This week we had multiple guests. The first one was a member of the Illini Service Dogs organization on campus. She came in to talk about some suggestions that could manifest into potential projects.
We also had John Hornick join us. He talked about how 3D printing is being used in new and innovative ways that we may not necessarily think about. He showed us various research projects that are being conducted all over the world, mainly focusing on how 3D printing has been used in the healthcare industry. Such examples include utilizing 3D printing to print scans of hearts and skulls so surgeons can study the models and prepare the best plan for going about the procedure. The unconventional and innovative ways in which 3D printing is being utilized is what stuck out to me the most during his presentation. I believe a lot of people put limitations on products and ideas. However, nothing has a limitation. People everyday alter/customize products to fit their needs without even realizing it. The fact that some researchers and doctors are trying to 3D print body parts etc. attest to that. Although 3D printers were originally made for printing plastic models, people all over decide every day to use 3D printing to fix a need that they are facing. I believe that this is an important lesson to keep in mind when going through the design process. Sometimes it isn’t all about creating something new that no one has ever seen before, it is instead about implementing improvements in devices that already exists to better suit our needs.
We also had Jeff Ginger from the Champaign-Urbana Community Fabrication Laboratory on our campus. He kinda took us through a virtual visit of the fab lab by explaining what and who it is comprised of. One of the main focuses of his presentation was thinking about 3D printing and digital making from a community approach. There are a lot of fabrication laboratories and maker spaces around the world because there are a lot of problems around the world and everyone needs access to resources, such as maker spaces, to deal with such problems.
After that, we gathered into our teams to share information on the research that was completed up until now. From there we wrote on post-it notes one thing we believed was significant about what others shared. Slightly after we collected all of the post-it notes and we categorized them into groups. Since our initial mentor has yet to get back to us we did not have a lot of feedback to share with each other. However, we decided going forward that we will reach out to other expect users and mentors who could assist us with our research. Although we still don’t have an exact idea of what we want to work on, we are hoping that through talking with the mentors we will be able to narrow down our options and decide on a fun and informative project.
Hi Brianna,
I really like your point about how when designing, the point should not be on creating something new that did not exist before, but rather should be on ensuring that it fulfills the intended users’ needs. Even if that means simply improving something of existence, the important point is to keep the users in the center of the design. Similarly to you, I used to think that innovation meant creating something completely new, but now, I believe that making improvements on something that has been existing could also be an innovation.
Being on the same team with you, I am personally worried about how we still have not had any interaction with our mentor or users yet, but with our goal of helping youth wheelchair users with customization and making the wheelchair experience more fun, I believe that our project will take off once we get inspired by one of them. I foresee that as soon as we meet one of the users/experts and learn about their “dream wheelchair,” we will have so many ideas available. I’m looking forward to finding out where our project will lead to!
Brianna,
I agree with Matthew, I think as soon as we get to hear the stories and insights from the expert users we will be inspired. I think it is better that we don’t have a specific idea of what we want to be since we haven’t talked to the expert users yet. This way our ideas will stem from opportunities they present rather than us assuming what they would want.
As for the guest speakers, I thought what John Hornick brought up was crazy! Especially advancements there have been in the 3D printing industry. It blows my mind that Wake Forest University’s Institute for Regenerative Medicine is developing 3D printed cartilage and even 3D printed organ tissues to test vaccines.
Hi Brianna,
3D bioprinting is topic I find really interesting. Here are some body parts that are already being 3D printed: https://www.mdlinx.com/internal-medicine/article/2668. What I find most interesting is the different materials being used to print these body parts. I look forward to seeing where experts take this and how they can improve printed body parts to last longer.
I am excited to see what direction your team takes your project in. I think doing something with the Illini Service Dogs would be interesting and different from the rest of the class.