Weeks 8 & 9: Prototype Innovation and Construction

These two weeks have been mainly focused on actually creating a physical prototype of the design we've developed. The ProE model of the lock mechanism provided a guideline to building the prototype.  As prototyping was being done, problems began to arise with the actual design. Specifically, the two magnetic arms that would clamp to the door were removed from device.  The reason for removing the arms was because they were simply unnecessary, and a simpler solution was found.  After removing the arms, the magnets were relocated to the circular part of the outer casing.

Normally, the model would include metal casings for the keyhole and the magnets that would attach to the doorknob. The rotator switch at the end of the rod would also be metallic. However, due to limited resources, we decided to create a non-functional prototype of the design made of household materials such as cardboard, paper, and plastic. Therefore, we could still conveniently achieve the physical design of the model.

We plan to use this prototype as a presentation aid for the final project presentation we will be giving next week. Thus, our ideas can be easily expressed in the form of a tangible object. The presentation will be enhanced by including a demonstration of how the mechanism would be helpful to subjects' with the inability to naturally open a lock on a door.

Bringing our project to a conclusion, we have learned that an initial design might seem perfect at first, but after prototyping, obstacles begin to rise. Consequently, the design must be refined in order to meet the specifications of the design changes.

Week 7- New Design Prototype

This week, we attempted to obtain materials from Home Depot for the new gripper prototype . However, we were unable to acquire the correct materials we needed. For one, the PVC piping that we intended to use as rods for the outer casing as well as the key-holding compartment was too large at Home Depot. In order to build the prototype, we will need to discuss other materials we could possibly use. In addition, we decided it would benefit us to have a ProE design of our prototype, so that we are able to model our design. Hopefully, that will make it easier for us to acquire the proper materials to build our prototype. Once we decided to make a ProE design of our prototype, we realized that every group member had a different idea of what the prototype will look like. This week, we focused on combining our ideas into one, and coming up with one model to use to build our prototype for next week. We also discussed other materials to use for our prototype that would be easy obtain and modify in order to assemble our final prototype smoothly. In addition, we considered utilizing the 3-D printer available in the engineering lab to print out our ProE design with plastic materials. Our tentative model of the casing is shown below:

Week 6 - Material Search

We began searching for material to build the prototype. We have found a tool that we could possibly use at a CVS retail store. However, we are currently debating whether the material from the CVS brand will be sturdy enough to build a proficient prototype. We are currently searching for a better material for the same object at a price that is not too expensive. We plan to find the material prior to the weekend and begin building the prototype during the weekend. 
Magnets will be bought from our friendly neighborhood Home Depot. We plan on buying gorilla glue or wood glue in order to keep the magnets on the door. We are also currently trying to find some way to test the prototype in an accurate manner. We plan to ask a friend that smokes cigarettes to quick for a day, giving them a slight tremor. However we hope to find a better tester such as a real Parkinson’s patient to test the prototype.

Week 5 - Change in Overall Design

After taking the time to look at our initial design for our problem, we noticed that building a prototype for the exoskeleton would be too difficult and too time consuming. Plus the ease of use would be too difficult for the patient trying to operate the device. After deciding to find an alternative way to approach the problem, we came up with another design, that is much simpler to builder and is more accessible for the patient, and it still allows the problem to be solved. The new design is based off of the design for an extending grabber, which is a mechanism that is used to grab items that may be out of reach, such as wires, balloons, tools, boxes, etc., with much more ease. See the figure below.

Figure 1: Picture of an extend grabber [10]

For our design, we will be eliminating the whole extended grabber mechanism, except for the head, which will basically be used as the whole mechanism for our project.The basic design for our new approach is that, two magnets will be placed on a door; one above the key hole, and one below. According to your height or ease of use, you can place the two magnets at any distance apart (with in reason). Likely, another two magnets will be attached to the prong like extenders of the head. These will attach to the magnets already on the door, allowing the mechanism to be stable while being used. Next, in the middle of the device, there will be a large round casing that will house the key for the lock. The key will be attached to a smaller casing that is free to rotate, using a dial like device on the back of the head, at the end of the second casing, so you're able to turn the key, to unlock the door. The smaller casing will be retractable so that once the key is taken out of the hole, the key goes back into the mechanism, inside the casing. See the figure below for a better understanding of how the device will look.

Figure 2: Proposed new design