<aside> ✅ Computer Programming using Python
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<aside> ✅ Sensors, Breadboards & Wiring
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<aside> ✅ Prototyping
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<aside> ✅ Microsoft Word
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<aside> ✅ Research
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<aside> ✅ Time management
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<aside> ✅ Teamwork and Collaboration
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<aside> ✅ Problem-solving and Critical Thinking
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<aside> ✅ Creativity
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<aside> ✅ Oral and Written Communication
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<aside> ✅ Organization
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<aside> 💡 For this Design Project, we worked in a team of 5 and we had the choice of designing either a wearable personal health monitoring device or a device for automating tasks at home. From there, the team was divided into two sub-teams, which included a modelling and computing sub-team. The modelling sub-team was responsible for designing and creating a Raspberry Pi housing. On the other hand, the computing sub-team was responsible for creating a computer program using Python that received sensor data as input and communicated relevant output to the user. My team decided to create a wearable device that helps patients recover post-knee injury or surgery.
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Imagine of knee injury/pain (source: https://rebalancetoronto.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Physiotherapy-and-Chiropractic-for-Knee-Pain-Toronto.jpg).
Design a device that monitors knee movement to provide post-knee surgery/injury patients with feedback over time based on how they have been following physician instructions when it comes to how much they can bend their knee. This will allow for optimal recovery and peace of mind throughout the patient’s rehabilitation journey.
This project was very open-ended so we first had to decide on a medical problem to create a device for. We brainstormed a list of ideas and received input from the TAs as well as Dr. Andrew Cheung regarding the challenges medical professionals and patients face. After careful consideration, my team members and I decided that we should create a knee brace after researching about athletes and the prevalence of reinjury anxiety among this demographic.
<aside> ⚠️ One of the first challenges we faced was actually choosing a medical issue to address. This was the first Design Project that we had that was very open-ended. Although this provided a greater space for creativity and innovation, it was also very difficult to choose a realistic device that we could create within the span of 6-weeks using the materials that we were provided. Therefore, quite a lot of time was spent deciding on a device which wasn’t the best idea thinking back on it, especially since time was already limited to begin with.
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Individually, we provided many different and unique ideas and translated them into concept sketches. Below I have included preliminary sketches of some ideas that I had in mind.
This is an image of my first preliminary sketch of the knee brace which included a MyoWare Muscle Sensor.
This is an image of my second design that I shared with my group. This design included an Absolute Orientation Sensor (BNO055) and this is the design that we chose to use for out medium fidelity prototype.
