Author: Ruei Kao

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E-Porfolio: Course Reflection

Early Expectations

I remember when I first saw the introduction e-mail on this course, I was very intrigued as it was very different from the typical accounting classes I would take. Most of the classes I took do not require me to use my creativity so I thought that this class would be a great opportunity to test it as well as learning about design thinking and other additional skills. So, I went into class looking to be inspired to create and learning to use software to design products to be 3D printed.

Now, after completing the course. I can say that most of my expectations are met. The instructor, Vishal Sachdev, along with the TAs, Charlotte and Mehmet, provided me with an unforgettable learning experience. I am glad that they designed the class to be user-centric so that we are actually designing for someone rather than having us graded base on pre-determined assignments. From the course, I learned how to use tools and resources that I had no previous knowledge of. I also learned to work with people with different skillsets to create a product through design thinking process.

Week 2 Reflection
Week 3 Reflection

Resources and People

One of my favorited aspect of the course is the people. I not only enjoyed working with my fellow teammates, Samantha McClary and Yingyi Wu, but also the mentors, instructors, and TAs in the course. It was great to be able to create a network among us that goes beyond the scope of the University as we were able to invite many outside speakers and experts to the course. Through my experience working with them, I was able to learn new skills and gain experiences. For example, I had never been to the dress facility prior to taking this course. The course allowed me to not only to visit the facility but work with the individuals there. I have also never been to the FabLab and it was great opportunity to be introduced to the facility as well as the resources. Everyone in the course had a unique set of skills and working style and by having the opportunity to work with them was a pleasure and a great learning experience.

Week 4-The Importance of Failure
A Trip to the Fab Lab
Fab Lab Part 2
Endgame

3D Printing Skills

To be able to learn and use 3D printing technology was the primary reason that I chose to sign up for this course. Now, after completing the class, I have to say that I was definitely not disappointed as I was not only able to get my hands-on 3D printers but actually learn how to model 3D prints with software such as Fusion360. It was an awesome to be able to see your ideas get printed as turn into physical products.

Week 6 The Magic of Fusion 360
Final Preparations

Learning to Make

I think for me this was probably the most challenging aspects of the course as I was never asked to “make” something in my previous classes in college. However, I did enjoy the process as it did challenge me to step out of my comfort zone and to develop new skills. I enjoyed how this class encouraged and allowed us to “fail” as it allowed us to refine our ideas/solution and continued to improve our skills. There was no one correct answer as we had to come up with our own solutions and that could even fail at times. It was definitely the most fun but challenging part of the course and I really value the experience of it. I believe that I will be able to use this skill in my professional career in the future as there will be situations were there are no definite solutions and I will have to “make” one.

Week 5 Reflection
Assembling the Pieces
Back to Work

Key Takeaways from the Digital Making Seminar

After one full semester in BADM 357, I have more takeaways then I previously expected. It is one of the most memorable courses in my academic career and not only we did not have the usual examination to grade our learning process, but we were also provided food regularly as we deplete our energy and brain power for design thinking. My first takeaway is that we should not be afraid of failing as each fail brings up closer to success and give us an edge over everyone else. Secondly, I learned that people are the most valuable resource as each person has their own strength and weaknesses and together, we can accomplish objectives that are impossible to an individual. Lastly, I learned that it is important to keep up technology as it is an essential tool in the business world today.

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Team 3D BAL: Finding Balance for Yoga

For our project this semester, we created products that would assist users that have difficulty balancing when performing various activities. We identified this particular need in the market after a discussion with our mentor, Jenna Fesemyer. During our first visit to DRES, Jenna spoke about a variety of difficulties facing prosthetic users. When she spoke about her enthusiasm for practicing yoga and the difficulties she has balancing in certain poses, we agreed this was something we wanted to pursue. We decided that it would be interesting to find a solution to this challenge because it is a rare and unique opportunity to work on a product that focuses on recreational purposes versus on a daily need. We used the sticky note activity to help hone in on what this opportunity presented.

