Our general experience at the CBL forum was both informative on the behalf of the public reaction and
response to our solution and its potential, as well as constructive in terms of educating the public on the our targeted problem. In preparation for our presentation, each member of our team created a series of talk points to guide our proposal that were answers to possible questions and inquires the audience may have. My talking points included the details about our targeted problem; the general lack of exercise within sedentary adults, and the detriments it has both to mental and physical capacity and extent, as well as the way in which our solution aids the problem. My also included concepts on the design and essential idea of our solution and how it allows sedentary adults to obtain the basic health necessity, and also why we specifically designed our solution the way we did. My partners prepared for the forum by also creating talking points, but specifically made them tailored to be answers to prospective questions, seeing as they were in charge of the management of the Cubicycle and would have to answer an abundance of questions. In terms of physicality, we prepared our station by displaying the Cubicycle in a manner that allowed people to use and inspect it, as well as displaying our 3D pdf design, our website, and evidently our poster, all to be examined. When it actually came time for our presentation, and prospective costumers starting approaching our booth, I actually found it a bit difficult to find a balance between providing enough information and context around our project so that people could understand our product and its motives, but also not boring and bombarding them with too much information. When I first began explaining our project, I started with its source, or in other words the essential problem. I then moved to explain how we came about our project and the obstacles and ideas that helped define it. Lastly, I explained our solution and its design, and the way in which it aided the original problem, including data to corroborates its success. Here is the essential idea of by presentation; “Our developed solution targeted and surrounded the general lack of exercise within sedentary adults/ employees, and the detriments of a lack of stimulation to both their physical and mental health. When developing our solution we felt it was important to understand where the majority of adults spent thier time, and through reaserach, we found it was at work sitting at a desk. So, we worked to develop an aid that would allow adults to exercise while simultaneously completing their sedentary work, and that is how we developed the Cubicycle, which is essentially an under desk, stationary unicycle, allowing adults to simulate the exercise of bike riding while remaining seated at their desks.” Although for the most part, the forum was a success, as I said, I did face a few obstacles such as the problem of not imposing information on the listener without their asking about it, and also encouraging them to ask questions without imposing the responsibility. It was also extremely interesting to see the general reactions of the public on such a large scale to where some people were extremely enthused by our project and eager to try it out, and we also heard countless people propose the idea that we should patent our design and it is “genius.” However others said that they would be thrilled to use it, but somehow did not want to use try it out, perhpas suggesting something about the relationship between having an opportunity and the level of motivation that within people. Others were simply spectators and seemed more captured by the interactive arts and crafts next to us. One of the biggest learning experiences I had was the way in which your tone and manner of speaking affects the public and their interest in what you have to say, as well as finding a balance between being informative and excessive. It was also interesting to see what stations people were attracted to in general, and why. I also think I learned the extent of the problem our solution targeted, based on the general reaction from the public. Countless people said that they would love to have our product and were excited about it, and they felt as if they didn’t get nearly enough exercise. It demonstrated the possible success the product would have if fully implemented. In conclusion, the Forum provided endless learning opportunities and unique interactions, and I am more than glad to have culminated so much assiduity and hard work in such a rewarding manner. BY: Addi Moss This week Marco, Addi, and I thought of what we needed to add to the Cubicycle. We decided to add resistance and a pedometer that would calculate the amount of feet biked. To add resistance we tried using at first a rubber band that would be put around the circumference of the wheel. The problem with this was that the rubber band would slip of. We then decided to work with a break. We realized that the break would be finished in a time so we moved on to work on the pedometer. We added the pedometer on the rim of the wheel. The only problem with the pedometer is that the numbers of feet written on the pedometer can only be read upside down. Our final product of the Cubicycle is a wheel that is connected to a suction cup with a pedometer that calculates feet.
Last Thursday Addi went to a business office to have data taken by employees while working. This is the data that we received.
Written by Raphael Daneshgar According to the calendar that we made earlier, this week was the last week that we had to work on and finalize our product. Then we have to implement it in the offices for next week because that will be the final week. Our solution consists of a suction cup, a unicycle wheel without the tire, a small wheel that tracks your distance and the bar that connects the unicycle to the seat (we left the seat out because there was no need for it). We connected the unicycle to the bar and then the bar to the suction cup. To use our solution, you will attach the suction cup to the top underneath your desk. You then pedal the unicycle while you are sitting down and working at your desk and the wheel distance tracker will track how far you went while you were pedaling. Our solution will help with the lack of exercise regarding sedentary adults, adults who spend a large portion of their day sitting down at a desk. When our solution begun, we had nothing but a unicycle. Gradually, during different class periods, our solution got developed further and further as we worked on it. It went from a simple unicycle to a working mechanism that would help you exercise. Along the way, we had some difficulties. At first we couldn’t get the tire off, then we weren’t able to get the seat off, and more recently we had a hard time figuring out how to connect it to a suction cup. For all of these problems we managed to find a way out, and our CubiCycle is almost 100% working now. We also already have a plan for implementing our solution and collecting data. Earlier we sent out a Google Form to the people that work at the office where we will implement our CubiCycle. We will try to implement it either on Friday or Saturday. After 5-7 days of it being at their office, we will hopefully collect the data by next Wednesday, and then import it on to our poster and video project. Written By Marco Reis This past week, our group has worked towards revising our design and implementation plan so that it’s enabled to reach its highest capacity and potential in terms of a long term and effective solution. Although prior to this week we had finalized the general idea and design of our aid, we felt it was vital to include unique aspects to its design for both durability, inclusivity, and originality. One of the aspects we worked to incorporate into our design is the aspect of adding an adjustable resistance to the wheel, this allows the user to increase or decrease the level of difficulty in which they stimulate their muscles. In the preliminary stages of this idea, we faced the difficulty of not knowing how to create not only the resistance itself but making the amount of resistance adjustable. However, after contemplating possible ways to achieve this we decided simply to attach a bicycle wheel brake that takes the form of a U shape, to where each side of the arch has a screw that when tightened, pinches the wheel more to apply resistance. This solution allows the user to both easily increase and decrease the resistance level, and it is simple to fabricate as well as effective. To decrease the resistance and difficulty, one simply loosens the screws with a plier like tool included with the product. The brake is to be fabricated by either utilizing a 3D printer or simply by purchasing a bike brake and attaching it in some way. The next obstacle we faced was in our endeavor to include the asset of a pedometer like apparatus to measure the user’s number of calories burned per mile traveled (on the stationary machine). This was less of an issue because there were fewer options to choose from in order to solve the problem, however we struggled in finding the most accurate apparatus to measure calories burned per mile. We needed something that had a wheel already included in its design so that we could attach it to the wheel of our design, therefore every rotation of the wheel would be measured and converted into the number of calories burned by the user. So, we searched multiple websites such as amazon, eBay, etc. and finally settled on one product. The wheel of the product we purchased will be attached as I previously said, to the wheel of the Cubicycle so that when the user turns the wheel, the pedometer wheel will rotate, and calculates the number of calories the user has burned derived from the distance they have gone. Lastly in terms of the design, we faced the problem of making the rod and height of the unicycle adjustable to accommodate all desks and heights. This was an easy aspect to include because we simply detached the seat of the unicycle because the unicycle already had the ability to adjust its height. As for our implementation plan, we have identified and chosen three employees in our targeted office and simply set out a survey for them to complete. The survey inquires about their current health state and time allotted into exercise, and it was vital that we collect this data in our to contrast the data we collect after in order to determine the success of our product and solution.
By: Addison Moss |
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