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Product Design Sprint • 2026

Giving AI hardware a second life

Timeframe
24 hours
Role
Product Designer
Team
2 Product Designers
Skills
Product Design, Competitive Analysis, Prototyping, User Research
OVERVIEW

Designing a hardware marketplace for businesses and hardware enthusiasts to discover and reuse parts

During a 24-hour design sprint, I collaborated with two designers to create a marketplace for redistributing retired AI hardware.
Homepage for UofT Hacks 11 page
UofTHacks sponsors section screenshot
PROBLEM

Rapid upgrades in AI data centers lead to millions of tons of discarded hardware each year

As companies and schools continue adopting AI in their products and workflows, AI companies frequently upgrade their hardware to support higher computing power. As a result, still-functional equipment is often discarded, contributing to the growing e-waste problem.
SOLUTION

Introducing Reboot

Browse and buy recycled hardware

Explore hardware by category, check out popular items, or search for something specific.
VideoWalkthrough of hardware purchasing flow.

Discover parts by building your own project

Choose a template or start from scratch, customize your project to fit your needs, and Reboot will generate a list of recommended materials to purchase.
VideoFind hardware according to a project in mind.

See your impact through statistics

Track how much you’ve saved and the environmental impact of reusing hardware.
Early iterations of feature ideas

Image

Statistics that illustrate the impact of reusing hardware.
RESEARCH

Short hardware lifecycles are driving e-waste growth

AI data centers generate significant waste due to constant hardware upgrades, causing “old” technology to be discarded at an increasingly rapid rate. A lot of this equipment contributes to hazardous e-waste that can end up in our landfills.

The current state of things...

Environmental Impact

Rising adoption

AI usage is continuously increasing across both personal and business use.

AI usage causes significant environmental strain

Environmental strain

AI usage contributes to significant environmental strain.

Recognition

Easy access for everyone

Free access lowers the barrier to entry, accelerating the widespread use of AI.

THE SCALE OF E-WASTE

62 million tons

of e-waste was generated in 2022

Only 22%

of e-waste is being recycled today

2–5 years

between servers and GPUs replacement cycles

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

E-waste recycling companies exist but aren’t flexible to a wide audience

While companies offer e-waste recycling, they lack accessibility and flexibility for both businesses and individual vendors.

LOOKING AT EXISTING COMPANIES

MEtech Recycling
Offers e-waste recycling for data centers
Targets businesses to resell to
Only gives quotes for their hardware
The ITAD Company
Offers e-waste recycling for data centers
Resells to businesses
Does not resell to individuals
Gentronics Solutions
Offers e-waste recycling for data centers
Resells to businesses and general consumers
Does not have bulk purchasing
Lacks product descriptions & reviews
Design Challenge

How might we repurpose data center hardware to make computing accessible while reducing e-waste?

IDEATION

Making hardware accessible to a broader audience

While existing companies provide recycling and hardware repair services, accessing reusable hardware still presents a barrier to entry. Listings often lack clear product descriptions, context, or guidance for how the hardware can actually be used.

Brainstorming core features

Browse hardware

Browse hardware

Browse a catelogue of hardware.

Statistics

Statistics

Gather insights on your impact.

Project builder

Project builder

Keep track of inventory and projects.

Purchase hardware

Purchase hardware

Purchase individual parts.

FEEDBACK

Building upon feedback despite limited time

With limited time, my team and I relied on internal critiques and feedback from other designers at the event to quickly refine our designs.

Navigation improvements

Before

The search button in the navbar was confusing since people thought it was for searching pages rather than specific hardware.

Lo-fidelity design

I moved the search to the top nav to make it easier to find and show that it searches the whole site.

FLEXIBILITY FOR BULK AND INDIVIDUAL PURCHASES

Before

Our audience includes both businesses and hardware enthusiasts, but businesses may need an easier way to purchase larger quantities.

Lo-fidelity design

Give users the option to place bulk orders for larger quantities.

POST HACKATHON

Continuing to iterate after the event

After the hackathon, feedback pushed me to rethink what Reboot should focus on. It led me to look more closely at existing CAD tools and how they already addressed the project-building aspect of the experience. From there, I decided to narrow the scope to a problem I felt Reboot could better address: making the process of buying hardware less intimidating for people who are new to hardware.
Flow of the Project Maker and Community sections

Image

Project Maker & Community flows.
KEY LESSONS

Making the most of a 24-hr competition to create a meaningful product

Design emerges from research, not assumptions

Since we only had a day to build a product from research to designing a final product, we prioritized having a solid idea by grounding it in research.

When you think out loud the best ideas and iterations emerge

Especially under a tight time crunch, spitballing ideas and thoughts with my team, mentors and other designers at the event helped us navigate our product direction faster.

Fun moments from the competition

Working away photo with my teammates.

Working away with my team.

Photo from the closing ceremony

We won third place!

Decorative flowers

Crafting delightful designs through creativity pencil & intent stamp

Designed and coded by me

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