Author: Katherine Garvey

Posted on

Kate Garvey E-Portfolio

Coming into this course, I didn’t really know what to expect. I heard about it in Dr. McDonagh’s Disability + Relevant design course. Since I really enjoyed that class, I thought I might enjoy this one as well. I had heard about Arielle’s company Ingenium in that course, and was very impressed to hear that the product she sells was first created in Digital Making. That really sparked my interest in the class even further.

When the semester began, I expected the class to focus a lot on 3D printing. I was surprised to find out that it was going to be set up more like the kind of studio class I am familiar with. This got me excited because I was eager to experience a design course from a more outside realm. We spent a lot of time in class doing brainstorms, research, and iterations, much like my design courses. But what was new for me about this course was having an opportunity to work with business students. It was fun to teach them what I know about design and introduce them to the importance and relevance of design thinking.

After having the chance to visit DRES early in the semester really sparked my interest in working with the wheelchair track team. We also had the chance to meet the mentors and meet Arielle. It was cool to hear her talk about her story and have the chance to see someone, and not necessarily even a designer, create a product and then profit from its creation is just so exciting for me to see. She really found an area that needed improvement, no matter the scale, and took off with it. This really got me as well as my team excited about working with her.

After deciding we wanted to work with Arielle, we got the chance to meet up with her and discuss the opportunities further. She told us about the struggles the team faces with their hand rings. She told us how during poor weather conditions, racing becomes even more difficult as you no longer have a good grip on the hand rings of the chair. We were lucky to be invited to visit the team practice and get a chance to have a closer look at the chairs, the hand rings, the gloves, and the process that goes into preparing your chair for a race. Wrapping the hand ring is such a difficult and time consuming task, we knew it would be so great to find a way to streamline that process into something more efficient and easier to do.

During the following weeks, we begun to really think about how we might find a good solution for our opportunity. We begun to discuss what materials we might want to test with our prototype. We decided to test how adding snaps to the existing hand ring, as well as to our materials will hold up. We also wanted to test various materials around the ring to hopefully find one that creates the best friction.

For the Makeathon, we purchased a variety of materials including a bath mat and a yoga mat. During the Makeathon, we quickly realized that our materials were very soft and didn’t withstand even minimal testing with the glove. We found that our most promising solution was to pursue to Plasti Dip. We discovered that there was a spray version available, which seemed to be a good and easy option. After the Makeathon, we purchased a can of the spray Plasti Dip to create another prototype. We used the spray booth in Art + Design to coat the hand rings and the gloves. The spray was so easy to use. We did the recommended three coats, waiting 30 minutes between each and four hours for it to dry. After it had dried, it had created a nice even coat that was slightly sticky to the touch.

We met with Joey Gibbs from the racing team to test the prototype. Once we arrived at the DRES morning practice, Joey was able to remove one of the hand rings from his chair and attach our prototype to it. The glove we had sprayed was not Joey’s size, so he wants able to test the glove with the ring. However, we did see Jenna, another racer and mentor from our class, and she was able to test the glove for us. After going about 40 feet, the Plasti Dip on the glove started peeling away immediately. We quickly realized this was not a solution.

Once Joey was ready to start practicing using our prototype, he quickly realized that the Plasti Dip created the perfect amount of friction between his glove and the ring. It was sticky enough to create a good grip, but not too sticky that it slowed down his stroke. After about five minutes of Joey practicing at a regular speed, we could see that the rubber spray coating was starting to peel away. Even though it was peeling away, it didn’t affect Joey’s speed or efficiency. After about 15 minutes, the rubber on the ring was almost worn away. We noticed that one section of the ring, however, was withstanding Joey’s strokes. Once we took a closer look at the ring, we realized the part that was no peeling was the part that we had coated with Plasti Dip at the Makeathon. This lead us to believe that our potential solution might be stronger if both types of Plasti Dip are used or if more coats are applied. In the end, Joey had found that his overall speed was actually 1 mph faster with our prototype than normal. This was an exciting finding! We think that if the team pursues trying this material in various ways, they might find a solution that is easier and more effective.

This class was a great learning experience. Though it was different than what I had expected in terms of what we actually did during the class, I still enjoyed it. The best part for me was having the chance to work with business students and learn more about their point of view when it comes to problem solving and design. I learned that I have better problem solving skills than I thought, which was an exciting self discovery.

https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/team-four-project-reflection/?preview_id=2389&preview_nonce=ce857f17ee&preview=true

Posted on

Team Four Project Reflection

Since the class we met the mentors, we knew we wanted to work with Arielle. We were inspired by the way she made awesome use of her time in this class and really made something worthwhile. Arielle really saw an opportunity for change and improvement and through this class was able to even create a business out of it. We were also excited about the area of opportunity she presented and the idea of potentially helping our U of I  team and her company. After meeting with her and Adam, they explained to us the main problems they have when it comes to racing. They showed us the gloves and how they work in part with the hand ring on the wheel.

