Week 10

This week we did the final modifications to the design by adding padding, fabric, and straps. We wrapped the fabric around the padding by duck tape and the final design is seen as follows:






We also did some final testing before completing the power point and final report. With an 18 year old girl using the carrier, it held up to 50 lbs before it was too painful. We believe if it was an older, stronger man, it would hold more weight because he could withstand more weight on his body. Pictures of the testing can be seen here:




We completed the final presentation and the final project.  We realized that this design has a lot of work to be done to it to be perfected.

Week 9

This is the final week to finish up the project. We are going to modify the carrier one last time and have ordered the parts to do so. The proposed design is as follows:

The new pieces are the crosses and the middle bar in the center to firstly, stabilize the piece, and secondly, to pass the chord through to create a triangle support from the bottom all the way to the top of the carrier. Modifications will begin shortly in the physical model. 

Week 8

During week 8 we tested our new design and got some statistics.  We do not have a specific type of sack to be put on the carrier so we had to improvise and use what was available in the room. We got some good data using a normal scale and some cushions and a backpack. We got the new dimensions for the new design and they are as follows:

Table 4. List of number parts and their frequencies

Length	Number of Parts
28 inches	2
16 inches	2
14 inches	3
9 inches	2

The data we collected is as follows:

Table 5. Data Collected to Determine Failure Weight

Group Member alone	136.8 lbs
Group Member + Frame	142.0 lbs
Frame alone (difference)	5.2 lbs
Group Member + Frame + Added Weight	162.8 lbs
Average Weight Held to Failure without Glue:	~ 20 lbs.

This updated carrier made the wearer able to balance themselves more easily and efficiently. It is similar to the method the Thai people were using before and may possibly be better received by their culture since it is less of a dramatic change. 

The carrier continues to slip out of its joints because we have not acquired the PVC glue yet. On Wednesday of Week 8 we plan to officially attach all the PVC pipes so that way more reliable and accurate testing can occur. We plan to test weight on the carrier going up stairs, up steep hills, and attaching it to the other transportation lab group's conveyor belt/pulley system. They ordered a metal hook similar to what would be found on a backpack. We plan to put a bar across the top in order to drill two holes for the hook to go through to carry the carrier on the pulley system.

Week 7

The PVC was cut and assembled. This is an image of the prototype as originally planned.

After curiosity and playing with the pieces, a new design was stumbled upon shown in the next image.

Testing will be done on both of these designs to determine which structure can support the most weight and which structure has the least amount of pain for the same amount of weight. That structure will be the final design, hopefully carrying an optimal weight for the least amount of pain as possible.

Week 6

After analyzing the materials at hand, before it was time to build the group made detail measurements for each piece. Our break down of cut PVC parts became:

9 in. x 2

14 in. x 2

16 in. x 3

28 in. x 2

A detailed Creo Parametric 3D Model of the carrier was created based on these sizes to visualize the prototype before it was cut. 

The cutting and assembly of the PVC will occur next week. 

Week 5

All the supplies to start building this prototype have arrived.

Our materials include:

• 1 in. x 10 ft. PVC pipe
• 2 of them @ $3.75 each
• 1 in. PVC T-Socket
• 2 of them @ $0.77 each
• 1 in. PVC L Joint
• 6 of them @ $0.58 each
• 50 ft. Paracord 
• 550 lb strength
• 1 for $7.99
• Pelican 3 piece Foam Set
• 8.2 x 3.6 x 5.7 in.
• 1 for $8.29

Building will commence in the following weeks. We believe that it is more important to measure twice and cut once so we will wait a few more days until our design is solidified. 

In the meantime, a miniature model was made to have a general idea of our prototype out of K'Nex pieces.

After this miniature model was built, a full sized one made out of K'Nex pieces as well was created.

Due to the lack of material for straps, it was placed onto the body in various ways in order to let creative ideas flow naturally. Brief testing will be done on this model in order to ensure that the PVC prototype will be exactly how it is intended to be. 