First, we needed to understand Jenna’s prosthetic leg to understand where the limitations stem from. Her prosthetic has some limitations and does not perfectly mimic an actual human leg. However, it also has some functionality that almost extends the functionality of her prosthetic past that of a sound limb. For example, Jenna’s prosthetic leg has the limitation of having no ankle movement, so the entire leg has to be supported from her residual thigh and microprocessor knee. However, her microprocessor knee has the ability to “lock” in place, so that if she is in a squatting or kneeling position, her knee will lock so that it supports her in that exact position.

To gain a better understanding of the opportunity so that we could design an effective solution, we needed to delve into research before moving ahead. We gained a lot of useful perspective from an ARC yoga instructor, Marsha at Yoga for Amputees, and Jenna herself. From these interviews and discussions, our team was first set on creating a prosthetic foot that Jenna will insert into her microprocessor knee before yoga practice sessions. The initial design included an insertable rod as the main part of the prosthetic and a flipper-like base that would provide Jenna with more support with increased surface area. To visualize the idea, we created a low-fidelity model. As soon as they were created, we met with Jenna to see what her initial thoughts were regarding our prototype. Jenna suggest that we move the rode to the center of the foot rather in the back like a typical leg so that she will have equal support on all sides.

At the same time, we received feedback from Marsha at Yoga for Amputees and she commented that she has seen some prosthetic leg users creating their own DIY “yoga prosthetics”. These users used a base that had more of a “plunger-esque” shape rather than the flipper shape we initially designed. We shared the feedback from Marsha with Jenna and she also confirmed that she believes that a circular base would be the most stable, and having a little suction could provide even more stability when she practices yoga. However, she commented that the suction would have to be weak enough to easily be picked up, as yoga often involves flowing from one position to another. As a result, we created some sketches for a new design based on the feedback.

During this same period, we also met with William, a FUSION 360 expert at MakerLab, and he provided us with sketches that more closely mimics an actual human limb. The sketches created with his assistance had multiple joints that would provide her with more flexibility and movements.

After taking time looking at all of our sketches and low-fidelity models we crafted, we realized that these solutions would only be usable by a small market. A prosthetic replacement could only be used by prosthetic users, which greatly limits the general market of people who have difficulty balancing. The Make-a-Thon introduced us to the residents of Clark Lindsey as potential users and points of inspiration. Thus, during the Make-a-Thon we decided to focus on a more “sandal-eque” product design that will be accessible to a wider range of users in the market versus than just prosthetic limb users that practices yoga. The Clark Lindsey representative that the bathroom is one of the most dangerous rooms in the home regarding falls. Thus, we pictured one scenario that this design could fit in is in bathrooms in front of the sink where elderly people could slip and fall easily and regularly stand for longer periods of time. The design we came up is shown below. We also applied an additional layer of material on the base that provided the shoe with more grip and locks better on to a yoga mat material when practicing yoga.

Soon after Make-a-Thon, we were eager to share and test our product with our mentor. Her reaction to our product was mostly positive as the sandal was able to provide her with more balance than her usual prosthetic. However, the underlying issue was that the sandal could not provide her with any upper calf support. In order to address this, the team decided to abandon our attempt to create a functional product for a larger audience and revert back to our “plunger-esque” prosthetic limb that would cater to specific individual users. Although the target market is smaller, this design could still be very useful for any prosthetic user. This issue is also not being addressed by other designers or companies as we have been able to find through our research, even though there are specific prosthetics for many activities like running and pointe ballet.

We then created a model through FUSION 360 and printed a scaled prototype. Jenna was worried about having that much movement in the “ankle” so we created the file below to print a full scale version for Jenna to test on.

However, when Jenna went to put on the first print, she was not able to insert it into her prosthetic. She realized that the inside of her prosthetic actually was not hollow, and we would need to create a divot for her prosthetic to be able to slide on. We then designed the following file and printed it for her to try out.

Jenna was really happy with the design! The only thing left to do is add some of the cork material that was on the bottom of the additive design to give a touch of height and more traction. We are very happy with the result as well as she said she could definitely feel increased lateral stability and thinks it is a really cool design to have!

