Hello everyone,

Its almost the end of week 5 of SEED. This week has been the most exciting and exhausting week to me so far. But let me tell you how i finished off last week first.

Last week was pretty short because of the 4th of July celebration. We ended up blogging on Wednesday. After blogging, we all met up at 18:45 to head to the BBVA stadium to watch a soccer game between the Houston dynamos and the New Red Bulls. It was an exciting game. The Dynamos took the win in the end after scoring four goals and the Red Bulls scoring none. The one dollar hot dogs that were sold at the stadium even made the game more exciting. After the game, there was fireworks. Lots and lots of fireworks. It was  a glorious experience. I have never see so many fireworks in my life. The dynamos win and the fireworks were a perfect way to begin the long weekend.

The SEED teams after the game(left) and that’s me in midst of cheering after the second goal was scored(right)

Independence Celebration

On Friday, we drove to Dallas where we had a Malawian themed dinner to celebrate of the Malawian independence. We met so many people. It was really nice to spend some time to talk about some things about home. There was food, drinks and music. we danced till dawn. On Saturday, we had a soccer game between the Malawians in Houston against those in Dallas. The Houston team won.In the evening, we had a bar barque where we met so many people who inspired and motivated us to always strive for greatness.

At the Malawian Independence Dinner

 

On Sunday, we had a prototyping session from 4 pm to 8 pm. This is where we finished off the medium fidelity prototype and put 50 pounds of weights on it. This is  to simulate the amount of weight that will be applied by the camper when sitting on the chair. We hang it up and left it over night.

Monday, July 8. 

In the morning, we had a meeting with Dr Hunter and Dr wettergreen. They encouraged us to shift from the rigid chair design that we had been focusing on to something more flexible, just like the petzl triangle that is currently used at the camp. From the meeting, we went straight into prototyping. The main idea is to design something that will have some features of a rigid chair design and the petzl triangle.

We managed to make the low fidelity prototype for this new design. The main problem we had was that this felt like we are starting all over again. This is because most of the research we made was concerning the rigid chair design. But in the end we did some more research on hammock chair designs and made some detailed drawings for our full scale medium fidelity prototype.

A picture of the the second low fidelity prototype.

 

 

Tuesday, July 9

In the morning, we went ahead to make the medium fidelity prototype. We cut out some nylon fabric and made some pockets in the sides. These pockets would accommodate the wooden rods that would provide structural support to the design.

We managed to finish this medium fidelity prototype in the afternoon and had Dr wettergreen sit in it and give us his views. We noted down the strengths and the weaknesses of this design.

In completion of this medium fidelity prototype we faced a lot of problems with the sewing. First of all, we had challenges to set up the machine and had to get assistance from grant and adulfor. Another problem was that only one member of the team knew how to sew. This was a problem because the majority of this new approach required sewing. For the team to finish everything in time ,we needed everyone to be good at sewing. Due to this, each member had to learn how use the sewing machine.

 

and that’s the story about how i learnt how to use a sewing machine.

A picture of the first medium fidelity prototype.

Dr wettergreen testing the medium fidelity prototype.

Wednesday, July  10

In the morning, we worked on improving the medium fidelity prototype. We noted down the weaknesses and strengths of the design. After that, alexus and i together with Dr Hunter to a buy some more fabric for prototyping. Chisomo and Andrew were learning more about sewing patterns and techniques at this time. From the shop, we cut out the fabric and started making the second Medium fidelity prototype. We managed to finish it in the afternoon.

A picture of the second low fidelity prototype made out of muslin fabric.

This prototype had a wider seat and back support compared to the first one. We had one of the members of the team sit in the design for testing but it tore off.

Thursday, July 11

In the morning, we cut out the fabric with the purpose creating another prototype exactly the same as the second low fidelity prototype. We agreed to make the stitches stronger so that it does not tear off this time. We also decided to make another prototype with a wider seat and a narrow back support. We are still working on these prototypes and hopefully you will see them by next week.

We were unable to get the prototypes finished because all the sewing machines were not working. Dr hunter and Grant spent more than 30 minutes tying to fix the machines. As this was happening, our team decided to sew some parts of the design by hand. Only Chisomo knew how to sew by hand. she had to teach everyone to sew by hand.

These sewing problems have really slowed down the whole prototyping process this week but we got one machine fixed so we are all good now. On the other hand, these problems have made us learn how to sew both on the machine and by hands.

These past days have been so hectic.I could not find a window for my laser cutting project. I plan to do it tomorrow  though and you will hopefully see it on Monday.