They told us the major issues they face is that when it rain, it becomes very slippery between the hand ring and the glove. This causes the athlete a lot of trouble as they can’t get as good of contact between the glove and hand ring. Once the weather conditions become poor, it doesn’t matter how much the athlete trained or how fast they race if they can’t make good contact.  We worked with Arielle and the paralympic wheelchair racers to find a better way to cover their hand rings in preparation for a race.

The other problem they face is the fact that there is no easy way to cover the hand ring. The hand ring is made of aluminum, so they need a cover to create friction as well as protect the athlete from injury. Adam told us of the many solutions he has tried over the years to solve this problem, as there is not a solution that exists on the market. Currently, they use a bike tire which they have to carefully place and glue around the hand ring. This is a daunting process that takes a very long time. The cover lasts for a few months, and then they need to be replaced. In order to remove the cover, they have to either heat it with a heat gun or put the ring in the oven to be able to get the cover off.

After meeting with Adam and Arielle, we were able to formulate our opportunity statement. We decided our goal was to work with Arielle and the paralympic wheelchair racers to find a better way to cover their hand rings in preparation for a race.

Tire Cover
Hand ring with tire cover
Worn down tire cover

Initially, we hoped to solve the challenge of how to help the racers in bad weather conditions. Going into the Makeathon, most of our ideas included creating a cover for the hand ring. After meeting with a materials science professor and tips we received from Milestone Labs, we begun to consider what material might be able to create the best kind of friction with the glove when wet. We considered a snap cover, zipper, fabric cover and more. We purchased a variety of materials including a bath mat and a yoga mat. During the Makeathon, we quickly realized that our materials were very soft and didn’t withstand even minimal testing with the glove. We looked around the FabLab for scrap materials from other groups. We found some nylon, as well as a dip plastic rubber called Plasti Dip. We created this low fidelity prototype using our materials. Since we only had two hand rings, one covered and one uncovered, we had to create sections for each material.

Makeathon Prototype

After testing each section, we found that our most promising solution was to pursue to Plasti Dip. We discovered that there was a spray version available, which seemed to be a good and easy option. After the Makeathon, we purchased a can of the spray Plasti Dip to create another prototype. We used the spray booth in Art + Design to coat the hand rings and the gloves. The spray was so easy to use. We did the recommended three coats, waiting 30 minutes between each and four hours for it to dry. After it had dried, it had created a nice even coat that was slightly sticky to the touch.

Plasti Dip Spray
Hand ring in the spray booth
Dried hand ring

We met with Joey Gibbs from the racing team to test the prototype. Once we arrived at the DRES morning practice, Joey was able to remove one of the hand rings from his chair and attach our prototype to it. The glove we had sprayed was not Joey’s size, so he wants able to test the glove with the ring. However, we did see Jenna, another racer and mentor from our class, and she was able to test the glove for us. After going about 40 feet, the Plasti Dip on the glove started peeling away immediately. We quickly realized this was not a solution.

Worn Plasti Dip glove
Joey testing our prototype

Once Joey was ready to start practicing using our prototype, he quickly realized that the Plasti Dip created the perfect amount of friction between his glove and the ring. It was sticky enough to create a good grip, but not too sticky that it slowed down his stroke. After about five minutes of Joey practicing at a regular speed, we could see that the rubber spray coating was starting to peel away. Even though it was peeling away, it didn’t affect Joey’s speed or efficiency. After about 15 minutes, the rubber on the ring was almost worn away. We noticed that one section of the ring, however, was withstanding Joey’s strokes. Once we took a closer look at the ring, we realized the part that was no peeling was the part that we had coated with Plasti Dip at the Makeathon. This lead us to believe that our potential solution might be stronger if both types of Plasti Dip are used or if more coats are applied. In the end, Joey had found that his overall speed was actually 1 mph faster with our prototype than normal. This was an exciting finding! We think that if the team pursues trying this material in various ways, they might find a solution that is easier and more effective.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vSCPDDCCokGwA8hs1wBHu_bRoGwgRjhVs2W5UG2UGHB3l1FVsAkUVdL-gtAf-c7rRGiOpEtxQq7OQ6P/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000

Posted on

Week 11 Reflection

It was good to be back at the MakerLab this week for class. This week in class, our task was to focus on presenting our updated plan for our design to Milestone Labs via Zoom and detail out what materials we will need for the Makeathon.

We started class by going over more information about the Makeathon, and it seems like it is going to be a very exciting event. We are lucky to be a part of the first ever Makeathon. It is so great that we have so many stakeholders and sponsors for the event. I can tell the class is very excited to get started!

