BADM 357 once a semester summary (week 8)

Overall

I’ve learned so much throughout the eight weeks in class in BADM 357 Maker’s Lab class taught by Dr. Vishal. We got paired up into group of four and each group consist of people with different majors. Soon, I’ve discovered that this is great way to pair up groups. Since, we can share our different point of view, it helps us learn from each other and think broader. Then we were assigned a mentor per group. We were blessed with Jenna, a Paralympic athlete, who uses a prosthetic leg. Through the class, we learned about new skills, empathic modeling and prototyping. And with the new skills acquired, we tried to find opportunities that will make our mentor’s, Jenna, life easier.

Fab Lab

Fab Lab is a place located near the South Quad of University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, where anyone can come over and enjoy the numerous tools provided by the lab. It’s a very great place to use these expensive tools for a low cost as you can create even shoulder protectors out of mold and plastic. For the past two weeks, we were working with the Fab Lab on a watch that could alert when the user twists or turns his/her wrist.

Activity

1. Laser Cutter

A laser cutter is a device that produces a laser from a laser resonator that will be shot through a nozzle to cut a specific pattern. Our group were split up into two groups and one of the groups worked on the laser cutters. First, we used this platform called, “Inkscape” to create a cover for our watch. And then we converted this object, the design we drew, into a “path”. This will automatically generate a “G Code” and we uploaded this “G Code” to the laser cutter machine. A lot of students tried to design their twist and turn watch cover using words. Some students discovered, text can be replaced with two simple notches indicating the direction the watch can twist and turn. (https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/round-2-at-the-fablab/)

2. Circuit Board

A circuit board is a board that portrays the physical components of an electronic device. Students were to use a breadboard as their circuit board and connect different wires to light up a LED. First, each plus and minus side of a battery and two linear holes of the breadboard were connected using two wires. Then linear to one of the plus hole, insert the long end of the LED light. After that, use a resistor, to save overflowing of electricity, to connect the other end of the LED light to the hole linear to the short end of the LED light. Some students, who were more familiar with the math side of the circuit board, learned more about the science side of the circuit board through this activity. (https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/moving-forward-%EF%BB%BF/) This activity made students consider implementing some electrical function into their product as well.

Milestone Lab

Milestone Lab is a consulting firm specializing in cross-sector collaborations. They believe that a real social impact and changes comes when a person living with a challenge works with those who are trying to solve it. They were interested how we were working with people at DRES, where we met Jenna, to find opportunities to make people in DRES daily lives easier. This week, each group had a chance to talk with the Milestone Lab. Each group brought their own prototypes they’ve created in the previous week along with their research. Throughout the presentation, Milestone Lab gave critical feedback for each group. One group were suggested to ask their mentors about specific grip placement. (https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/moving-forward-%EF%BB%BF/). Another group were suggested to look into different materials to protect the joystick of the power wheel chair. (https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/lighting-up-the-bulb/) Our group was suggested to interview elderly prosthetic leg users. (https://digitalmaking.web.illinois.edu/spring2019/week-8-another-day-in-fablab-and-talking-with-milestone-studio/) As a result, many group members were very pleased on how Milestone Labs helped them took their project from an expert point of view. Many groups discovered they were lacking market research and material research from their talk with Milestone. For the next stage, a lot of groups are now looking into different materials and creating improved version of their prototypes.

https://www.milestone-labs.com/

Prototype

Prototyping is an activity where designers make a quick model of their ideation within under 30 minutes. It’s suppose to be a quick overview of what the model could look like after production. For our model, we made it in paper and foam so we can interact with them. We brought it to class and asked our mentor, Jenna, to try them out. And based on Jenna’s response, we discovered that she does not want any protection above the knee. This is because it hinders her performance during her practice. Similarly, other groups based their prototypes based on their mentor’s suggestions. This way, we knew the users are going to be satisfied when our products are placed in the market.

Conclusion

From week eight, our class learned how to use various of tools and receive great feedback from Milestone Labs. Now, students have the knowledge of using the laser cutter and circuit board to further improve their prototypes. Along with creating prototypes, the groups are ready to ask experts in Material Science departments, based on their talk with Milestone Lab, to consolidate their choice of material. And with the new prototypes, we will go back to our mentors to consolidate our design. Everyone discovered what they needed to improve for their next step. A lot of us are very satisfied with the progress we’ve made this week.