Constructing Control
Spring 2020
Skills:
On Site Research
Mechanical Design
Collaborative Design
Awards:
Best Overall Design Solution
Best Project Poster
Prompt
A young man moving into the world wants to move into a profession he has always loved from a distance, construction. The only possible obstacle is that he was born without a large portion of his left arm leaving him unable to operate heavy machinery that utilizes dual joystick control. How might you make his dreams achievable?
This project was conducted with a team of student engineers, faculty advising, and a corporate sponsor to provide users with transradial amputations the ability to pursue careers in construction. Several versions were made with each design being specified to a different machine while considering how it can be adapted to different users bodies. Development of physical designs involved interviews, site visits, and communication between all involved parties.
And thus we begin...
Primary Research
Before we could jump into design we had to do extensive research regarding not only our direct beneficiary but also others that may use our designs in the future. We spoke to prosthetists, prosthetics engineers, and people with various limb differences.
Site visits
We also were able to visit sites where the machinery we were designing for was in use and directly observe our user and the environment as they would be.
Secondary Research
Our primary research and field observations then directly influenced how we would move forward into secondary research finding what materials, techniques, and technological expectations we should hold.
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Iteration
Our group then had to go through several iterations of designing this product based on the feasibility of the design and the requirements that arose with each iteration.
Design 1
Finished design for machine 1 with a joystick that rotates from a lowered point.
Design 2
Altered design targeted to users with prosthetics that have universal attachment points allowing them a fitting they are already acclimated to.
Design 3
Finished design for machine 2 with a joystick that rotates from a horizontal point with an increased required range of rotation.
Moving Forward
As this was a senior design project our involvement ended after our semester of work. This project though was awarded Best Overall Design Solution under our faculty and has been passed on for continued development in the senior design class.
Gallery