You can see our final presentation here.

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Endgame

Last weekend, we finally reach the point where all our efforts throughout the semester has been leading to, Make-a-Thon 2019. Before heading into the weekend, my team and I had a lot of concerns and uncertainty regarding the event as we felt like we are behind on our schedule and not ready for it. In addition, Samantha and I both had previous commitments that were arranged long before we knew about the dates of Make-a-Thon so we both were going to miss some parts of it.

So, we headed into Make-a-Thon weekend not is our best form but excited for the challenges that lies ahead of us. I had to take a trip to New York mid week and could not return until Saturday afternoon so I missed a day and half of Make-a-Thon. Since, we only had one teammate , Yingyi Wu, participating for the majority of the event, I was worried that the workload would be too much and we would not be able to achieve what we had set for. To my surprise, when I got back in town, Yingyi along with another teammate, Mohammed not only came up with a completely new design but managed to make a model of our product.

In the end, we came with a sandal that has extended wings which would offer Jenna additional balance support when she practices yoga. Overall, I was really proud of what we accomplished and cherish the opportunity and experience. I look forward to continue to improve on our product and continue to design with 3d priniting.

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Final Preparations

There is only one week left until all of our work is put to the test at Make-a-Thon. So this is an especially important week as there were many parts of the project that needed to be finalized and prepared so we can be ready for the main event coming next weekend.

In class this week we were once blessed again with a guest speaker, Valerie, to share with us another entrepreneur opportunity program on campus. The difference of the program is that it is a 10-week commitment during summer with the requirement of members being current students on campus here at the University of Illinois. The participants then will receive $10,000 funding for their project.

Later in the course, we again met with Milestone Labs to give them an update on our project. We explained how we are trying to implement a mechanism similar to the one found on a pangolin toy or a wooden snake to provide more ankle/foot movement. Milestone Lab suggested that we should make more prototypes so that we can test functionality.

Finally we met with a CAD expert, William, at MakerLab on Friday to work on our Fusion360 Model. William provided more sketches that more closely mimics the movement of a foot and we are looking to make it into a functional prototype.

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Back to Work

After one week of spring break, the class reassembled on the following Tuesday night to kick-off the Make-a-Thon event happening next week. Unfortunately, I have class during that time every week, so I was not able to attend the event. However, that does not mean that I simply let the week go to waste as I continued to brainstorm on our project.

My twin brother studies art in New York and is an enthusiast of comic book and Japanese manga. During a recent chat with him, I notice that many of the action figures cannot stand by itself as the makeup of the figures has weight emphasized in other areas which make the figures impossible to stand on its own. To overcome this issue, many of the figures either come with a stand or a foot peg to not only increase the surface area but help with the support.

I think that this idea can be apply to our design as we are looking to help prosthetics yoga enthusiast with support especially during frontal plane positions. I have yet to pitch this idea to my team and I cannot wait to hear about their feedback.

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Assembling the Pieces

This week we head to the Fab Lab one more time to assemble the pieces of our motion detecting watches that we have been building over the past few weeks into a final product. To start of the class, we once again got our hands on the Arduino with the objective this time being to write the code for our watches. Due to the fact that I have had prior coding experiences, the activities assigned in class were not too difficult for me to follow. I think that one feature that stands out from the Arduino is the fact it has pre-packaged codes in the software so even inexperienced coders can create electrical products with ease.

Following the activities on the Arduino, we then come to the final stage of our watch making process, to assemble the pieces. It was a very joyful movement for me as I got to see the work I’ve put into the last few weeks coming together into one functional piece. Due to the constraints on material and time, I was not a hundred percent satisfied with my product so I’m hoping to improve on it in the future or even remaking it.

After the creation time in class this week, we were then back to the usual brainstorming session for the latter part of class. This time, the activity Mehmet had for us was draw story boards on how users would be able to find our products, the reasons for using it, and how other users would be affected by it. I thought it was an very interesting activity as it got us thinking more than just our user but every single user that could be affected by it. It helped us modify the direction of our product as we realize that we can create something that can be adopted more that just yoga enthusiasts with prosthetics.

