regularly using hot tools, or you have to save time styling it, the Airwrap could be worth the investment.” Of course, there are some negative reviews related to the short lasting of the great curls it creates, Dyson said his company would continue to look for innovative solutions in the beauty industry.
Sociotechnical system
Users delegate the task of hair-curling to the “Dyson Airwrap” hair styler. Compared to a traditional curling iron, Dyson uses safety guaranteed materials and technical aids to help customers avoid the common trouble of burning. This advantage becomes the brand identifier of Dyson for improving its reputation and product sales in the market. Other social components like the customer feedback related to safety issue collected by the repair service department of Dyson and the enhanced advertising of safety by social media influencers as a part of users also contribute to the virtuous development circle of Dyson Airwrap hair styler.
Architecture
Safety can be guaranteed by two functions of Dyson Airwrap, which are the temperature control and Coanda Effect. Glass-bead thermistor and the microprocessor make sure the temperature of the generated air does not get too high. Coanda Effect is generated be digital motor V9 and the special air exits in the barrel.
Algorithm
So, how does the Dyson Airwrap work?
Our group member
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