We have made a lot of progress since our last update. We have performed mobility testing with our first prototype and figured out what we wanted to change with our second prototype. We then built a second prototype, which we will have images of on this site soon. We plan to test out this second prototype with a more quantitative method, Electromyography, which basically measures muscle exertion. We will use this to prove that our exoskeleton reduces the load on the lower back muscles, thereby reducing injury. Yesterday, we presented some of our findings at the UMD Undergraduate Research Day poster fair. We also had a live demonstration of our new prototype for people to look at.
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This past week we have completed building our first prototype, which we will present today at the Do Good Showcase.
In the next few weeks we will complete a variety of tests with our new prototype and note everything that we will need to tweak and modify for the next version. If we are able to fix it now, we will. If not, we will write that down for later. We have created a testing procedure that we will follow over the course of multiple sessions to ensure comfortability, maneuverability, and to ensure that we do not interfere with firefighter operations. Once that is ensured, we will explore functionality and the ability to fulfill the requirements of how we want to help firefighters pick up loads, prevent injuries, etc. This data will be extremely important for our next prototype. A few weeks into the new semester, we have made significant progress.
Right now we are near completion of our first working proof of concept, or Mk0. After completing this, we will be able to tweak the design and create our first official prototype with parts that could all be on the final design. We've been spending a lot more time in the lab to complete the working proof of concept. We are also working on our presentation for the Gemstone Do Good Showcase. This presentation will show off all of our progress so far and our roadmap for the future. We ask anyone who is interested to attend. In the past month, we have achieved a lot, despite classes and exams heating up.
We have been finishing up some work outside the lab. One thing we've been working on is figuring out how we plan to test our Exoskeleton. Some of our time has been spent coming up with procedures for every step of how we plan to test it. We want to be thorough. We have also started using the funding we gained through donations to order parts. We've been ordering what we need to assemble a simple proof-of concept of our design. Let's call this Mk 0. We've also ordered some 3D prints from terrapin works of our spring housing, as well as picking and ordering springs. After we got set up in the lab and took inventory, we've gotten to work on some things. We've started creating some more parts for our Mk 0, creating some parts for the cable housing, as well as a shoulder/chest strap subsystem. We have also started doing elasticity testing with some elastic bands, and plan to continue this with our springs when they come in. Overall, we have been making progress and been successful. We expect this progress to slow down in about a week from now for finals, and to be slow over the summer, but ultimately we consider this semester to have been a good start on our project. We will post one more update at the end of the semester. Since our last update, a lot of big things have been happening. Firstly, our LaunchUMD campaign is almost at a close, and we have exceeded our goal, raising $3,025 as of today. This money will be huge for constructing our prototype.
Secondly, we have acquired our own lab space in the JMP Building. This space is where we will build our prototype, and eventually test it. We have also created a version of our design, and are now getting into the details of the subsystems. We have generated several drawings and CAD designs of parts of the exoskeleton, and we are also splitting up to look into different requirements and parts of the exoskeleton and how it will all come together. We are still meeting twice a week. Once we have access to our new lab space we will be able to start putting something together. We are on track to have a CAD assembly for our exoskeleton with all parts in full detail by the end of the semester. Today our LaunchUMD campaign started, and at the time of writing we are already past halfway to our goal of $3,000! If you have donated, thank you very much. Your support means a lot. If you haven't yet, please consider donating, even a small amount can help us towards our goal.
Our team has also done some more detailed design work. We have a basic overview of how our design will function and we have a set of technical requirements for how we want it to function. At this point we are ready to start creating more technical drawings as well as shopping for parts. We are also completing lab training to be able to use the FPE department's lab facilities. We are going to begin periodically posting updates on our project on this blog page. This first post will go over what we have achieved so far.
Our team last semester conducted a literature review to collect any relevant knowledge on the topic of exoskeletons and firefighters, and wrote a project proposal laying out our literature review, methodology, budget, and other information about how our project will operate. This document was submitted to the gemstone program. We also gathered information by interviewing firefighters from a variety of communities and ranks within firefighter organizations. This semester we have defended our thesis proposal from a panel of experts. We decided to make the primary focus of our design the lower back and preventing injuries there. We have acquired turnout gear to aid in our design, and begun designing our prototype. We also have pursued multiple avenues of funding, including via a crowdfunding campaign which will begin on March 8, 2023. |
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