This week my group and I really narrowed down our options for how we might create a solution to our problem statement. We are trying to help the wheelchair track team create a way to have better grip on their handrings during harsh weather conditions. We were deciding between finding a way to make it easier to put a cover over the handring, since currently it is hard work for the racer and a very tedious task; or finding a way to add a cover over the existing one to attach during or before a race in the rain. After speaking to Milestone Labs, they suggested that we narrow down our option to solve one problem to better understand our task. After a lot of discussion and brainstorming, my group and I decided we are going to try and find a way to create a better grip that can be attached to the ring.

Our brainstorming notes

We also discussed what materials we might want to test with our prototype. We are meeting a material science professor later this week. So that will give us a good idea of what materials are flexible enough to use that will also create a good grip when wet. We are going to test how adding snaps to the existing handring, as well as to our materials will hold up. Our plan is to be able to snap the cover in place easily and quickly so that a racer could pull over mid-race and adjust in case it started to rain mid-race. We plan on testing various materials around the ring to hopefully find one that creates the best friction. I am excited to get started on this process and hopeful that we will find a workable solution for the team!

Posted on

Week 8 Reflection

This week we were at the FabLab again. This week was my groups turn to learn more about the laser cutter and sewing machines in the FabLab. We learned how to get the files ready for cutting, and continued working on the wearable from last week. We also learned how to use the sewing machines and sewed a strap for the wearable.

Milestone Labs held a Zoom session for us as well. We submitted a progress form before class, so Milestone Labs would be up to date on each of our projects. Each group had 10 minutes to answers questions from Milestone Labs and discuss further plans for each project. They had good feedback for my group! They suggested that we take a look at materials we may want to use. They also suggested that we do a lot of research to see what the best way to create good enough friction for grip, but not so much that it slows down the racer. This was something we had not yet considered, so it was very helpful for Milestone Labs to share that thought.

We also created low-fedelity prototypes out of clay. We modeled what our casing for the hand ring might look like and made a cover for the racing glove. It was great to do this kind of prototyping because it allows us to get a good idea of what direction we should continue in.

Posted on

Week 7 Reflection

For class this week we met at the FabLab. The FabLab is a community fabrication lab and makerspace that is full of tools and making equipment. Pretty much anything you want to make can be done at the FabLab, which is so cool! The FabLab is a network of labs across the world that give making access to the community. It’s very cool that we have one on campus. We begun class with a tour of the lab, seeing all that they have to offer. They showed us cool projects people had done there before, and told us about all the possibilities there are to make anything we can think of.

We then split the class in half to start on a project of making a wearable for people to use during rehab or weightlifting to ensure proper form. It is a cool idea! My half of the class learned about circuits and how you can use a bread board and jumper cables to light up an LED. Normally I find physics to be very confusing, but the FabLab team did such a good job of breaking it down to make it easy for us to understand.

Then we got with our groups and did some rapid brainstorming for our project. It was an interesting way to brainstorm. We had 30 seconds with each idea, and then we would move on to the next. It was helpful to get prompts to help the brainstorm move along. I’m excited to keep ideating and begin making models to find our solution!

Posted on

Week 6 Reflection

Week 6 was a really interesting class! We had Autodesk come in to the class and give us an intro to using Fusion 360. Because I’m an industrial design student, I have been using 3D modeling programs for a few years now. For ID, the standard program is SolidWorks, which is seemingly very similar to Fusion 360. SolidWorks, however, is a little less approachable than Fusion seems to be. Fusion has a lot of handy keyboard shortcuts that SolidWorks doesn’t, which is something that will be so helpful when using it as a design tool. I also love that Fusion is available for Mac, because SolidWorks is only available on PC.

We had a tutorial that went through how to make a phone holder. He showed us how to take a sketch into the 3D form using dimensions, cutting and extruding, shelling, and using fillets. I really like 3D modeling, so I am excited to use that skill in this class.

Later in the class we worked in our group a bit farther exploring more about what we know about our opportunity areas, filling out a worksheet that details more about what we already know.

I am looking forward to being in the FabLab for the next few weeks and beginning to iterate designs for our project.

Posted on

Week 5 Reflection

This past week in class, we had presentations from 4 speakers. One from Illini Service Dogs, which provided us with updates and ideas for potential opportunities to explore this semester. The next was from  John Hornick, the author of 3D Printing Will Rock the World, via zoom. He spoke to us about what is going on currently in 3D printing, and where 3D printing will likely be in the near future. It was such a cool experience to be able to hear from an expert who knows so much about the industry. One of the things that fascinated me the most was that they are able to 3D print skin and are working on the ability to 3D print bone. He mentioned that they want to utilize this technology in hospitals and VA hospitals, which is incredible. The future of 3D printing is surely going to be amazing!

