Tag: inkscape

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FabLab 2.0

Inkscape vector file of watch to be laser cut

This week we returned to the FabLab. We continued to familiarize ourselves with all the tools and tech the lab has to offer. We specifically learned a vector editing software called Inkscape. Through this workshop we learned how to create basic shapes, manipulate them, and produce more. After learning the basics of the software we learned to transform images into vector graphics. These skills were then applied to a customized watch. The watch is a device that allows patients who have to do bicep curls and rotation in wrist during rehabilitation. The base of the watch consist of 3 wooden circles, two of which have rectangles on each side. I thought it would be help patients if the watch had small arrow indications of which way the device goes. The top layer rotates, so I designed an arrow pointing in the direction of proper rotation.

3 layered watch with electrical components

After this we moved into sewing. Unlike most of my peers I have experienced sewing. My sophomore year I sewed a jacket with a sleeping bag attachment completely from scratch. So during the tutorials and walkthroughs I was a couple steps ahead. We all picked the fabrics we wanted our wristband for the watch to be and then cut it to scale.  We sew it right sice in and sewed the seam. This created the sort of sack like appearance of the band. Getting it right side out was a hassle, it required us to use these thin wooden rods to pull the fabric through. We finished up by attaching velcro strips to the band to ensure a comfortable and secure fit to the wrist.

Images showcasing the process of sewing and creating the band for the watch

The second half of class each group presented to Milestone Labs and Adam Bleakney. We’ve made a lot of progress since last speaking with them. We got a lot of insight from this conversation. We realized we hadn’t thought everything thoroughly. Our design is solid but we have to really hone in on the attachment aspect of it. The overall ease of use should be convenient for the user. They also asked a lot of questions regarding materials of our device. We are currently scheduling a time to interview a material science professor here at the university. This week I have scheduled a virtual interview with my physical therapy. We also have a meeting this monday with my professor who handmakes shoes. We plan to do a bunch more research structured around our opportunity and project idea.

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Return to the Fab Lab: Week 8

Our time at the FabLab has been focused on making a cheap, interactive watch face that helps doctors measure whether outpatients have been completing their proper outpatient physical therapy sessions. Last week, I learned how to build the electronic circuit in the watch face. This week, it was our class section’s turn to learn how to laser print the watch face and sew the watch strap. After learning these tools, we met with Milestone Labs to receive feedback on our prototypes and then worked with Jenna to begin to design the second iteration of our prototypes.

Learning InkScape

Our first lesson was on the laser printing and etching software InkScape. We learned that InkScape has many different capabilities and we were able to play around with designing shapes and importing silhouettes from the internet. After we gained som familiarity with the tool, we were tasked with desiging an easy to use watch interface that would help user differentiate between the settings for both the “curl” and “twist” exercises. For my design, I decided to orient different arrows to show which way the watch face should be facing to correctly monitor each different exercize.

Sewing Refresher

The next portion of our class was focused on learning how to sew. When I was little my grandmother had taught me how to sew, but that was such a long time ago that I needed a refresher on how to work the machine. However, after a short tutorial, I was able to get up to speed and feel confident in my sewing abilities. One of my biggest takeaways was the improtance of backstitching. Backstitching is when you stitch backwards at the start of your stitch to reinforce the line so it doesn’t unravel overtime. At first, I made this mistake and needed to go back over my original stitch. Once we felt comfortable sewing we were given the assignment to make a watch strap. The watch strap had many steps, but are instructor Duncan did a great job leading our class through them and we all came out with acceptable watch straps by the end of class.

  • Initial Sewing Exercise
  • Fab Lab Sewing Machine

Milestone Midpoint

In our next portion of the class, my team met with representatives from Milestone Labs to discuss our progress so far. The designers at Milestone Labs were happy with our current progress but challenged us to get more user interviews from a wider variety of sources. They recommended interviewing veterans and elderly users and we have worked on contacting different users from these designations this week. They were also impressed with the prototypes we had made and gave a few suggestions, such as th BOA strap, on ways to improve our designs.

Testing and Iterating

Our next step was to meet with our mentor Jenna to test out the prototypes we had created on her prosthetic leg. After testing our prototypes, Jenna told us that while she liked the basic concept of our sleeve design, it would not work because the fabric might interfere with the walking mechanism at the back of her knee. This was an important discovery because it meant that we had to alter all of our prototypes to stay away from the back of the knee. To me, this was a big learning moment that reinforced the importance of prototype iterations and user-centered design. While our original prototype was good in theory it would have failed to meet Jenna’s specifications because we had overlooked an important aspect of its usability. After our talk with Jenna, our team brainstormed and came up with a new prototype idea that hooked on to the top of the knee and the back of her calf. We will work on prototyping this new design and get ready to show it to Jenna again this week!

