Last weekend, we spent three days in the Make-a-thon attempting in getting our first functional prototype. Prior to the Make-a-thon, I was very worried. Most of my teammates will not be there in the Make-a-thon for most of the time. Fortunate enough, our team has another teammate from the Fab lab course who was willing to help out. Our ideas went from out initial 3D modeling of prosthetic replacement to adding supports on the front and back movements to an attachment to the foot instead of the prosthetic replacement with a look of sandals.
Our idea developed from a prosthetic replacement to an attachment was a huge change. This transition of thoughts was a result of many experts cooperation during the Make-a-thon. We went into deep debates between the two ideas and the pros and cons of different ideas. Our biggest concern during the Make-a-thon was still that we could not create something that is actually functional because ideas may have deceptions that we thought the idea would work out but it does not really work out. We were afraid that the final prototype would not provide enough support for Jenna to balance on her prosthetic. However, Jenna, our mentor, was not there during the Make-a-thon. We were unable to find someone to test out our prototype during the Make-a-thon except for ourselves, which was our greatest concern. However, with our muscles on our actual leg, we were unable to actually test how much support would the prototype provide to us. I tested the prototype myself and asked two of our teammates to test out the product. We could feel that the prototype provides some kind of support laterally. However, we were not able to actually test out whether the prototype could give us enough support during yoga poses. This was our greatest limitation during the Make-a-thon. Other than the concerns of the functionality of the prototype, our overall experience was great during the Make-a-thon because it gave us an ability to make our design to actual products and consult with many different experts to develop our idea further.
This weekend, we tested our prototype that we made during the Make-a-thon with Jenna. Her feedback was that the sandal provided additional lateral space that did actually increased a little bit of lateral balance. However, this support was not helpful enough to keep her balanced laterally, especially the body above her ankle did not get the type of support Jenna expected. This means that our idea was proven to be true that it did provide some sort of lateral support. However, this is far not enough for prosthetic users. This means that we have to redesign our prototype to provide more support above the ankle. Our mentor still recommended for a replacement of her prosthetic and with a cone shape that supports the rod to help out in supporting the upper part above her ankle.
After listening to Jenna’s suggestions, we will redesign our prototype and go back to the initial 3D modeling of prosthetic replacement to make changes that way. We expect to have the design modified before Wednesday on FUSION 360 and print the next prototype out. After the prototype is printed out, we will ask Jenna to test out the prototype again.
I am a student who’s currently studying accountancy and management of information systems. I am graduating this year and entering the MAS program at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. I love programming and accountancy as much as I love taking photographs and learning how to play the Rubik’s cube. I love trying out new things and learning new skills. Learning how to make accessible designs utilizing digital making skills is one of the new skills I learned.
Hey Yingyi, I’m glad to hear you made some great progress during the Make-A-Thon. Even-though you didn’t have most of your teammates during the Make-A-Thon, I think you guys were able to come up with a viable solution for Jenna’s balancing opportunity. I’ve never heard anything about balancing devices designed for prosthetic leg users. And I think you guys should pursue with this idea. It surly has a lot of potential. Great work guys!
It sounds like this will still a valuable experience as you found some crucial design themes which need to be implemented. It sounds like the new iteration will probably need to look almost like a boot to provide that stronger over ankle support.
Hi Yingyi,
I think it is great that your team was still able to come up with a functional prototype even though most of the team was not present for the Make-a-thon. I am impressed at how fast you guys are coming up with a different prototype after noticing that the initial prototype has some failures. Good luck with the new design!