Author: Huan Wu

I am Huan Wu, a leadership-oriented undergraduate student studying Accountancy, Supply Chain Management and Information Systems/Information Technology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I chose to major in those areas because I am a person who likes to learn new knowledge continuously and take on challenges. The challenges bring me excitement, as I enjoy the feeling of using my expertise to tackle hard issues, find insights and initiate change. I believe having an understanding of different fields allows me to have a broader perspective when I look at issues in business. I aim at improving myself and learning skills to initiate change and make real impacts in the world in the future. My LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/huan-wu-0507/
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Semester Reflection

Taking this course has been a great learning opportunity for me. I have applied design thinking mindset with actual design and prototyping and experienced the iterate process of human-centered design. I have also learned from other teams’ project as I took classes and read reflections every week. After taking this class, I have grown my interest in the area, and have decided to participate in iVenture Accelerator to further the journey.

At the beginning of the semester, I chose to take this course because I wanted to have more hands-on practice with 3D printing, Arduinos and other technologies. I have had some experience with those technologies, and yet I have never had a systematic study on the subjects and didn’t apply those skills into practice. In addition, I care about social justice very much. I have been working as I Connect Facilitator to lead diversity and inclusion workshops on campus, and would like to learn more about people with disabilities and design for people with disabilities. For those two reasons, I signed up for this course.

In the first two weeks, we visited DRES (https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-2-reflection-inspiration-at-dres/). I have changed my view on the subject and began to understand what it means to design for people with disabilities. One thing that really stood out to be was the word choice of mentor instead of user in this class. People with disabilities have more experience than us. Rather than designing for their unmet needs, the mindset should be we are learning from experts who know more than what we do.

In week 3, we had a session with Milestones Studios to learn the current trends and needs in the assistive technology field (https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-3-reflection-challenge-to-make-an-impact/). After learning the examples and how to use analysis and synthesis, we wrote opportunity statement as a group. As we worked on the statement, we had a clearer picture of what we wanted to do: improving the ability to multitask for people with disabilities.

In week 4, we first had a session with Mike from EarthSense (https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-4-learning-from-observations-and-reflections/). This gave me a chance to see a real example where the product evolves with users’ feedback. At later half the class, we decided our team name to be “Blueprint” and designed our logo.

In week 5, we began our class with a presentation by John, I was impressed to see how 3D painting has revolutionized the healthcare industry (https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-5-reflection-revolutionize-the-world/). Specifically, I realized that 3D printing has the nature to assist with democratization and customization so that it could help with equal accessibility and equal affordability issues in the area. In the second part of the class, we learned the resources available that the Fab Lab and began our journey to learn hands-on skills.

In week 6, we learned how to use Fusion 360 to build a model (https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-6-reflection-growing-the-passion-and-skills/). We did a pre-class project on a camera and an in-class project on a phone case. For the project, we began the ideation phase. After conducting an interview with mentors, we found some areas that have potential. Besides agreeing on the importance of equal accessibility and equal affordability, we realized that some people with disabilities have issues with seeing things behind them and grabbing things.

In week 7 and 8, we adopted more skills such as circuit, laser cutting and how to use sewing machine (https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-7-reflection-dive-deep-with-design/, https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-8-reflection-learning-more-tools-and-reflecting-on-the-project/). In addition, we had make much progress with our project. We brainstormed on the ideas we had and draw stretches that consider multiple settings. We also made some low-fidelity prototype on our idea on vision. We communicated our ideas with the Milestones Studio in week 8, and received feedback on how to approach the ideas.

In week 9, we first finished the skill session with finishing the watch that we were building for detecting the curl and twist of the users which could make sure the users do the exercises as asked (https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-9-designing-the-object-as-well-as-the-experience/). Then, we learned how to use storyboard to design the whole user experience.

In week 10, we began our preparation for the makeathon event (https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-10-preparing-for-makeathon/). During the event, our group met John, and he shared many of his personal experiences with us. We realized that he would love to wear a watch but was unable to do so because the existing one in the market doesn’t satisfy the needs. Seeing the actual needs, our group was considering if we should shift our project.

