Fall 2017 Newsletter

 

QL+ Student Association

Quarterly Newsletter: Winter 2017

 

QL+ Student Association Mission:

QL+ is a multidisciplinary student association on a mission to improve the quality of life of community members through innovation in prostheses, medical devices, and assistive technologies.

 

Fall Quarter Summary:

During Fall Quarter, the QL+ Student Association was busy! We hosted a Quarterly Design Project (QDP), workshops, social events and participated in SWE Building an Engineer Day in partnership with Biomedical Engineering Society. Our workshops taught students about some of the CAD tools available to them in engineering design such as SolidWorks and Fusion 360 simulations. Building an Engineer Day is a fantastic program put on by the Society of Women Engineers every quarter to teach middle school students about the field of engineering. We put together a workshop to teach the students about molding and casting and why these are important skills for biomedical engineers. During the QDP, students were tasked to design a wheelchair attachment or device that could assist the user in playing a sport or doing an activity. This Fall QDP was formatted as a competition with the first place team earning the chance to continue their design and see it through the manufacturing and testing phases. The officers were thrilled to see all the hard work the club members put into this project. The “Swing King” assistive golf club took first place with an innovative design for making putt-putt golf accessible to wheelchair users. The team is excited to continue working on the project as we move into winter quarter.

 

 

Fall Quarterly Design Project

 

The QL+ SA spring quarterly design project is a competition project. The officers presented the club with the following prompt design a wheelchair attachment or device that could assist the user in playing a sport or doing an activity. We worked with fourteen groups of four to six students throughout the quarter to teach them the engineering design process, develop their ideas and prototype them. All fourteen of our teams presented their designs at a special two hour meeting. Congratulations to team twelve for scoring the highest and earning the opportunity to continue their project for the rest of the year! The officers were so impressed with the amazing designs they came up with. We look forward to running another QDP in Spring Quarter 2018.

 




 

Formal Design Projects

 

Seven new formal design projects began this fall, and they’ve already done some great work to start off their projects.  Formal design projects are centered around a community member with a specific challenge, referred to as a challenger. These in depth, year-long projects culminate with a presentation of a final product from the formal design team to the challenger.




 







 

Fin for Karen

 

About Karen:

Meet Karen Aydelott! Karen is a triathlete and member of the San Luis Obispo community. She is a transtibial (below the knee) amputee, and is looking for a training fin to help build muscle in her residual limb as she swims.

 

Karen has completed 31 Ironman triathlons which consist of a 112 mile bike ride, a two mile swim and a full marathon! Since her amputation, Karen has qualified for and competed at the Kona Ironman World Championship which requires finishing a qualifying Ironman at the top of your age group. Needless to say, Karen is an incredibly inspiring individual and our team is ecstatic to be working with her.

 

Project Update:

The team consists of qualified and motivated engineering undergraduates including team lead, Caroline Skae (3rd Year BMED), Toby Smith (3rd Year AERO), Tess Pate (3rd Year BMED), Morgan Gebhart (3rd Year BMED), Andrew Beckley (2nd Year BMED) and Nick Dion (1st Year BMED). Shortly after the team formed, they met with Karen to further define her problem statement. Karen would like a simple fin which will allow her to wear the same training fin which she uses on her other leg as she practices. Having a second fin will promote muscle growth in her residual limb as well as balance out her stroke. After meeting with Karen, the team created a list of must haves and additional options for the training fin. They completed their design phase and came up with a design called the “Simple Fin” which they will produce at the start of Winter Quarter. This design will allow Karen to comfortably swim while using two matching fins. The team is excited to start the manufacturing process and work with Karen to test out their first prototype in the next few months!



 

App for Amber

 

About Amber:

Meet Amber Garman! Amber is a local San Luis Obispo County resident and a Cal Poly alum. She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology this past spring and is working toward getting her masters to become a Marriage and Family Therapist. As a wheelchair user, Amber is required to perform weight shifts multiple times a day to avoid injury. Amber, a student, needs an application that she can easily integrated into her daily routine to help reminder her when to perform these weight shifts.

 

Project Update:

The App for Amber team consists of 5 members: Ryan (2nd year ME), Alex (2nd year EE), Avi (2nd year EE), Shivani (2nd year EE), and Sam (4th year CPE). The team has no formal team lead, so all 5 members are splitting the team lead responsibilities. All of the team has been learning the iOS app development language, Swift, while communicating with Amber to learn more about her ideas for the app concept. The team drove out to Morro Bay in early November to meet with Amber and present their initial ideas to get her feedback.  