Our next speaker was Jeff Ginger of the CU Community Fab Lab. Jeff spoke to our class on behalf of the Fab Lab, which we will be visiting as a class in the upcoming weeks. Last semester I took Jeff’s course in Usability of Digital Interfaces, and it was one of my favorite classes I have taken at U of I. Jeff is such an interesting and energetic person! He is full of a lot of knowledge about making and has a very positive attitude that makes his classes fun and exciting. I am very much looking forward to visiting the Fab Lab and learning more from him.

Our third presentation was from our TA Mehmet Aydin. He gave a presentation about Design Thinking and how it can be used to improve situations of all kinds. He showed us the children’s redesign of the MRI machine. He also explained to us our exercise for the class which was going through what we know about our opportunity so far, and organizing our ideas on Post-its. This was a helpful exercise as we worked through it with Adam, one of our mentors, and we were able to clearly define our opportunity areas we will be exploring further in the class.

I am looking forward to learning more about Fusion this upcoming week and beginning to dive into the ideation stage of the process!

Posted on

Week 4 Reflection

I can’t believe week 4 is already over! As the semester continues to progress, I find myself getting more excited about the course and the opportunities we are finding through exploring. During class this past week, we got a visit from Mike Hansen to talk about the work he is doing with his company. Mike was a former teacher of mine, and one of my favorite teachers I have had in college. Throughout the courses he taught us, he would always remind us to “fail early and fail often.” This message has helped my understanding of design greatly throughout my four years at the university. Failing early and often gives you the chance to explore many iterations and possibilities when designing. That message will continue to be true throughout this course as well, as we will need to try many possibilities to find a solution for our opportunity area.

I was so impressed to see the work that Mike’s company is doing. As well as very happy that he seems to love his work so much. The company is in the early stages of developing robots to help farmers evaluate the needs of their farm from the ground, rather than by drones as most other companies are currently doing. In developing the robots, Mike makes tons of iterations of how it might look and function in order to find one workable solution. It was very inspiring to see first hand how a message I have been taught in school is so applicable in real life.

My teams opportunity statement is  “To help athlete’s improve the grip on their ring when racing in undesirable weather conditions.” 

We decided to pursue a solution for this opportunity after being inspired by the company created by Arielle for her racing gloves. She told us how during poor weather conditions, racing becomes even more difficult as you no longer have a good grip on the hand rings of the chair. We were lucky to be invited to visit the team practice on Friday morning and get a chance to have a closer look at the chairs, the hand rings, the gloves, and the process that goes into preparing your chair for a race. Wrapping the hand ring is such a difficult and time consuming task, that it would be so great to find a way to streamline that process into something more efficient and easier to do. There is also a lot of potential in the idea of creating a cover for the glove itself during times of harsh weather conditions. I am very excited to explore these ideas more and see what my team and I can come up with in the coming weeks.

Posted on

Week 3

It was so unfortunate that we had such cold weather last Wednesday, since Milestone Labs had come in to speak to our class. But despite the weather, we were still able to have a productive class via Zoom online. It was great to hear from Milestone Labs a second time, as they had video chatted with us previously in Disability + Relevant Design. The work they do is both inspiring and incredible. They seek to find super simple solutions to help people that have various physical limitations. What I enjoyed most about their presentation was how they talked about the evolution of glasses from being just a piece of assistive technology into something stylish and fashionable. It’s such a different way of thinking of something we take for granted every day. It got me thinking about what other areas of design can be improved in such a simple and seemingly obvious way. I would love the chance to explore this idea further!

Posted on

Week 2 Reflection

Visiting DRES was a very cool experience. As a former student of Dr. McDonagh’s Disability + Relevant Design course, I have heard a lot about DRES, as well as Coach Adam’s space. It was exciting to be able to visualize the space I had heard so much about. But an even more exciting experience was being able to meet the athletes and students that we had discussed often in that class as well.

I have always been inspired by Arielle’s success, as she was the person who first had success in this pipeline of courses. To see someone, and not necessarily even a designer, create a product and then profit from its creation is just so exciting for me to see. She really found an area that needed improvement, no matter the scale, and took off with it. I would love to talk to her further about how she runs her company now and how it’s affected her day to day life.

Hearing Ron speak was also another enlightening experience. I feel like we were so fortunate to have him come in to speak because he was an excellent story teller that really captivated the room. Ron seems to be a person that allows for nothing to stop him, and if something gets in his way, he finds a way to fix it. I was so impressed by his solutions he created, as well as the fact that he continues to find creative solutions to the challenges that come up in his daily life.

At this point I have a few inspirations for projects that might be good opportunities to tackle. I’m looking forward to meeting with my team to hear their ideas as well.