Author: Emma Bradford

Hi there! I am a Senior studying Marketing and Information Systems/Information Technology. I chose to take this course in order to expand my creative and design thinking skills that I can apply to my future career. I am grateful that we are provided the opportunity to take this course as Business majors.
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My Experience in the Digital Making Seminar – Spring 2019

Beyond Expectations

Initially, I enrolled in this course to obtain new skills that are rare among business majors and to explore the concept of design thinking. I wanted to learn how to use CAD software to 3D print different objects. However, on the first day of class, my expectations changed. I learned that throughout the semester, we were going to work with mentors on campus on Accessibility Product Design. I assumed we were going to 3D print prototypes that could help our mentors in their daily lives, test those prototypes, and iterate and improve them. However, this course far exceeded my expectations.

Through various workshops during the course of the semester, I was able to obtain a wide range of new skills. I learned technical skills such as Fusion 360 when a representative from Autodesk visited campus and how to code an Arduino to illuminate an LED light and laser cut wood at the Fab Lab. Moreover, I was able to work through the design thinking process over the course of the semester, which was one of the reasons I applied to the seminar in the first place. I never expected to learn these skills and concepts in a business class; however, I was lucky enough that the Gies College of Business and Professor Vishal Sachdev provided me with this unique opportunity right before I graduated!

In addition to teaching me these competencies, this course helped me learn a substantial amount about myself. For example, I realized that I love working with people from different domains who have different backgrounds and experiences. My teammates were Accountancy and Industrial Design majors, and a few of my other classmates were Engineers. It was energizing to see the different ways people think and everyone coming together with open minds and great enthusiasm. Furthermore, I learned that I have a creative mind. Previously, I thought being creative meant have artistic abilities. However, this course helped me understand that I can use my creativity for improving a prototype, writing, overcoming a challenge, and thinking outside-of-the-box.

Semester at a Glance

During the first three weeks of the semester, we met our class mentors and identified opportunities to explore with them. Jenna Fesemyer, a class mentor, is on the Fighting Illini Wheelchair Track team and wears a prosthetic leg on her left residual limb. She inspired us to create a shoe tread that has good traction in icy and snowy weather but weighs less than boots. That’s when my team, Solestice, and I defined our opportunity statement: To create detachable tread attachments that can be used to travel in a variety of terrains. Check out my reflections from weeks 2 and 3 for more a more in-depth look at what we did.

Weeks 4 and 5 consisted of market research and a guest visit from EarthSense, a startup on the University of Illinois’ Research Park. One piece of advice from the representative that had a lasting impression on me is to “fail early and fail often.” This means that the more you fail and the earlier you fail, the more you can improve your prototype and the final product will be. This mindset can be applied to almost anything you do in life. Additionally, team Solestice interviewed our mentor, Jenna, to gain insight on the user experience of the tread and some aspects she would prefer in the tread.

The next few weeks of the semester were spent learning technical skills, learning about different resources on campus, and starting to design our tread. We attended a workshop from Autodesk to learn about the CAD software, Fusion 360, and visited the Fab Lab to learn about the tools that would be available to us during the Makeathon. We also wrote How Can We statements, begun brainstorming potential designs for our tread, and created a storyboard of the user experience with our tread. See my Week 6, 7, 8, and 9 reflections for more detail.

Then, Weeks 10 and 11 were dedicated to preparing for the Makeathon. We met additional mentors who were going to assist us at the Makeathon as well ensure we had all the materials we needed. We met with Milestone Labs, who had consulted with us throughout the semester on our projects. Weeks 12 and 13 were spent making our prototype at the Makeathon and testing it with users. We received some feedback on how to improve our prototype, and we were able to iterate our design before our final presentation.

I am so grateful to have had this wonderful opportunity to learn and grow in new ways during my last semester at UIUC!

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Makeathon & Testing

Last week, we spent all weekend at the Fab Lab, developing our prototypes. Going into the weekend, I was nervous that my team was not going to be able to finish our design by the end of the weekend. On Friday, my teammate, Trevor, programmed an Arduino to detect pressure and enable force feedback. We planned to attach this to our tread so that prosthetic users could see where they are putting the most pressure on their prosthetic and adjust their gait accordingly.

The pressure sensor that we attached to the tread.