 

While there are several wheelchair apps currently on the market, none quite meet Amber’s standards. The current apps are unattractive and have limited functionality and customizability. The goal of our project team is to create an app that is more than just a timer by adding features that are specifically designed to help wheelchair users meet their weight shift requirements wherever they may be, whether it be at home or in class. Our team has decided to focus on 3 main things when designing our app. Firstly, that the app has an easy to navigate, intuitive user interface. Secondly, that the app have streamlined functionality and customizability. Lastly, we want our app to have a visually appealing display. By keeping these focuses in mind as we go from design to creation, we hope to build an app for Amber that is not only functional, but a joy to use.


With the main ideation for the app complete, next quarter will be used entirely for coding. Since Amber has an iOS device, we will use Swift (Apple’s Programming Language) to code the app. There is a GitHub account already established where every member of the team can contribute and collaborate. After the backbone of the app is functioning, we will focus on the User Interface. The User Interface will meet our three main goals and will cater to the specific needs of wheelchair users.

Trike for Sam

 

About Sam:

Sam Brenner-Ward is a 13 year old boy who lives in Ukiah, California with his mom, dad, and dog. Sam has Cerebral Palsy, a neuromuscular disorder that affects his motor coordination and capabilities. Riding a tricycle is a great way for someone like Sam to develop their muscular strength and coordination. However, Sam is unable to reach the handlebars of his current trike, and therefore cannot steer it without assistance. Our goal is to create a semi-recumbent trike that will allow Sam to have full control of the device.

 

Project Update:

Our project began mid-October of 2017. Our team consists of the Team Lead, Harry Koos (2nd year IE), the “Frame Team” with Amy Wilson (3rd year ME) and Mikaela Williams (3rd year BMED), the “Bike Guys” with Austin Sherman (3rd year BMED) and Dan Ash (3rd year ME), and the “Accessibility Team” with Noah Johnson (3rd year BMED) and Shannon Hoye (3rd year BMED). As the sub-team names imply, each team member has a specific role on the team that is based on their personal strengths. It is inherent that the work of each sub-team overlaps in someway with the other sub-teams. For example, the Frame Team has created a SolidWorks CAD model of the trike’s frame that is based on the dimensions found by the Accessibility Team as well as the steering and drive mechanisms designed by the Bike Guys. The number of cross-team collaborations necessary are endless. We are currently in the process of finalizing the dimensions on the models of the many components that go into constructing a trike. Thanks to our Team Lead who visited Sam’s home, we were able to obtain all of the data necessary to complete our design. We are also considering what materials need to be purchased, as well as how they will be machined and assembled. Our goal is to complete our design around the beginning of Winter Quarter, then build a complete model over Winter Quarter that can be tested by Sam over Spring Break.

 

Pictures: Sam with Team Lead, Harry (Top), Sam riding his old trike with his dad (bottom).

 

Braces for Spencer

 

About Spencer:

Spencer Bergthold is a 21 year old student here at Cal Poly. He is getting a Business degree and is working on a Spanish minor.  During Fall quarter, he was studying abroad in Spain. In his early high school years, Charcot Marie Tooth disorder began to affect Spencer’s life. Because of it, Spencer has less control over his ankle muscles so he is subject to drop foot. His current braces address the problems of drop foot, but he finds them uncomfortable after long periods of time and they limit the types of shoes he can wear. We are hoping to work closer with him once he is back in San Luis Obispo.

 

Project Update:

The Braces for Spencer team consists of Michael Gallagher (2nd year), Janis Iourovitski (1st year), Pear Lynch (2nd year), Naomi Chavez (3rd year), Alex Ward (3rd year), and Zoe Li (3rd year). The project started in mid-November. Since then there have been two different design iterations eventually culminating in a prototype. The first design stemmed from just modifying Spencer’s current braces, while the current design is based on a shin guard that will provide the necessary stability for Spencer’s foot as well as making the braces more comfortable. The prototype worked as expected, but the design is not as optimized as we hope to produce by the end. Currently, we are working on minimizing the visible part of the brace as well as making the brace as comfortable as possible. We are also exploring other ideas that made lead to more comfortable or less visible designs while still providing the necessary support to prevent foot drop.







 

Capital SUP

 

About Capital SUP:

Capital Stand Up Paddle Boards is an East Coast based paddling company that is partnered with Walter Reed Hospital. Every other week, these two corporations team up for an paddling day to get injured vets out paddling on the water. Our contact Chris Norman has challenged the team to design and create an attachment for one of their stand up paddle boards that will allow a single lower leg amputee to use as a rest and support for when they need it.

