This week was a bit shorter because of the holiday on Monday, but we still managed to make a lot of progress on our project. On Tuesday we used a Pugh Scoring Matrix to determine which brainstormed idea would be best for connecting to the patient’s upper forearm and elbow. We settled on a clamping mechanism that would attach to the upper forearm, similarly to the way we decided to attach to the wrist. We also spent a large chunk of the day updating our SolidWorks files and making a full assembly of the entire device. The assembly is helpful because it lets us see how everything will fit together before we print it out.
Wednesday spent the morning building our prototype with the pieces we printed over night and revising the clamping attachment. We decided to use velcro straps to hold the clamp closed because they could be easily adjusted and quickly removed. In the afternoon we had a Needs-Finding Workshop, given by Dr. Ghosn, which was really fun and interesting. He taught us about how engineers can find problems to solve that they would normally overlook. We tried to experience the difficulties involved in eating with arthrogryposis, walking while visually impaired, and moving around while in a wheelchair. It was clear that simple things are often overlooked, and what may seem very simple normally, can be extermely difficult for someone with a disability. Below is a photo of myself and Allie attempting to each cheerios while our hands are bound in a position similar to that of some arthrogryposis patients.
Thursday morning was spent staining the tree house that was built for an ENGI 120/200 project last year. In the afternoon we made some modifications to our wrist and forearm clamps. We also began planning a testing strategy for our device.
Friday we met with Dr. Wettergreen and found out we will be able to meet with our client in two weeks to get some feedback. As a team we also made a measuring scale for the angles on our device. We realized we needed to print a new piece so that the scale would be free to rotate, so we did that towards the end of the day. We now a fully built prototype and below is a picture of it on Saad’s arm and an image of the SolidWorks assembly.