On Saturday, my team examined the materials we had ordered, and realized we didn’t have the materials necessary to create a tread. So, we decided to make a trip to Walmart to pick up a pair of shoes and window caulk. Our plan was to use the bottom of the shoe as our tread and put window caulk (silicone) on the bottom of the tread for increased traction.

When we returned to the Fab Lab with our new materials, we wanted to cut the tread off with a band saw. However, we realize this wasn’t feasible because cutting the rubber would cause a potent odor. So, Brandon from the Fab Lab advised us to create a mold out of the tread and fill the mold with hot glue. When we first tried this, we didn’t put any lubricant on the shoe, so the mold crumbled to pieces.

  • First attempt at creating the mold.
  • Failed mold creation.

On our second try (which also had to be our last since we used all of the mold compound), we successfully created a mold for our tread. Jennifer on my team used two hot glue guns to fill the mold. We knew hot glue was a good choice of material because it has good traction, is lightweight, and is flexible.

  • We used baby powder to lubricate the shoe.
  • Successful mold.
  • Jennifer filling the mold with hot glue.

Once the hot glue cooled, we utilized a heat gun to smooth the top surface of the tread. We then attached velcro straps to the tread with more hot glue. We tested the tread on my foot to ensure that the straps were placed well.

Then, by Sunday morning, we attached the pressure sensor to the heel of the tread and finished making our presentation. We then presented to four judges and closed out the weekend we a final ceremony. My favorite part of the ceremony was when the two teams who tied for first place donated the 3D printer prize to DRES.

Later this week, my team met with our mentor, Jenna, to test the prototype. Some feedback we received from her was that she loved the flexibility and traction of the tread. She also mentioned that the tread was very lightweight. One piece of advice was to create two treads, one for each foot, and to make the straps bigger to fit around her shoe. While discussing with Jenna, we realized that another option to improve traction is to put hot glue directly on the bottom of her shoe. That way, the tread is less discreet. Exploring this possibility will be my team’s last steps!

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One Week Until Makeathon

The Makeathon starts 5 days from today! All teams are working diligently to finalize their ideas and prepare for next weekend. Each team met with Milestone Labs for about 10 to 15 minutes to discuss the progress of our projects. After speaking with them, my team realized we needed to do more research on the type of materials we would like to use for our tread. We also need to focus on the user experience and talk with Jenna and other users to understand each part of the experience.

After our meeting with Milestone Labs, the class broke out into our teams for another brainstorming session. We were tasked with creating a list of materials that we would need/want for the Makeathon. Each team was given the budget of $150 dollars of materials that would be ordered for the Makeathon, and we will also have the materials and tools at the Fab Lab, the MakerLab, the Architecture building, and School of Art and Design available for use during the Makeathon.

During this thought session, my team decided to alter the design of our tread. Instead of doing our original idea of metal cleats on the bottom of the tread, we want to design the tread so that its pattern and material help prevent slipping on icy terrains. Thus, the focus will now be on the shape, placement, and pattern of the tread in addition to the best material to utilize

We also had a guest speaker during class this week. Valerie, a representative from Social Innovation, shared with us the opportunity to continue our work from the Makeathon. She explained how iVenture, an accelerator for top student startups at the University of Illinois, will support us to continue working on our projects. This is a fantastic opportunity for underclassmen in the course who are entrepreneurial or would like experience with a startup.

I cannot describe how incredible this opportunity is. I have never seen so many students, colleges, organizations, and resources from all parts of campus come together like this. I am grateful to be a part of the first Makeathon of this kind, and I look forward to seeing how it transforms in the future.

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The Bioprinting Industry at a Glance

When I first chose to take this Digital Making course, I had no experience with Design or 3D printing. I knew 3D printing technology was becoming more advanced and accessible, so I enrolled in the course to learn more about the technology itself and its impact on different industries. In the first few weeks of class, I researched topics related to Digital Making in order to expand my knowledge of the field. One aspect of Digital Making I found very interesting was Bioprinting. Not only did the possibility of printing something living blow my mind, but I realized that this could have a drastic effect on the Medical industry. Thus, I chose to conduct further research on the Bioprinting industry: what has already been accomplished and where the industry is headed.

What has already been accomplished

The greatest opportunity I see with Bioprinting is organ transplants. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, “154,324 patients waiting for a [transplant] in the United States alone in 2009. Among them, only 27,996 patients received organ transplantation and 8,863 patients died while they were still on the waiting list.” If Bioprinting becomes more accessible in the near future, it will drastically decrease these numbers due to more available and cheaper organs. Thus, hundreds, if not thousands, of lives could be saved each year in the United States.