  • Jenna tests our prototype
  • Sketch of the available surface to attach the cover
  • Fab Lab design that inspired our new prototype
  • An idea for our second round of prototyping
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Week 8 Reflection – Learning more tools and reflecting on the project

This week, we continued learning new tools and heard feedback from the Milestone Lab.

At the first half of the class, we focused on studying new skills. Similar to last week, the session was broken down into two groups, and we went to the section that we didn’t go to last time. In the beginning, we learned Inkscape, a software for creating and editing vector graphics. We studied how to create basic shapes and how to manipulate them to produce more shapes. We also practiced how to use existing pictures to transform into vector graphics. Then, we learned how to alter stroke and fill to differentiate the parts that we want to cut and the parts that we want to etch. After learning the skills, we applied them to design the customized watch. Because this watch would be for personal use to show caring and love, I chose to include a heart image to etch. In addition, since it would be relatively easy to confuse the top and the bottom, I decided to etch a letter B on the base. In my spare time, I went to the Fab lab and got the pieces laser cut.

Laser cutting
The watch

After the laser cutting lesson, we then worked on the sewing machine. This was the first time that I used a sewing machine, so the experience was new and unique for me. In the beginning, it was hard to even twine the thread following all the steps as well as threading. Gradually, after I practiced the basic one, I got more used to the speed of the sewing machine and the whole process. When I worked on the strip, I was able to finish it quickly.

The strip

In the future, I think the knowledge that I gained from those would be beneficial for our project since we are planning to do more prototyping to test the design. One useful resource I find online for more advanced skills for Inscape is at this link. It talks more about how to create different types of paths and how to alter paths. For instance, one can use “Ctrl + K” to combine paths to a compound. This technique can be useful if one wants to create holes in the design as well: by combining overlapping paths with fill, the overlapping area’s fill would disappear. I plan to explore more on this site to acquire more skills that are applicable to our project.

At the second half of the class, we presented to the Milestone Lab about our project progress and received insights from them. Up till now, we have decided on the area that we would like to focus on moving forward, but we were not sure how to approach the features that we wanted the product to be able to achieve. Thus, Milestone suggested us to consider the flexibility the users wanted and to consider the usage of the glove in the actual context. For instance, before the utensils get connected with the glove, where it needs to be placed so that the users can be able to put the glove on by themselves. Also, when the utensils get connected with the glove, how many degrees the users would want. All those are factors that we need to take into consideration in our design, and I think they are all excellent starting points.

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Fab Lab Round 2

Fabrication

We returned to the Fab Lab to continue learning about different types of fabrication! Last week, I created a circuit that made an LED light illuminate. This time, I had the opportunity to design the surface of a watch for outpatients who are required to perform exercises like bicep curls and twisting their wrist.

First prototype of the watch that will track movements during the patient’s rehabilitation exercises.

The watch is made of 3 pieces of wood. The top piece can spin by 90 degrees in order to detect the movements for the 2 different exercises. We were first tasked with designing the top of the watch, so users would know which way to spin the watch while performing each exercise. Utilizing the software program, Inkscape, I drew 1 arrow on the top of the watch along with the text, “TWIST,” and another arrow on the bottom of the watch with the text, “CURL.” Thus, the user would know which way to spin the watch when performing hand twists versus bicep curls.

Here you can see me practicing using Inkscape.

After designing the surface of the watch, we sewed straps for the watch. Using sewing machines, we first practiced on a sheet of fabric to get used to the machine. Once we got the hang of it, we began sewing the straps for our watches. We initially sewed the strap inside-out, then use a stick to help turn it right-side-out. Lastly, we sewed velcro onto the strap so the watch user can adjust it to the size of their wrist. You can see pictures of the process below!

  • Practicing sewing on a plain sheet of fabric.
  • Line we followed when sewing on the plain fabric.
  • Turning the strap right-side-out with the stick.
  • Learning to sew with classmates!

Project Progress

During the second half of class, each team took turns presenting our project to 2 of our mentors, Milestone Labs and Adam Bleakney. We shared the progress we have made since we first spoke with them. From our conversation, we realized that we need to narrow down our topic and start conducting more secondary research on what already exists for shoe treads and attachments. Also, it is necessary for us to speak more with Jenna, our user, about her desired experience with the tread, i.e. if she would need to sit down when taking the tread on and off. From here, we are going to conduct more secondary research and speak with a Materials Science professor, physical therapist, and a shoe maker so we can gain insight on where we would like to focus our project.

