This week we finished up the Engineering Bootcamp workbook as well as completed the prototypes of our anteater enrichment devices. My group, Ants Ants Revolution, created a series of hanging PVC pipes that could hang on the fence of the exhibit with small parts sticking to the outside of the fence for zookeepers to put food into the pipes and small holes facing into the exhibit for the anteaters to reach the food with their tongues. It started as a low fidelity prototype, below, made out of straws as PVC and a small model fence. The original plan was to have the PVC permanently attached to the fence, but as we moved on to our medium fidelity prototype we concluded that a hanging option would be easier for zookeepers to work with.
Low Fidelity: 
High Fidelity: 
On Thursday we spent the morning doing a 3D printing workshop which was really interesting. I have never 3D printed anything, so now that I kind of know how to (I don’t think I can properly say know until I actually try it) I can’t wait to get an opportunity to use one of the machines.
After lunch on Thursday we learned our teams and main projects for the summer. I am part of Team Toco, along with Zach, Lucas, and Chimwemwe and I couldn’t be more excited. We will be working on fleshing out Dr. Carns’ idea for an optically based tocodynamometer–a device that measures uterine contractions during childbirth. Dr. Carns has a proof of concept prototype (see picture below) that involves a non elastic band with a small elastic portion. A piece of fiber optic cable cut in two and enclosed in a metal tube spans the elastic portion. An LED shines into one end of the fiber optic and the light travels through the tube and is seen at the other end of the cable. However when the elastic stretches such as during a contraction, the pieces of fiber optic cable separates and the light can no longer travel through the cable. Our goal is to create this device and a sensor to detect the light and monitor contractions.
Another idea Dr. Carns passed on to us with the proof of concept was that we try to use athletic tape as the attachment method for the device to the belly instead of using a band that wraps around the whole belly like normal tocodynamometers, because they are generally considered uncomfortable.
I am super excited to work on this project because I think it will be a good combination of the more mechanical making of the fiber optic cable part, which I feel more confident in, along with an electrical reading device, probably using some type of photoresistor, which will require me to learn something new. Photoresistors also happen to be my favorite type of resistor (not that I’m an expert on resistors… I’m a MechE for a reason). Good thing Chimwemwe is studying electrical engineering!
Can’t wait to see what next week holds for Team Toco!