Some phenomenal work is already being done in this field. In Poland, researchers are working on printing an artificial pancreas. The goal of this research is to create a functioning pancreas that will help those who struggle with diabetes. With an increasing rate of diabetes and thus more transplants, this bionic pancreas would affect thousands, if not millions, of people and save countless lives.

Pancreas transplant research.

Another recent advancement is a Korean company, Rokit Healthcare, is testing a new method for treating lesions through skin grafts. The method involves using a patient’s autologous tissues and cells to then print a graft. Once the graft is printed, the doctors will place it on the patient’s wound and the skin cell will regenerate. Additionally, researchers in the industry have successfully printed DNA molecules onto glass slides utilizing inkjet printers. Inkjet printers have also been used in cartilage repairs and other types of cells.

However, there are still some obstacles to overcome with inkjet bioprinting. For example, the high heat of the nozzle may over-dry the cells. One approach to overcome this obstacle is to prepare the bioink in a water-based solution to prevent drying and clogging of the nozzle. This method of tissue engineering research is also very expensive and time-consuming, which makes it not very feasible. Moreover, there is the possibility that cells could be damaged in the printing process. Small nozzle sizes necessary for high resolution printing puts more stress on the cells. However, controlling the concentration of cells in the bioink allows researchers to control the number of cells in each ink drop, which could help minimize cell damage.

The future of bioprinting

Returning to the idea of solving the organ donor shortage issue, Dr. Anthony Atala, the Director of the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine, is a leader in this area. He gave a TED talk in 2011 where he introduced a printer that could print a working kidney. Today, the kidney still has not been successfully transplanted into a human, but Dr. Atala stated that his lab’s research “has shown that 3D printed bone, muscle and cartilage structures, when implanted in animals, succeed in creating a system of nerves and blood vessels that integrate into the body.” However, this research is still being conducted and is not ready to try on patients.

Dr. Anthony Atala presenting his 3D-printed kidney at his TED talk in 2011.

The possibilities of bioprinting in the future are endless. Currently, most research is in the experimental phase. Living cells, tissues, and organs have been printed, but they are not yet in the stage of surgically implanting them into human bodies. There have been successful transplants in animals, but not humans yet. Because the industry is still in the Introduction phase of the industry life cycle, I predict that within the next ten years, successful transplants of different types of organs will take place and bioprinting will become more widely used once it is approved by the FDA.

Impact on the medical field as a whole

As further research on bioprinting is conducted in the forthcoming years, bioprinting will become more advanced and common. This will increase the availability of now-scarce organs and decrease the cost of transplants. Furthermore, companies are starting to partner together to conduct more research. For example, L’Oreal and Organovo, a 3D bioprinting company based in San Francisco, teamed up to explore 3D printed skins for cosmetics testing.

Professor Tshifularo during the 3D-printed ear surgery.

In addition to printing living cells and tissues, medical professionals have successfully printed body parts out of other materials and implanted them into people’s bodies. One recent success story is Professor Mashudu Tshifularo and his team of surgeons in South Africa have implanted a 3D-printed middle ear. This landmark operation consisted of the hammer, anvil, and stirrup ossicles that were 3D printed with titanium. Professor Tshifularo stated that “The operation went fantastically well and we are very excited.” Thus, it is evident that 3D printing is the future of the medical industry, whether the materials being printed are living or not.

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Makeathon Pre-Night

Instead of meeting at our regular class time this week, we met Tuesday night to prepare for the Makeathon that is coming up in a couple of weeks. We meet new mentors and other students who are also participating in the Makeathon.

Two of our class mentors, Adam and Ryan, along with three new mentors sharing their stories with us.

One story that I was intrigued by was from one of the mentors who has been using a wheelchair since he was about ten. He doesn’t have a high level of mobility in his hands and fingers, so he saw an opportunity to make it easier to put his socks on. He bought fabric from Jo-Ann Fabrics and had his mother sew three loops onto the socks. This allows him to firmly grip the sock, bend over, and pull the sock over his foot. I thought this innovation was very creative, as I would not have thought of it myself. Moreover, I could see this sock innovation expanded to multiple different user bases, such as elderly people.