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Week 7: Fab Lab – A Fabulous Place for Ideation and Fabrication

Fab Lab Tour

Before this week’s class, I heard the word “fab lab” multiple times during this course. I was always wondering what it looks like in the Fab Lab and what kind of tools in the fab lab we can use. As a student who has visited the IMPACT LABS in Israel, I expected the Fab Lab to look a lot more like the IMPACT LABS. The actual tour gave me a perception that the tools we have access in the Fab Lab are very similar to the IMPACT LABS, including 3D printers, sewing machines, 3D scanners, laser cutters, electronic cutters, and the milling machine, etc. The IMPACT LABS may have some more technologies available like the digital CNC, but then there are a lot more computers with necessary design software installed in the computers for the community to use. In this lab, I discovered software that I have never seen and used before. With a combination of so many amazing tools, I believe that our creation stage will not be as hard as I previously expected.

  • Laser cutter
  • product showcase in Fab Lab

During the training session in Fab Lab, we were separated into two groups. The group I went with learned how to use Inkspace to design for laser cutting of the surface. This activity prompts us to design a watch face for a motion detector watch. The instructors led us through the basic process of using Inkspace to draw out the watch face step by step. Afterward, we were prompted to design the watch ourselves for our selected specific user. When I design the watch face, I decided to design the watch for elders. Elders have the ability to read words, but they may not see it very clearly. Therefore, I decided to use an image for curl arm movement. When I wanted to find an image for the twisting, I felt that the images I found were kind of confusing, so I decided to use large bolded words TWIST instead of an image.

Watch face I designed

During this activity, I realized that when we need to design a product, we need to consider how different user groups will have different requirements or needs for the product. It is really important to consider their need in order to design a product that can be useful for these user groups. This is also something we need to take in consideration when we are designing our product for this project.

Ideation Phase

In the latter part of the course, we went back to working on our group project. In this week’s class, we move forward from our inspiration phase to the ideation phase. We brainstormed the different possible solutions for different user groups. In this case, we were able to consider what we might do differently for different users. We diverged first when we are trying to brainstorm the different solutions, but at the end, we converged to a few solutions that we believe are possible to work on due to the time-constraint, functional requirements and the affordability constraint. As a result, we came up with two solutions to work our initial prototype on. I am excited to continue with the project and see how our ideas come to actual product that fits our target users’ needs.

  • Ideation Phase
  • Brainstormed solutions
  • Final two solutions for prototyping
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New Resources: A Fabulous Lab

FAB-TASTIC.

This week, we got a formal introduction to the Fab Lab. The director of the Fab Lab had previously been a guest speaker in the class, but this time we had a chance to host the class there and use their facilities. We first started with a tour of the place and the different tools they had there. They first went through their policies for use, which was surprisingly accessible. Most tools were only priced at $1 for use, and they allowed people to use their own materials while also having some for sale.

In terms of the tools, the staff went through the multiple applications of the electric cutter, which could not only be used to cut vinyl stickers, but also precision paint things if the knife part was replaced. Next, they showed us the screen printing and embroidering/sewing areas. They also introduced us to the concept of 3D printing on top of meshed fabric, which has been used a lot in the fashion industry recently (seen green scales picture for an example). Next, they showed us the milling, soldering, and electronics area, where they showed some applications, such as milling your own circuit board or working with microcontrollers. Finally, they brought us to the 3D printing and laser engraving workstations. Overall, it was really inspiring to see all these different technologies consolidated in a single area as well as to hear about many of the different projects that have been created at the lab. I was shocked to find out about such an untapped resource that I had not known that I could take advantage of as a resident of the Champaign-Urbana area.

FABRICATION IN PROGRESS.

After our brief but thorough tour, we were split into two groups to attend workshops run by the staff of the Fab Lab. I attended the workshop relating to using the laser engraver as well as the program used to vector model what we want to engrave, Inkscape. Inkscape is an open source program which is quite similar to Adobe Illustrator and allows people to vector model their illustrations; I found it really fascinating that the Fab Lab intentionally uses a lot of open source software so that when they teach people how to use their programs, the skills will continue to be applicable outside of the Fab Lab.

Within Inkscape, we started modelling an exercise watch made out of wood which would be able to track if outpatients are performing their exercises correctly. There will be motion sensors inside the watch, where if the face is facing one way, it would detect bicep curls and facing another way, wrist twists. We first modelled the watch face together while the instructors introduced us to the program, and once we started to become more familiar with Inkscape, the staff released us to add our own designs to the watch. We were instructed to keep the user base in mind and make our unique designs while thinking of certain groups, such as children or elderly outpatients.

With the last 45 minutes of class, we started brainstorming prototypes for our team products. While brainstorming, our TA Mehmet wanted us to think of new ideas quickly, never spending too much time on a single idea. We were instructed to brainstorm in different rounds with different restrictions. For example, one round we had to think as if we had a $0 budget, another if we had an unlimited budget, and yet another if we had to think of our product with children in mind. In the end, we then had to decide which prototype we thought would be the most feasible, easiest to implement, and most effective and decide based on individual team members’ decisions which prototype to make a crude 3D prototype of. In the end, Solestice decided to go with a sole that is attachable by Velcro strips to a shoe, and we will be making this prototype before the next class.