In week 11, we updated again with the Milestones studios and received many insightful feedback (https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-11-update-the-project/). I realized that it was essential to consider the mechanism of the movement in the design process.

During the same week, we had our makeathon event. Our team officially changed our topic to design an accessible watch for people with limited pinching mobility. For the weeks after, we iterated on the design and came up with the final design last week (https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/team-5-watch-strap-for-people-with-charcot-marie-tooth/).

Looking back, I am really glad that I have chosen to take this course. I immersed myself in the designing process and actually came up with something that could have potential impact on people’s life. This wasn’t something that I expected initially, but it turned out to be greater. I love the innovation that I have experienced in the process and get the ambition to connect the innovation with more people to a great extent. This encourages me to participate in the iVenture Accelerator to further my idea in the area.

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Team 5 – Watch Strap for People With Charcot-Marie-Tooth

Our team took a different path compared with other teams. At the beginning of the semester, we were focusing on inventing a glove for people with disabilities to eat so that they can eat with comfort and independently. However, we changed our idea after the pre-makerathon event. During the event, we met John, one of the mentors for the course, and we decided to change our idea after hearing his personal story. We learned that there hasn’t been a watch that is accessible for him in the market: most watches require the whole hand to put on and take off. Even with simpler design such as a watch with magnet wrap, those can easily interfered with the manual wheelchair he was using. As a result, he had to abandon using the watch. However, if possible, he really wants to be able to wear a watch. After hearing his story, our team wanted to focus on this opportunity to invent a watch wrap that is accessible for people with limited pinching mobility.

We think the need for such an accessible device is huge. This type of design would enable people with limited pinching mobility to be able to wear a watch with just one finger. Specifically, we found that this design would benefit people with Charcot-Marie-Tooth. In our research, we realized that Charcot-Marie-Tooth is the most common inherited disorder that involves the peripheral nerves. In the United States along, it is estimated that 150,000 people have such disorder. On a global scale, 1 in 3,300 people would have such disorder. One symptom for people who have Charcot-Marie-Tooth is that they may develop weakness in their hands. This makes daily tasks such as writing and fastening buttons difficult. Similarly, wearing a watch independently is hard for them as well.

We have investigated the current market and deemed that the current products in the market don’t solve the problem. The traditional watch requires people to be able to put the wrap into the loop to lock the watch. This is very difficult for people with limited pinching ability. For sports watch that seems to be easy to put on, although it is easy for people to put their hands in the watch, it is still hard for people to lock it so that it would not move around the hand. The magnet wrap doesn’t work for people who use wheelchair because it will interfere with the wheelchair. The watch with slap band seems to work because people can just slap to put it on, yet it is hard for people to take off the watch. Because there is no watch that work in the existing market, we want to invent a watch that incorporates all the advantages of all the previous design.

traditional watch
sports watch
watch with slap band

We started with sketches and low-fidelity prototype to investigate in the movement of wearing a watch. As the pictures below shows, we have used buttons and 3D-printed material to represent a watch in our prototype. We have also used different materials to test the wrap. After trying different designs, we thought the sports watch design was a relatively easy way to put the watch on the hand. We also found that the wrap need to be flexible enough so that people with different mobility and shapes of hands would be able to put their hands in the loop. After idea that we incorporated in our design was to use loops on the watch wrap. This idea was originated from John’s personal life experiences. His clothes has loops on them so that he could just use one finger to wear the clothes. We thought this was a very accessible solution and incorporated this idea in both putting on and taking off the watch. All those concepts are the basis of our design. Another feature that we added to our design was the hook. With previous features and Velcro, the watch was already useful. Nonetheless, we learned from John that he personally would like something more fashionable, and Velcro on the watch didn’t seem cool. Thus, we decided to come up with another version that enables the watch to lock without using Velcro. We started with using hooks in the design. After John tried the prototype and confirmed that the hook idea was feasible, we further looked into other materials that looked safer and more durable. Eventually, we came up with using hook and eye closure. It utilized the same mechanism and was easier to put on the watch wrap and more durable for the users. The users don’t need to be afraid that the hook may move in the wrap.

sketches

Our team used the gift cards that we received in the makerathon event to invent a real watch for John, and below are the pictures for the final product.