The K'Nex model is 38" tall, 16" wide and 14" long. These dimensions are approximately the dimensions we would like to use on our PVC prototype. 

We also gathered our materials this week and started brainstorming the best way to use each material.

Here are some examples of our K'Nex model in testing. We tried placing foam in varying locations as well as trying various types and thickness of the foam. 

Week 4

Two students from the senior design teams came to speak and interact with our class about our ideas, topics, and give insight to our projects. Because they have experienced this first hand, it gives us an incredible opportunity to think about what would actually work for the people of Thailand. With that being said, we discussed with Dr. Moseson and the other group working on transport of heavy loads to decide on our topic.

The pairwise decision matrix that was started last week was completed this week and was used to figure out which two of our ideas were the best. It can be accessed on the Google doc to see the details, however we found out that the modified carrier won by a slight margin over the cleats. After much debate, it was decided that the modified carrier (from previous projects) would be beneficial because it would be continuing someone's work rather than starting from scratch every year. 

The idea for cleats was decided not to be the best idea because the shoes that they were vary - some may have boots but others may not have shoes at all. 

In addition, many of our proposed ideas were things that could just be bought. They are expensive items and the only thing the project would be focusing on would be optimizing an already existing product to a lower cost. With the other team working on a pulley system, we will try to optimize our modifications to include a hook to attach to the pulley. 

Right now, our focus is on clarifying a final design idea so that we can start making this project come to life. We will research ways that things affect a person's back health while carrying things and optimal shapes. 

Week 3

This week, the goal is to narrow down the 12+ ideas to approximately 4 feasible ones. To do this, we will use a pairwise decision matrix.

A pairwise decision matrix is an excel sheet that prioritizes the needs of the people to how effectively they work for each concept idea. This matrix will output all of our needs and rank them from most important to least important. This Excel spreadsheet is very useful in determining what needs our invention should cater to the most. After deciding which needs are the most important for this project, we rank our ideas to see how well each idea can actually meet these needs. 

The ideas that satisfy the least amount of needs will be kicked to the bottom of the pile with the excel sheet. It will calculate the best possible options for our team. In the end, logic, reasoning and discussion can always override the computer generated successful ideas, it is merely a guide. This matrix can be accessed here, found on the Google Drive where everyone can collaborate to the rankings. 

The top four final results of inventions from the decision matrix are yet to be determined. Before lab during week four we should have the top four outcomes thanks to the useful pairwise decision matrix.

Week 2

In order to brainstorm twelve unique ideas, each group member did some research on previous solutions and used their experiences to come up with ideas that were suitable for "solving" our problem. The twelve ideas were collaborated on in a Google doc and can be accessed here.

In addition, we made a visual representation of how our ideas relate to one another. This idea tree is shown below and branches off into subsections until we reach the last row where the actual ideas are. There are many approaches to solving our problem and this tree is the perfect representation of all the different paths we could go. Some are too extensive, expensive, unrealistic, but others (front and back carrier) are very doable.

To keep ourselves on track for the rest of the quarter, a Gantt Chart, or Project Timeline was made. This shows an approximate time period to be working on each aspect of the project. We will refer to this every week to keep ourselves on task and on schedule. 

Week 1

This is the first week of the project. Groups were formed and projects were selected. After getting up to speed with the situations in Thailand from Dr. Moseson (who was in Thailand at the time), brief brainstorming on solutions occurred. Our proposed problem in it's basic form is to transport heavy items up dangerous, steep and uneven terrain without  increasing the laborer's physical strain.

In order to accurately create a solution to this problem that can cooperate with the people of Thailand, an outline of the stakeholder's, their needs, and some specifications is to be created before next week. This document is collaborative through Google Docs and can be accessed here.

We brainstormed ideas as a group for the up-hill transportation system. Some of the ideas include a zipline, conveyor belt, bike gear powered or man powered pulley system, and a treaded wheel shopping cart type structure.

In addition, this very blog was setup, biographies on each group member were created, and tentative project responsibilities distributed.