 

Project Update:

After many interviews & lots of tough decisions - we have developed a team of 6 students for our Stand Up Paddle Boarding project! Starting from left in the given image, we have Jessica Chow, a first year studying Biomedical Engineering. Next is Kristin Abele, a third year Biomedical Engineering student. Third from the left is Tim Moreno - a grad student studying Biomedical Engineering with his undergrad in Biochemistry. In the middle of the picture is Will Ward, a third year Biomedical Engineering student. Second to the right is Trent Chapman, a fourth year student studying Mechanical Engineering. Lastly, we have Kevin Yerina - a second year Biomedical Engineering student.

After a couple weeks of brainstorming, the team has broken our design down into three essential subcategories. The first category is the physical support where the user will resting on. The team is attempting to design this support to be used as a front end support where the user can lean up against it or use it as a grip when they need a rest from paddling. The next category is the frame - how the support will be held up. The frame needs to be strong yet not get in the way of the user & their paddle. Additionally, our goal is to make our frame lightweight and foldable. Third is the attachment where the board will connect with the frame.

We are looking into a foldable belt support, with a tripod style frame, and using sleeves as the attachment to the board. After a preliminary design review, the team is looking further at the sleeve attachment so that it will be strong, support the user, and distribute their load to prevent buckling. We look forward to moving on with these designs and entering the build & test phase of our models.

Brace for Rita

 

About Rita:

Mrs. Rita Granados is a woman in our San Luis Obispo community who endured an ankle surgery roughly 4 years ago. Because of the circumstances of the injury, there were 5 ankle bolts inserted into her right ankle which, ultimately,  requires her to use an ankle brace. The current brace causes her discomfort which has severely altered her mobility and inhibits her from being an avid traveler. Our team has the opportunity to serve her by creating a more ergonomic ankle brace that redistributes weight away from highly pressured areas.

 

Project Update:

The initiation of the ‘Brace for Rita’ formal design project began in Week 7 of our Fall Academic Quarter. From that point to the present, we, the ‘Brace for Rita’ project team, has researched different Ankle Foot Orthotic (AFO) fabrications and from that, has conducted in depth brainstorms to determine the best ankle brace designs. Based on the research and comments put forth by Mrs. Rita Granados, the team has decided on a brace design that creates pockets of comfort cushioning adjacent to her specified pressure point areas. The goal for this design is to redistribute weight away from those areas to lessen the impact of each step. We believe this is the best approach to this problem considering that the constraint of ‘comfort’ was her number one plea. In terms of our next steps, we received feedback from our Preliminary Design Review (conducted at the end of fall quarter) regarding the build process during winter quarter. Because Mrs. Granados is easily affected by external contact to her ankle, we were reminded of the attention-to-detail when utilizing molding techniques for her ankle and thus, we are currently evaluating the best method to create a mold for her ankle. All build phase related actions will be pursued upon the start of Winter Quarter and we, the ‘Brace for Rita’ project team, are eager to begin fabrication.










 

Skateboarding Arm for Davis

 

About Davis:

Davis is a young man from San Diego, California. Earlier this year he had a heroic but tragic accident that unfortunately left him without his right arm above his elbow. Davis has spent most of his life as a skateboarder, traveling locally and abroad to different skate spots. He is very excited to work with us and also is very excited to present a unique challenge.

 

Project Update:

Our project team includes Team Lead, Tyler Tackabery (4th Year BMED) and team members, Allison Rabin (1st Year BMED), Shaida Biglari (3rd Year Transfer BMED), Samuel Porter (2nd Year BMED), Kyle Ladtkow (1st Year BMED), Lauryn Borromeo (4th Year Transfer EE). As the name describes, we are developing an upper arm prosthesis for Davis to help him catch himself when he falls when skating. He has said, “I am unable to do many of the tricks that I was able to do before.” We have run into many struggles that comes with an engineering challenges but the main one for us was the unpredictability of not only his but every skateboarder's falling pattern. Also an issue that we have come across is that skateboarders will not think about falling and getting hurt, it’s not in their mind because, just like everyone else, they don’t want to think about the times that they have gotten hurt. Our idea’s include a piston based cylinder to absorb force, a bowl shaped “hand” to catch a large diversity of falls and also a bending elbow to transfer energy. We are excited to move forward with the challenge and also continue to work through the struggles of working on a team to persevere to an amazing goal!


 

Looking Ahead: Winter 2017

 

We can not wait to get back to our lab. Winter break ends on January 8 and we’ll hit the ground running with workshops, industry lab tours and socials. Our formal design teams enter their build phase of their projects, and their critical design review occurs at the end of the quarter.



 

Thank you for your interest in the QL+ Student Association! If you would like more information about what we do, or would like to get involved in our mission, please contact our faculty advisor, Dr. Lily Laiho, or our president, Berkeley Davis.


 

Dr. Lily Laiho Berkeley Davis

llaiho@calpoly.edu bdavis35@calpoly.edu



 

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