The cost of such design is very cheap. Since we only design the watch band, the cost of the watch is not included. The watch that we used in the design was selected by John and it costed $143.44. For other people who want a similar watch, they can buy a watch in the Amazon and only retain the watch portion. The price would vary depends on the actual watch the people choose. For the actual design, the main costs are two components: hook & eye closure, and elastic spool. Both of them can be easily found on websites such as Amazon. For the hook & eye closure, the unit cost was $1 each. For the elastic spool, we bought a 396 inch one for $7.99. In our design, we only used 8 inch which costs around $0.2. Therefore, the total cost of our design is around $1.2.

hook and eye closure
elastic spool

Moving forward, we think there are two possible ways to commercialize our design. The first one is to partner with a watch company. The watch company would use our design of the watch band to come up with accessible watch for the users. The second way is to create customized watch band for people who already have a watch. The users just need to provide the dimensions of the watch, and we can create the watch band that the users can put on the watch.

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Week 11 – Update the project

This week, we looked back at all the process we have made throughout the semester and planned how to move forward.

The class on Wednesday was mainly broken down into two components. The first component was updating with the Milestones Lab. All the teams reported their progress to the Milestones Lab in team order, and Milestones provided feedback on the updates and the overall design. For groups that were not presenting at the moment, they brainstormed on the material list and resources needed for the upcoming Makeathon event.

The session with Milestones was truly insightful, and we have received much useful feedback. For instance, although we had decided the functions we wanted our design to include, we were considering too many actions that we would like our product to accomplish, and it made it hard to come up with the solution. We had some preliminary sketches, but we were not sure how to make it work physically. However, Milestones provided us with a different perspective; Milestones suggested to us that we didn’t need to consider all the actions users would involve in when they ate with the design at this point. Rather, we could focus on two main actions first and dive deep with the mechanism of the actions. This way, we could simplify our design and enable the product to accomplish the two activities perfectly before we moved forward with other functions and actions. In addition, we could take modularity into consideration. This could accommodate different utensils and shapes of hands. At the same time, it’s possible that we could add more functions and actions easier if the design includes modularity. Another idea that we didn’t consider was not to restrict the model to gloves. Previously, we used the word gloves to communicate the purpose of our product easier. As time went by, we focused on the concept of gloves and didn’t take other forms into consideration. Milestones suggested us to break the restriction and think broader. They also provided us with some pictures of existing pictures. Those helped us brainstormed better.

For the material and resources list, we came up with a preliminary list that we are going to order. It was hard for us to come up with the list because we haven’t finished stretching. We were discussing how to realize our ideas physically during the class and had some potential ways that we would explore later. However, we still need more time to finalize the actual design.

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How 3D Printing is Influencing the Medicine Industry

3D printing technology has evolved throughout the years, and it has drastically reshaped many industries. In this article, the focus would be put on its impact on the medical industry. Specifically, this article would touch on the features, current application, and controversial areas of the 3D printing technology.

3D printing is different from traditional technology in several different ways. This article would focus on the three main benefits 3D printing bring to the medical field: customization, low-cost and flexibility.

Customization

The first feature of 3D printing is customization. Depending on the individual needs, the model or the product can be tailored to individual users. At the same time, the model or the product can easily scale up depending on the volume demand.

3D printing is becoming more and more widely used in the hospital setting. One application of 3D printing in the hospitals is the rehearsal of surgery. With 3D printing technology, the patients’ specific conditions can be printed out and examined before the actual conduction of the surgery. With rehearsal on the patients’ specific models, the success rate of actual surgeries is much larger. In addition, because the doctors can practice and train on the specific model, it takes less time to carry out the operation. As a result, the patients are exposed to the environment for a lesser time. This further reduced morbidity and mortality rate.

