Improving the Designs

Today in class we continued to cut out the redesigned backpack. We decided that we need multiple layers to increase the strength of the backpack. Also we will include a water bottle pocket that was not put into our original prototypes. This design was added due to the fact that most backpacks have one. Our first prototypes are being put through many trials to find out what it takes until the bag reaches its breaking point. Tests include amount of weight it can hold and how the bag feels to the user when the weight is applied. These tests will help improve the backpack and make it function better. 

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Video Searching

We have began making the switch to using already made YouTube videos. We are making a rubric to grade various videos we find online. This will be important for us in determining whether or not we have to make a video for the tutorial or not. The videos will be judged in video and audio quality, clarity of the message or lesson, length and pace of the video, content, and professionalism. We have to make sure that our potential users will agree with us in judging the usefulness of each video. Each member of our team will search for good videos that can be on our website over the next few weeks. We are looking to fill our site with as many useful tutorials as possible.

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Looking Towards the Future

The PivoRest members have been working hard on completing the second prototype as well as plan for the future and the final product.  In class today, we were able to begin the build of the mold to be used for the final armrest design.  This mold will take the place of our original framework that needed minor modifications.  We also were able to create a testing rubric for when we have patients try out our armrest and to receive feedback on how effective it is.  We will finish the testable second prototype soon.

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Functionality And Form

Today the First Wave pack met with local Nordic skier and Coach Dave Paarlberg-Kvam. Dave is not only the coach at a local high school but also organizes a citizen’s team in the area. All in all, Dave has been skiing for 16 years and has been roller skiing for 8. He is the perfect person to review our bag. When asked how he carries his equipment, Dave said he usually throws everything he can into multiple bags. He sees kids having more of a problem with this because they don’t know what kind of bag to get that will be able to hold all the equipment. According to Dave, Some features to look for in choosing a bag to use is it has to be big enough, and it has to hold skis, boots and a change of cloths for after. On a typical training session Dave uses at least three bags. After being introduced to our prototype Dave made the following suggestions: we should put something on the bottom to hold the skis down from wiggling all over the place. He thinks if you ever needed to travel with ski equipment, this would be the bag to use. He suggested we make sure the connections are tight. You don’t want everything to be flopping around. Tight and compact is the way to go. Dave is not only a skier but an artist, so we asked him how he thought the bag looked. His comments were “I like the pattern and material changes. You used some snazzy materials.” he said we should try to blend in the schools athletic mascot into the design. The Blue Streak is a symbol of motion and that’s what we are trying to get at with the bag. He then gave us some techniques to try to get that “Blue Streak” look into our bag. The team is thankful Dave was able to make it in to see our work in progress and give us feed back. It’s always good to have a fresh set of eyes look at our work and give us their thoughts.

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Keep It Simple

Today's Skype meeting with Matt left us thinking. We now have a lot more things to consider, such as maybe just finding the best YouTube videos and using those videos instead of making our own. We also need to make the website much more user friendly. Matt gave us an idea of making the text bigger and he also found it hard to find the videos. These are things that we most certainly have to fix as our client base is not going to be as tech savvy as our skyper was today. He wanted the website to be very simple, of course that makes our job easier and will hopefully make our website more useful. He complained about never getting a response from an admin for the account he created, we never intended for anyone to make an account so we need to convey that message very clearly and will probably end up hiding the log in screen until people want to make a request. What he did say of the videos we created was good, he said the quality was nice and that they were to the point.

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Meetings, Metal, and Making Schedules Work

In class today, we were unable to work on our project since we had two different meetings with the First Wave and Computer Tutorials groups regarding their progress. Nonetheless, we were able to get together last week and work on the attachment method to the chair of our current prototype. We used u-bolts to attach the ball-and-socket joint and now have a sturdy metal frame to insert into the wheelchair instead of PVC pipe. Also, we attached the foam to the new arm and elbow rests, and rounded out the attachment piece at the elbow to get rid of excess bulk. Our new prototype is already looking much better than our first, and is almost 3 times as light, which was a large focus that needed improving. We are planning on working in class and after school as much as our schedules will allow us to this week, to continue with our progress. We will also be taking a look at our progress report and will get a sense of what we must get accomplished by next month, including a new prototype and getting our design out to someone for a trial testing.

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