In addition to class this week, we also met with Deana to discuss our prototypes of our product and the insights she gave us was very unique and helpful. First, she noted that due to the fact we do not have any design majors on our team we should probably talk to people with such skill sets to be gain other perspectives. She also suggests us to not mess with the height of the prosthetic as Jenna might have a hard time using it because it might affect her balance.

Overall, I think it was a very productive week and I look to take a short break this coming week as well as keep brainstorming so we can be ready for make-a-thon.

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Fab Lab Part 2

This week, like last week, we had class at the Champaign-Urbana community Fab Lab. Last week, I was in the group where we learned how to use Inkscape to create vector images. This week, I was in a different group in which we got to play with Arduino. This was my first time to get my hands on a circuit and to learn how it works. Previously, the only knowledge I had on circuit boards were things I learned from physics back in high school. In college, the only times I chances I had with circuit boards was when I was pulling pranks on my ECE roommates class projects. So, I was excited to not only be able to play with circuit boards but to learn how it works. I learn that Arduino can be used for many things and can be handy in our project.

This week, like last week, we had class at the Champaign-Urbana community Fab Lab. Last week, I was in the group where we learned how to use Inkscape to create vector images. This week, I was in a different group in which we got to play with Arduino. This was my first time to get my hands on a circuit and to learn how it works. Previously, the only knowledge I had on circuit boards were things I learned from physics back in high school. In college, the only times I chances I had with circuit boards was when I was pulling pranks on my ECE roommates class projects. So, I was excited to not only be able to play with circuit boards but to learn how it works. I learn that Arduino can be used for many things and can be handy in our project. I found courses on Udemy that will allow me to learn more about this amazing open-source hardware.

Link: https://www.udemy.com/topic/arduino/

After the lesson on circuit boards, we were then assigned to work on prototypes of our product. The two prototypes my team and I came up with are a magnetic strip along with a magnetic yoga map and an extension to Jenna’s prosthetics to help her balance while practicing yoga.

The last part of our class, we had the opportunity to meet with consultants at Milestone Labs to discuss our prototypes. Once again, the consultants enjoyed the ideas we came up with but reminded us to be cautious when dealing with magnets as it could affect other parts of the machinery.

Overall, I was happy and glad that we were able to make a lot of progress on our project and learned more about the resources at Fab Lab that we could use to create and add-on to our products. I am excited to return to Fab Lab again this week and I hope to finally start printing our product.

After the lesson on circuit boards, we were then assigned to work on prototypes of our product. The two prototypes my team and I came up with are a magnetic strip along with a magnetic yoga map and an extension to Jenna’s prosthetics to help her balance while practicing yoga.

The last part of our class, we had the opportunity to meet with consultants at Milestone Labs to discuss our prototypes. Once again, the consultants enjoyed the ideas we came up with but reminded us to be cautious when dealing with magnets as it could affect other parts of the machinery.

Overall, I was happy and glad that we were able to make a lot of progress on our project and learned more about the resources at Fab Lab that we could use to create and add-on to our products. I am excited to return to Fab Lab again this week and I hope to finally start printing our product.

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A Trip to the Fab Lab

This week we had class at a different location than the usual Illinois MakersLab. We took a trip to the Champaign-Urbana community Fab Lab to get our hands on the resources they have available there to start our creation stage of our product. I have never been to the Fab Lab before, so I have been looking forward to this opportunity since the beginning of the semester. I have to say that I was not disappointed as I was amazed their abundance of tools and resources, they have available at the Fab Lab. The tools available ranged from 3D printers, laser cutters, numerous software, and most importantly Minecraft.