Low-Cost

The second feature of 3D printing is low-cost. 3D printing is generally cheaper than the traditional method. In a conventional way, the mold is designed for larger production, and it requires a larger volume to cover the capital investment. As a result, many products are more expensive to the end customers. This makes some products unaffordable to end customers with smaller disposable income. On the other hand, because 3D printing can be designed for each individual, the cost for each type is drastically cheaper. It doesn’t require a building a specific model to carry out a new type. The lower initial investment enables 3D printing to be low-cost even for small volume production.

One example of how low cost benefits the customers is the application in prosthetics. Traditionally, it is costly for customers to get customized prosthetics because of the sunk expenses related to building the model. With 3D printing, the cost of manufacturing prosthetics is much lower which makes prosthetics more affordable to end patients.

Flexibility of Location

The third feature of 3D printing is its flexibility of location. Traditionally, the manufacturing of the products takes place at the manufacturer. Then, depending on the channels, the products would go through several intermediates before it comes to the end customers. With 3D printing, it is possible that the features of the product are transmitted digitally. Changes can be made throughout the supply chain. In the medical context, the end hospital or drug stores can print out the pills at the very last minute depending on the patients need. The fact that it can be carried out at the last step enables more customization opportunity. Since nothing physical has been produced in the middle steps, the costs of switching are much lower compared with the traditional method. The distribution and storing cost can be reduced to a minimal extent. This makes 3D printing more affordable for patients.

One example of how the flexibility of location benefits the customers is pills. The pills can be printed out at drug stores. This makes it very convenient for customers to get the drug they need. In addition, combined with the customization feature of 3D printing, the pills can be customized to each individual so that the individual doesn’t need to take as many pills as they do with the traditional method. The shape of the tablets can also be altered to fit individual consumers better.

Controversies

Although there are many benefits and current application of 3D printing technology, the technology still has some controversial areas. Until those areas are fixed, it would be hard to apply 3D printing technology widely.

Unrealized expectation

The first controversial issue with 3D printing is the unrealized expectation associated with the technology. The current accomplishment of using the 3D printing has been exaggerated by the media, the governments or even researchers. As a result, the general public doesn’t have a clear image of what the technology can achieve and what the technology can’t achieve in the current stage. For instance, the application in bioprinting and organ structure is at the preliminary stage. However, the outcome of the current usage is exaggerated. The consumers are not aware that the technology is not mature enough to be carried out to all cases, and it will require more time and money until the wide application become realized.

Regulation

A second big issue with 3D printing is regulation. While the production becomes simplified with 3D printing, the potential impact of counterfeit products become problematic. This is especially true in the medical field. For instance, if customers buy fake pills, their health conditions would be worse. The government needs to set rules associated with the technology to ensure it is controlled and monitored. The same principle applies to copyright concern. The law needs to define to what extent it is legal to copy a 3D printing model.

Conclusion

The 3D printing technology has benefits in customization, low-cost and flexibility of location. With those features, 3D printing has been making a significant impact in the medicine field. However, certain controversial areas remain unsolved, and it is critical to solve those concerns before the broad application of 3D printing.

Reference

Cave, Holly. “3D-printed pills will provide the solution to one of medicine’s biggest issues” Quartz, 22 Feb. 2019, qz.com/1554685/3d-printing-could-give-you-a-better-pill-to-swallow/
Lee, Ventola. “Medical Applications For 3d Printing: Current and Projected Uses.” U.S. National Library of Medicine, Oct 2014, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4189697/
Giges, Nancy. “Top 5 Ways 3d Printing Is Changing the Medical Field.” ASME, May 2017, www.asme.org/engineering-topics/articles/manufacturing-design/top-5-ways-3d-printing-changing-medical-field
Trounson, Andrew. “Here’s how 3D printing could change the future of medicine.” World Economic Forum, 4 Sep. 2017, www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/09/heres-how-3d-printing-could-change-the-future-of-medicine

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Week 10 – Preparing for Makeathon

This week, we have moved from the ideation stage and have started our focus on rapid prototyping. Instead of having our regular Wednesday morning class, we had our session on Tuesday evening. Due to conflict with my other course, I was unable to attend the session myself. However, I got updates from friends and teammates about the process and things we covered in the session. The session itself focused on preparing for Makeathon, the event that we are going to participate in a couple of weeks, and we were introduced to resources and opportunities about that event.

