This week we had the opportunity to tour the Urbana community Fab Lab. After being introduced to the workspaces we were split into two groups. One group was taught how to use Inkspace to design templates to laser cut surfaces, the other group was taught the basics of lighting a small LED light bulb with a simple electrical circuit.
I was in the group who was taught how to build the electrical circuit. It reminded me of my Highschool physics class which was awesome! I haven’t done anything like that in a long time. Using a multimeter we measured the voltage the battery carried as well as the strength of the resistors. Depending on what level of strength your resistor was the brightness of your LED light bulb changed. The higher the resistance the lower the light would be.
We ended our class session we split off into our project groups. In these groups, we had an extensive brainstorming activity. This was the biggest brainstorming session for our group since we have had a breakthrough in our direction after our successful and highly inforamtive interview with Ryan.
In this brainstorm activity, we were told to think about solving the problem at hand wearing many different hats. During one round of brainstorming were told not to think about cost in another we were told to think about solving the problem for someone very young. It was interesting to look at the problem through so many different lenses.
The solutions our team landed on were waterproofing the joystick to avoid water damage, a plastic bag 2.0, and a tailored waterproof case for the joystick. I am looking forward to low fidelity prototyping these solution!
Hello Isabella,
I love your ideations for Ryan. I especially like the idea where there is some mechanism on top of the wheelchair that will act like an umbrella. Right now, it looks like a baby stroller, but maybe you guys can design it better to not look like it, I think it will turn out great! And for the next step, you guys can make your ideations into prototypes. Then go to Ryan and other wheelchair users and ask them to try out your prototypes. Good luck on your project!
Hi,
I was looking at your ideation phase drawings and I love the idea of an “iron man” type activation shield. I am guessing this was an idea within the prompt of if you had unlimited money for your design. I think however the concept could be simplified to fit your designs like a cover for the joystick that can be activated with a button.
Hi Isabella, I like your group’s emphasis on waterproof. After our group’s interviews, I realize that this is a huge issue to be solved. It will be even more so once students graduate. While students are still at the university, they can call the bus system to schedule a bus in advance which could help them mitigate the risk of water. However, once they graduate from school and enter their personal and professional life in the future, not all places would have such a service, so I definitely agree this is an area that needs great attention. In addition, based on the interviews, I find that affordability is a significant issue. Even if some products in the market have a waterproof feature, they tend to be expensive. Besides the raw material cost, manufacturing cost or even inventory holding cost, I know the money leaked in the whole channel through distributors is also a big part. I would encourage your group to invest in that area later to estimate the actual adoption price for the users.