The structure of this class was also different from the usual as we are split into two different groups to learn about different resources, they have available at different stations. At my station, I learned to use the software, Inkscape, to learn how to create vector graphics that can be used for laser cut vinyl. The activity assigned to us was to design a watch face that would be able to detect arm motions to ensure that patients are doing the right exercise during therapy. The Inkscape part of the activity was relatively simple as the staff provided clear, easy to follow instructions while the harder part was to come up with a design that suits your specific users. I opted for children so my designed focused on creating an experience that children can have fun from. So, I focused on making my design one that will be fun for children when used. In order to achieve this, I tried to include cartoon characters and instead of plain designs. My design is not yet completed, and I look to finish it soon in the coming days.

Later in the course, we were once brought back to our groups to work on team activities. This time, we are asked to draw all the ideas we come up with on a poster paper. I really enjoyed this activity as it really helped us visualize our product and give as an even clear direction to head towards in the coming weeks.

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Week 6 The Magic of Fusion 360

This week we had class at a different location than the usual Illinois MakersLab. Prior to class, we were instructed to go to the Psychology Building. Initially, I was not sure the reason behind and was intrigued about it but soon I realized that we were going to learn to use a designing software called Fusion 360 and I was really excited about it.

To get us to warm up a little bit before we dive straight into Fusion 360 in class, Professor Sachdev assigned us a small assignment to let us learn the basics of Fusion 360. Even though the assignment was only to design a simple box within Fusion 360, I found it somehow challenging as I had no prior experience in Fusion 360. So, it to me quite a bit of effort and time to get familiar with the interface of the software and later complete the assignment. It was to my surprise that such a simple design gave me so much feeling of accomplishment.

Here is a link to my finished box design: https://a360.co/2E7kLny

In class, we had the honor of inviting Dan Banach from AutoDesk to teach us to fully utilize the power of Fusion 360 to create functional products. For me, the workshop provided by Dan was extremely useful as it took me a shorter time period to design an actual product versus when I was trying to learn the software myself designing a simple box. Dan’s clear instructions and humor really helped us fully grasp the magic of Fusion 360 and I am excited to see what my group, 3DBal, can design with the software. Everybody was able to design a phone holder with their own unique design. If I were to pick a key takeaway from the lecture, it would no doubt be: “When in doubt, click the right key on Fusion369” as emphasized by Dan multiple times during lecture.

Learning the Shorcuts on Fusion 360
Final Phone Holder Design

Here is a link to the phone holder I designed in class: https://a360.co/2E6V3zw

Since my group has had a pretty clear direction since the beginning of our project, we did not find the project idealization as helpful as the other groups. It did help us narrow our direction and focus our research. We also conducted further interviews with other users and yoga instructors to get even more ideas on our product.

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Week 5 Reflection

This week’s class was a very informative one. During our class session, we were fortunate enough to have 4 different speakers to join us in class. The speakers were: Illini Service Dogs, John Hornick, Jeff Ginger, and Mehmet Aydin. Each of them touched on a different aspect of the 3D printing. First, Illini Service Dogs as one of our clients gave a presentation on possible ideas that we can work and develop on as a project. Next, John Hornick, the author who wrote 3D Printing Will Rock the World, joined us virtually with the help of online video software Zoom. His presentation focused mainly on the applications of 3D printing and some trends the technology is headed towards. For me, the most fascinating part of his presentation was on how hospitals and medical schools are now investing in technology which will enable us to print organic tissues, bone structures and even organs in the future. I think that this is a really exciting technology as it will no doubt improve the lives of millions and possibly put an end to the horrific organ harvesting crimes. After that, we have Jeff Ginger who is in charge of the Fab Lab in Champaign-Urbana community. Jeff was a very energetic speaker and he shared mostly creative and inspirational moments in his and his student’s life. After his presentation, I am really looking forward to visit the Fab Lab and start to put my ideas into physical products. Lastly, TA Mehmet Aydin guided us on our thinking process in his presentation. I particularly enjoyed his example of the MRI machine for children. I agree that it is important to shape the experience of your clients to fit the purpose of the product.

To wrap up this week, I think it is really awesome that we continue to get different voices to share their take on 3D printing or creative thinking. My team and I have gathered a lot of information during our research phase and is excited for the direction we are headed in.