Week 3 had a much different look to it as we were iced in due to abnormally horrible winter conditions, but fortunately Milestone Labs and Professor Sachdev were still able to get together and video stream the course. All in all, it was a very enlightening experience which forced us to think about how to approach the design thinking process in accordance with the scope of DRES. This directly tied in with the videos we watched on human centered design.
Milestone ultimately pushed to make decisions – which is huge. Ideation can be an everlasting process, but if there is no action taken, then it will be difficult to see the fruits of your labor. Our collaborative activity brought an additional level of clarity to our project scope. It forced us to brainstorm and prioritize our ideas based on feasibility and look at the impact each could make. We do not want to make flashy devices; we want to make utilitarian products.
Ultimately, I think we moved from the design challenge phase and began planning early stage research methods. Through the guidance and discussion, our group decided that it would be best to pursue the IKEA styled model for wheelchairs. We figured that the best entry point would be to find whichever component is either most frequently or most expensive to replace as this will provide the most lucrative business opportunity while having the biggest impact.
After the online seminar, we are now more confident going forward and can delve right into our work next week. Ron will need to help us in discussing the consistency of wheelchair parts, however if we can find a component which is consistent throughout all models, then that will probably be the better we will attempt to model and 3D print.
I do agree! Especially I love how you pointed out how Milestone helped us clarify our vision on the project. And how we are not creating aesthetic focused device, but we are trying to create utilitarian products that can be used for everyone.
An IKEA style wheelchair is such an interesting idea, and I can not think of a better mentor than Ron with his undeniable resourcefulness. It would be great for people to customize their parts and print a chair that could change sizes for children as they grow. Ordering and printing parts specific to people would keep changing chairs affordable. Good luck on expanding this idea into a full solution!!
Hi! I agree that this discussion really helped further along ideas and push us to define the challenge. I think focusing on some of the more expensive pieces would be smart because of how much the experts value affordability. I think another interesting angle would also be to look at if there are a fewer smaller parts of the wheelchair that can be replaced by one bigger part. This could also be a way to save money.