The whole session was taken with Dr. McDonagh’s Industrial Design class and Jeff’s Fab Lab class, so our class was able to brainstorm and share ideas with more people. We were also introduced to resources such as the Fab Lab, Makerlab, and Architecture lab; when the Makeathon takes place in the future, we are going to have the opportunities to use resources from those facilities. Furthermore, many old and new mentors came to share their ideas and stories in the class and provided new perspectives to us.

To our group, our focus has been on inventing a glove that could help users grab things easier. We intended it to be applicable for people with limited mobility and not enough arm strength. We hoped the users would be able to overcome the obstacle of not able to eat independently; through using our design, the users could enjoy the food with their friends and families without the help of other people. In the session, our group was introduced to the motion of using the knife and fork. This was something that we didn’t consider before. Previously, we focused on the environment that the users would be in when they used the product. We thought about the configuration of the meal setting including how the utensils were placed nearby the users so that it would be easy for them to start using them. We considered the texture of the glove as well so that the glove would be able to accomplish the task that we wanted it to be able to do. However, we didn’t specifically consider the different types of utensils that the users were going to interact with. We didn’t consider how the features of the utensils would influence the interactions, and how we should design the glove in a way that it could accommodate different types of utensils. In the following weeks, we are going to take this factor into consideration, and build a glove that could be more user-friendly.

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Week 9 – Designing the Object as well as the Experience

This week, we spent our class at Fab lab again. We continued the work with the watch and the human-centered design for our project.

At the first half of our class, we focused on finishing the watch, the one that would detect the curl and twist of the users when they used the watch so that the watch could make sure the users do the exercises as asked. In the previous two classes, we have designed the watch’s surface, laser cut the wood, sewed the strip, and learned the basics of the circuit. In this week’s class, we furthered our understanding of Arduino software. I haven’t done any coding with Arduino since high school, so I still needed some time to get familiar with the software again. Luckily, the main task in class was to understand the sample code and imitate the code rather than write code by ourselves, so it was pretty easy. We first tried some sample codes. After uploading those codes, we saw the effect on the circuit directly. This gave us a better understanding of what the code would do. We first tried the simple “blink” code in which the light bulb would blink. Interestingly, my friend’s light bulb was different from the normal ones, and hers blinked more frequently than that of the rest of us, so we altered the code to adjust for it. We also tested the sample code that would monitor the tilting. After learning the basics of the sample code, we started to build the watch. We first tackled the model itself. By using some zip tools and glue, the watch became stable without using many materials. After making the model, we connected the circuit and uploaded the code written by the staff at the Fab lab. The code would monitor the number of times the user curl and twist the watch. Overall, the watch was not a complicated model to build, yet it was cool to see how we could make something useful to other people with simple tools. Knowing the basics of all those tools that we have been studying for three weeks, we would apply that knowledge in future design.

test the sample blink code
the watch

In the second half of the class, we continued to work on our group project. This time, we adopted the technique of storyboarding. In the process of creating the storyboard, we drew how the users would interact with the design step by step and wrote the key points for each picture. Through this activity, we could have a better understanding of the whole experience the users would encounter. In addition, it made us reflect deeper on the context the design would be used in. One feedback we received was to consider how the user would be introduced to the design and how more people would know about it. After hearing the feedback, I deemed those were important factors to consider because those would help we design a better experience.

Storyboard
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Week 8 Reflection – Learning more tools and reflecting on the project

This week, we continued learning new tools and heard feedback from the Milestone Lab.