Another mentor who spoke at the pre-night was a representative from Clark-Lindsey, a retirement community in Urbana, IL. He shared with us three different personas of residents at Clark-Lindsey, which helped us empathize with the residents and understand their everyday lives and emotions. From this, the mentor shared that one large opportunity for the Makeathon is fall prevention. One great aspect of a fall prevention product is that it could be expanded to user bases outside of the elderly, and that is a huge goal for the Makeathon.

Mentor from Clark-Lindsey sharing the resident personas.

The last part of the class was designated to brainstorming with our teams and speaking with mentors. My team, Solestice, met a student from the MakerSpace class, and thought she would be a great addition to our team. She has more experience utilizing the tools that will be available during the Makeathon, so she will add great value and insight. I am looking forward to participate in the Makeathon in a couple of weeks!

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Day 3 at the Fab Lab

This week at the Fab Lab, we finished making the last part of our watches. As a reminder, the watch is for outpatients who need to perform arm exercises, such as bicep curls and wrist twists. We used Arduinos to sense the movements of the watch.

  • The materials that came in the Arduino kit.
  • A Fab Lab employee teaching us about the functions of the Arduino.

First, in order to familiarize ourselves with Arduinos, we used attached wires and an LED light into the Arduino. Then, we plugged the Arduino into the computer and uploaded code to it in order to illuminate the light.

  • Uploading code to the Arduino.
  • Lighting up the LED on the Arduino.

Once we felt comfortable working with the Arduino, we removed the LED and added a tilt sensor. As we learned 2 weeks ago, tilt sensors can detect orientation, positioning, and inclination. Adding this to the Arduino will allow the watch to detect when the outpatient user is doing their exercises. The code that Brandon, one of the Fab Lab employees wrote, detects the movements and reports them to the computer. Then, we put the wooden parts, the Arduino, and the strap all together to make the watch.

The last part of the class was dedicated to creating storyboard for the users of our teams’ products. This was my first time making a storyboard, but it led to great insight on the user experience. It will help us gain a more complete understanding of everything that we need to take into consideration when designing our tread. You can see the storyboard my team briefly came up with below.

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Fab Lab Round 2

Fabrication

We returned to the Fab Lab to continue learning about different types of fabrication! Last week, I created a circuit that made an LED light illuminate. This time, I had the opportunity to design the surface of a watch for outpatients who are required to perform exercises like bicep curls and twisting their wrist.

First prototype of the watch that will track movements during the patient’s rehabilitation exercises.

The watch is made of 3 pieces of wood. The top piece can spin by 90 degrees in order to detect the movements for the 2 different exercises. We were first tasked with designing the top of the watch, so users would know which way to spin the watch while performing each exercise. Utilizing the software program, Inkscape, I drew 1 arrow on the top of the watch along with the text, “TWIST,” and another arrow on the bottom of the watch with the text, “CURL.” Thus, the user would know which way to spin the watch when performing hand twists versus bicep curls.

Here you can see me practicing using Inkscape.

After designing the surface of the watch, we sewed straps for the watch. Using sewing machines, we first practiced on a sheet of fabric to get used to the machine. Once we got the hang of it, we began sewing the straps for our watches. We initially sewed the strap inside-out, then use a stick to help turn it right-side-out. Lastly, we sewed velcro onto the strap so the watch user can adjust it to the size of their wrist. You can see pictures of the process below!

  • Practicing sewing on a plain sheet of fabric.
  • Line we followed when sewing on the plain fabric.
  • Turning the strap right-side-out with the stick.
  • Learning to sew with classmates!

Project Progress

During the second half of class, each team took turns presenting our project to 2 of our mentors, Milestone Labs and Adam Bleakney. We shared the progress we have made since we first spoke with them. From our conversation, we realized that we need to narrow down our topic and start conducting more secondary research on what already exists for shoe treads and attachments. Also, it is necessary for us to speak more with Jenna, our user, about her desired experience with the tread, i.e. if she would need to sit down when taking the tread on and off. From here, we are going to conduct more secondary research and speak with a Materials Science professor, physical therapist, and a shoe maker so we can gain insight on where we would like to focus our project.

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Designing with an Open Mind

Our next few classes are taking place at the Fab Lab. We toured the facility, and we had the opportunity to see the different types of fabrication that is done there. I had no idea that the lab existed on campus, and as a second-semester Senior, I wish I had known earlier. My mind was blown at all of the cool things that are happening at the Fab Lab! Check out the photos below to see some things that have been made there.

