WRITTEN PROPOSAL
Our names are Ela Savas and Neta Ariely, and our independent study is called Applying the Principles of Biomedical Engineering to Identify Limitations of Physical Activity with Prosthetics and Engineer a Viable Solution. We were both interested in biomedical engineering and prosthetics, and decided to collaborate on a project to design a solution to one of the biggest problems facing prosthetic users: limitations in being able to stay active and fit. During our initial research, we discovered that currently, the only people with prosthetics that have accessibility to exercise are those who are very serious about being physically active and those who are able to afford expensive prosthetics and devices. For the general public, casual exercise is difficult. The side effects of not exercising include obesity, hypertension and ischemic heart disease or clogged cardiac arteries. During our research if the proposal is approved, we would like to find out why it is hard for the general public: is it because of the extra weight a prosthetic entails, is it because of less joint flexibility, etc. Once we find out why this is happening, we would like to engineer a solution. We want to try to prevent these preventable diseases by making exercise more accessible. In other words, our driving questions are: What is the best way to make exercise accessible and welcoming to people with prosthetics? How can we further identify limitations to accessing exercise opportunities in order to define our problem and success criteria which will shape our engineering solution? How can we apply principles of frugal engineering to make the solution more available to a broader population?
By doing so, we also need to make our solution more affordable, and frugal innovation will allow us to do this. Our ultimate goal is to design something cheap, easy to use, and accessible to everyone. In order to do this, we will have to do a deeper dive into biomechatronics, a technology that combines biology, mechanical engineering, electronics and mechanics in order to research, engineer and design devices that can be used to compensate, imitate and replace human physiological functions, like prosthetics or artificial organs. Because of this, it encompasses fields such as neuroscience and robotics. The technology has brought tons of different possibilities because biomechatronic devices are capable of replacing the functions of human organs and limbs. Biomechatronics meaning
CALENDAR/COURSE PLAN
| Time Period | What we do | What we want to accomplish |
| january 3 – january 10 | basic/fundamental research | understanding of who general audience ishow do prosthetics actually work |
| january 11 – january 21 | find people to interview | find at least 5 experts/people who are involved with this problem to interview and when the interviews will be conducted for each person |
| january 22 – february 4 | narrow down research to our specific topic on interest | we would further dive into the limitations of prosthetics in terms of exercise/activeness |
| february 7 – february 14 | brainstorm design/prosthetic possibilities that fits our current knowledge | we will narrow down options to 3 potential designs by the end of week |
| BREAK | BREAK | BREAK |
| interview time slot (putting it on schedule, but obviously not finalized since we did not contact people yet) | interview time slot (putting it on schedule, but obviously not finalized since we did not contact people yet) | interview time slot (putting it on schedule, but obviously not finalized since we did not contact people yet) |
| march 1 – march 8 | finalize design | get a final idea after one interview of what out design will look like/be |
| interview time slot (putting it on schedule, but obviously not finalized since we did not contact people yet) | interview time slot (putting it on schedule, but obviously not finalized since we did not contact people yet) | interview time slot (putting it on schedule, but obviously not finalized since we did not contact people yet) |
| interview time slot (putting it on schedule, but obviously not finalized since we did not contact people yet) | interview time slot (putting it on schedule, but obviously not finalized since we did not contact people yet) | interview time slot (putting it on schedule, but obviously not finalized since we did not contact people yet) |
| interview time slot (putting it on schedule, but obviously not finalized since we did not contact people yet) | interview time slot (putting it on schedule, but obviously not finalized since we did not contact people yet) | interview time slot (putting it on schedule, but obviously not finalized since we did not contact people yet) |
| interview time slot (putting it on schedule, but obviously not finalized since we did not contact people yet) | interview time slot (putting it on schedule, but obviously not finalized since we did not contact people yet) | interview time slot (putting it on schedule, but obviously not finalized since we did not contact people yet) |
| april 3 – may 13 | building design | go through building phase and finish by may 13th with a final polished product |
| may 14 – may 15 | present to audience | present product to audience |
| may 16 – may 21 | finish/polish blogging | finish blog/add a conclusion |
| MAY 22 | FINISH | FINISH |