At the first half of the class, we focused on studying new skills. Similar to last week, the session was broken down into two groups, and we went to the section that we didn’t go to last time. In the beginning, we learned Inkscape, a software for creating and editing vector graphics. We studied how to create basic shapes and how to manipulate them to produce more shapes. We also practiced how to use existing pictures to transform into vector graphics. Then, we learned how to alter stroke and fill to differentiate the parts that we want to cut and the parts that we want to etch. After learning the skills, we applied them to design the customized watch. Because this watch would be for personal use to show caring and love, I chose to include a heart image to etch. In addition, since it would be relatively easy to confuse the top and the bottom, I decided to etch a letter B on the base. In my spare time, I went to the Fab lab and got the pieces laser cut.

Laser cutting
The watch

After the laser cutting lesson, we then worked on the sewing machine. This was the first time that I used a sewing machine, so the experience was new and unique for me. In the beginning, it was hard to even twine the thread following all the steps as well as threading. Gradually, after I practiced the basic one, I got more used to the speed of the sewing machine and the whole process. When I worked on the strip, I was able to finish it quickly.

The strip

In the future, I think the knowledge that I gained from those would be beneficial for our project since we are planning to do more prototyping to test the design. One useful resource I find online for more advanced skills for Inscape is at this link. It talks more about how to create different types of paths and how to alter paths. For instance, one can use “Ctrl + K” to combine paths to a compound. This technique can be useful if one wants to create holes in the design as well: by combining overlapping paths with fill, the overlapping area’s fill would disappear. I plan to explore more on this site to acquire more skills that are applicable to our project.

At the second half of the class, we presented to the Milestone Lab about our project progress and received insights from them. Up till now, we have decided on the area that we would like to focus on moving forward, but we were not sure how to approach the features that we wanted the product to be able to achieve. Thus, Milestone suggested us to consider the flexibility the users wanted and to consider the usage of the glove in the actual context. For instance, before the utensils get connected with the glove, where it needs to be placed so that the users can be able to put the glove on by themselves. Also, when the utensils get connected with the glove, how many degrees the users would want. All those are factors that we need to take into consideration in our design, and I think they are all excellent starting points.

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Week 7 Reflection –Dive Deep with Design

This week, we had a fun and interactive session at Fab lab.

At the first half of the class, we were divided into two groups: one group learned laser cutting, and the other group worked with the circuit. Next week, the two groups are going to switch so that every student can study all the skills. I joined the circuit group for this week. Although I have some experience with the circuit in my high school, I haven’t touched it since my freshman year, so it was a relearning process for me. Previously, when I connected items, I always used soldering. This time, the process was less messy; we used electrical insulation paper instead. The output was pretty cool; when the orientation shifted between horizontal and vertical, the lightbulb would turn on and off.

The circuit

In the second half of the session, we were broken into research groups and developed further with our ideation. Since we have come across three themes from the last class, we drew our ideas down visually in this week’s lesson. While we brainstormed, the TA instructed us to consider different situations and how our designs would be altered depending on the circumstances. I regarded this as a handy reflection tool. Before I thought about various users and various occasions, I was envisioning very generally, and this exercise helped me to think of extreme users and consider ways to make the ideas applicable to more users. For instance, for the idea of designing something to assist people in grabbing objects, I initially drew a ring for people’s middle finger to cross. After rethinking how seniors and children would interact with the design, I shifted the model to look like a glove so that it could accommodate people with less strength and they wouldn’t need much physical or mental power to control.

My ideas

After the brainstorming, our group focused on working on one prototype: how to enable people to see what’s behind them. We thought of an object that could stick to the arms of the wheelchair so it could be stable, and then this object could be expanded and adjusted to different heights based on the users’ preferences. When users don’t need it, it could be folded easily to minimize the space it occupies. On top of the object, the users could attach mirrors, phones or tablets to it based on their preferences, and this could let them be able to see what’s behind them.

The prototype for vision

On Sunday, we had an interview with a PA at Beckwith and shared our ideas on different themes and our prototype. He gave us much feedback on how the topics that we discovered were impacting people’s lifes currently, how people were dealing with them, and how he perceived those ideas would apply to the students. We altered our design based on his comments. For instance, for the model to assist people in grabbing objects, he mentioned how some people don’t have strength in their fingers or the fingers may be shaped differently. Thus, we decided to make the glove only cover the palm part of the hand. Also, we realized that the traditional look of the glove might be hard for people to wear themselves. As a result, we designed it to be open at the side with the zipper.