  • A table of things made at the Fab Lab.
  • Plastic spikes that were 3D printed onto fabric.
  • A box made from wood and strips of LED lights.

After taking the tour, we split into 2 groups; one group worked with a laser cutter and another built circuits. I was in the group that built circuits, and we used simple watch batteries to illuminate an LED light. We observed change in brightness of the LED when a resister was used versus when no resistor was used. Also, we utilized a multimeter to measure the voltage of the battery and strength of the resistor. You can see the finished circuit below.

One of the staff members, Brandon, also showed our group a keyboard that he created. He created it by laser-cutting spirals into wood and metal tape. I was impressed by Brandon’s creativity to design a working keyboard out of affordable and available materials. Below are pictures of the keyboard Brandon made.

  • Laser-cut wooden spirals on the top of the keyboard.
  • Metal tape on the inside of the keyboard.
  • Copper tape on the inside of the keyboard.

The last hour of class was spent brainstorming different designs for our teams’ products.

  • Sheet of brainstorming designs.

The above pictures illustrates my team’s brainstorming session. The class TA’s gave us new prompts every 3 minutes for the designs. For example, one prompt was to design our products if we were designing it for children and another was if we were designing it with an unlimited budget. This brainstorming activity was challenging because we had to keep an open mind and draw as many different designs as possible. It was hard because I already had an idea of what the product would look like, so I had to keep an open mind when drawing these designs. The assignment for the week is to create a prototype of our design; my team chose to create a prototype of a shoe tread that has velcro straps and a few metal spikes on the bottom.

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Ideation

This Wednesday, we participated in a workshop from Autodesk representatives on Fusion 360, an integrated CAD software. We were tasked with creating a phone holder. The representative leading the workshop walked us through the steps to design the phone holder. We are going to print them in the MakerLab later this week. I love this course because we are able to design and create things that we (or others) can actually use. You can see the phone holder I designed here.

Autodesk workshop where we designed phone holders in Fusion 360. The image on the screen is the phone holder we designed.

In addition to designing the basic holder, we also had the opportunity to customize it. We could choose a material, paint colors, add decals, etc. This was my first time utilizing any CAD software, and I really enjoyed it. I thought the Fusion interface was very simple and intuitive. However, I have heard that this is not the case with other CAD softwares. I would love to learn different softwares and see how they differ form each other.

After the workshop, we had about 45 minutes to work with our teams to create “How Might We” statements. We used the post-it notes from last class to help us write them. My team narrowed our work down to 3 “How Might We” statements. These statements are an essential part of the Ideation phase of the design process, so we are testing if our idea to create a tread for prosthetic users will work. This activity challenged us to not be too broad nor too specific. We found it difficult to find a balance. I am looking forward to the next few weeks in the Fab Lab to continue our project!

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Week 5 Reflection

This week was a little different for me–due to unfortunate circumstances, I could not be present in class. Furthermore, I could not look at screens all week, so I had very limited communication with my team members. Due to this, my reflection on this week will be centered around my team’s progress in our research.

My team interviewed our mentor, Jenna, this week. As a reminder, our project is focused on creating a shoe tread to facilitate walking on ice and snow for prosthetic users. Some key takeaways from the interview are:

  1. It is important that the tread is light and easy to attach and detach.
  2. The height added from the tread should be as minimal as possible.
  3. The first prototype should fit to gym shoes, since those tend to be the most comfortable shoes.

In addition to interviewing Jenna, I have conducted some more secondary research. I wanted to start learning more about specific materials and designs for our shoe tread. I came across an article that describes the benefits of winter car tires over all-season tires. From the article, I learned that the rubber material is more important than the tread design. Winter tires are made of a rubber compound that remains soft and flexible in low temperatures, which increases traction. Thus, we need to take this into consideration when choosing a material to create the tread with.

Another article I found shares the best gear for walking in snow and on ice. The article showed a variety of tread materials and designs; some were made of rubber, some of stainless steal and some had sharp spikes while others had small cleats. We will need to decide on tread design and material(s) that are lightweight and create good traction on snow and ice. Lastly, through my secondary research, I also found that it is important that the tread can easily fit into a purse or pocket. This way, anyone can use the tread no matter where they are going.