This week was jam-packed as our team visited the Fab Lab, brainstormed potential prototypes, 3D printed our fusion models, met with Jeannette Elliot, and created our first low-fidelity prototypes.
Introduction to the Fab Lab
Our class this week took place in the Fab Lab on campus. The Fab Lab is a maker space that houses designers, makers, and innovators from the campus and the local community. I was blown away by the amount of creativity on display at the Fab Lab. People had let their imagination run wild and were creating anything that came into their head. One of my favorite inventions, was a keyboard made out of wood and copper tape. I was struck by the simplicity and cost-efficiency of the product when compared to typical keyboards. In the Fab Lab, we were split into two groups to learn a little bit more about the various resources. My group worked with arduinos to create a circuit that could turn a lightbulb on and off based on its horizontal or vertical orientation.
Example of items lying around the Fab Lab 
Exterior view of keyboard 
Interior view of keyboard 
Inside wall in the Fab Lab
Diverging on Ideas
During the second half of class we split up into our teams to brainstorm potential solutions for the needs we had identified. We were given 4 different prompts to challenge us to think creatively about the problem. At first, I was worried that our group would run out of ideas after the first prompt because I thought there were only a few ways to solve our problem. However, being forced to think about designing our problem for little kids and the elderly forced us to think outside the box and explore new possibilities.
If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again
After class, I went to the Makerlab to pick up the 3D print of the phone holder I had designed on Fusion 360 during the last class. However, when I got there I was dismayed to see there had been a failure and the top of my phone holder had failed to print. When I talked to the lab assistant about what happened they told me that sometimes prints fail and that I should just try again. Luckily, my phone holder and the box and lid I created were a success the second time through. This taught me a valuable lesson that while 3D printing is very cool it is still an emerging technology and it is not perfect all the time.
Failed phone holder print 
Successful phone holder print 
Box and lid print
Stakeholder Meeting
Later in the week, my team had a chance to meet with Jeannette Elliot. Jeannette is a physical therapist at DRES and a prosthetic leg user. Our interview with her was very informative and we learned about the struggles she has had in the past with prosthetic leg protective covers. The main takeaways from our conversation were the importance of maintaining flexibility with the cover, keeping the cost affordable, and offering customization options to appeal to the different aesthetic preferences of users. Our team is very thankful that Jeannette took the time to share her insights with us!
Design Time
The week ended with our team making our first low-fidelity prototypes. The 3 designs we chose to prototype were a knee pad attached by velcro, a flexible knee pad attached by a hook and ring strap, and a fabric sleeve with a knee pad encased inside. Our next steps will be to show these designs to Jenna and get her initial feedback.
Hook/Ring Strap Prototype 
Fabric Sleeve Prototype 
Velcro Knee Pad Prototype
I am a Senior majoring in Finance with a minor in the Hoeft Technology & Management Program.
Hi Nathan, I think your group’s ideas and prototypes on the knee protection cover are great. I like the flexibility that you are providing to your knee pad, but something to think about is that would the knee pad’s surface be enough to reduce the pressure that Jenna’s knee was sensing when she falls down. Also, I like your idea that you try and failed and try again. I think this matches with the idea that we need to fail early and fail often to get to a successful product.
Hi Nathan,
Couldn’t help but relate to the failed 3D print. It happens all the time. Also I really think you guys are heading in the right direction with you low fidelity models. I think the materials you mentioned will definitely be on the affordable size. I’m a bit curious as how much range of motion the velcro will allow. Also what are you guys thinking you can do for the customization portion? You could start with maybe different colors of the cover with designs. For the younger demographic the cover could be a different shape or ressemble a animal of some sort. Just throwing a few ideas out there. Keep it up I’m interested to see what you guys create .