The prototype for grabbing objects

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Week 6 Reflection – Growing the Passion and Skills

This week’s class was fun and interactive. We learned more practical tools for 3D printing and worked as a team to brainstorm our research project.

The first two hours were solely on the phone holder model with the software named Fusion 360. Although I have watched the beginner videos in the Fusion websites as well as completed the homework assignment which required building a box before class, I was still not familiar with the software enough to say I could create a model myself without guidance. This has been changed with the tutorial lecture presented by Dan Banach. He was knowledgeable and experienced enough to explain the software techniques with easy to understand language as well as sense and follow-up when people felt not sure. By building the model step by step with explanations on all the features, now I can say I am confident in building simple models by myself. After the class, I adjusted the parameters to make sure the phone holder fit my own phone. I chose a photo that I took at Alaska to be the decal in the front (The public link to my model is here). Seeing models created with my hands through the software and being printed by the 3D printer, I felt a sense of achievement to make something come alive. I started to have a passion for exploring more of the software and have the ambition to build more creative things with models in the future.

The phone holder model
Printing the model

In the second half of the lecture, we focused on the project. After the third interview on Sunday, our team had a great starting point for the ideation phase. One thing that our team agreed on was the importance of equal accessibility and affordability. We realized that people with disability would like to be able to accomplish many tasks by themselves without assistants’ help. Thus, two of the themes that we found were vision and tools and attachment. We hoped to create something that can help them “see what is behind them” or something that can help them “grab heavy or hard to grab items easier and independently”. I believe those would be interesting areas to explore later because if we could invent something like this, it is possible that it could benefit more people. The last theme we chose was affordability. We agreed that we would like our design to be equal affordable and plan to take cost into consideration in future design. I think we were making great progress for our project and I am looking forward to doing more research to develop our ideas further before we go to prototypes.

Ideation Phase – How might we questions

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Week 5 Reflection – Revolutionize the World

This week’s class is full of talks and activities. I personally learned a lot form the second and the third talks.

John’s Speech

The second speech is on how 3D printing influences the healthcare industry for people with special needs. Previously, I knew 3D printing was starting to play a huge role in the industry, but I didn’t realize it has already revolutionized people’s lifes to this extent. The speaker, John Hornick, shared some key elements on the influence: innovation, democratization, customization, any part/anywhere/any time, bio-printed replacements, and biomechanical products. Among them, democratization is something that I didn’t expect. I have learned how 3D printed products can be customized to each individual and can be produced anywhere. This makes the production of personalized products on various scales possible. What I didn’t consider is that due to this feature, the technology enables everyone to access and create objects. I regard this as a crucial factor because this allows more people to design and make what they have in minds into reality. By making more people access to innovation, we can see more creativity emerge in different industries that meet more personalized wants and needs. In the future, it may be possible that everyone can bring their ideas into reality, and everyone can benefit from creativity easily because the products can be carried out in all area of the world.

Jeff’s Speech

This echoes with the third speech we have from Jeff Ginger of the CU Community Fab Lab. During the talk, we learned what Fab Lab offers to the public. The speech reminds me of the WeWork that I have been to in Shanghai, China and Israel, and I believe this kind of business model can significantly change how people work and enable more people to realize their ideas. In the WeWork in Israel, it has an innovation lab. People at WeWork can get access to all those expensive machines by paying a fee. This encourages entrepreneurship and makes startups to be able to survive at the initial stage since they can scale according to the demand instead of buying all the equipment they need. This is what Fab Lab offers as well. People just need to pay a material fee, and they can access all those expensive equipment. More importantly, the lab is open to anyone in the community. According to Jeff, the Fab Lab is accessible to anyone who has the interest; even homeless people can come to the lab, which is not very common in other labs. Equal accessibility and affordability enable the community around the Fab Lab to learn and express their creativity. As Fab Lab expands its footprint on a global scale, it brings democratization and customization to all over the world.