These past two weeks we have conducted multiple interviews with Mr. Adair, the contacts both Ms. Starling and Mr. Babwah gave us and have reached out to more people regarding our current course of action. Based on the feedback we have received, Ela and I have once again decided to reevaluate how we want to approach our solution. In our initial proposal, we purposefully didn’t specify what kind of device we wanted to engineer to not restrict the learning and engineering process, but truth be told, we both thought we would be designing a prototype of a prosthesis. However, we have recently decided to take a new approach. At first, when we came to the realization that designing a prosthesis but not be as plausible as we had hoped, due to the various obstacles we encountered (the customization aspect, catering to each AK amputee when each case is unique, the logistics of creating an inexpensive but functional prosthesis, whether to create just a knee or a whole leg, etc.) we decided to reevaluate our approach. Our first thought was to create a new bike that one could use with only one leg. However, Ms. Katherine Saul gave us the idea to simply create a gadget or widget that could be attached to a bicycle that would eliminate the need for a functional leg. Ela and I both loved this idea. Buying a whole new bike would be much more expensive, and overall less practical. Many families in less developed countries share a bike, so why should there be a need for a whole new one. By creating a device that could go on and off a bike, the people we want to make biking accessible to would be able to bike, without having to make radical changes to their actual prosthesis or having to buy a whole new kind of bike. This all goes to show you how much can change between what you first envision and where you find yourself as you embark on the whole learning process. Fun!
Feb 06