Group 9: Human Assist Devices: Weekly Progress

Week 1 4/6

In the initial lab meeting, the group started brainstorming for our project. We also watched a video of a team of engineers working on solutions for problems involved with firefighting.

Week 2 4/16

At our first lab meeting, we bounced around ideas for our project. A few ideas included devices to prevent injury in weightlifters and people who have trouble moving their fingers.

The idea that we decided on was an automatic drug delivery system for people who have trouble remember to take drugs. Originally, we wanted to create a program that could tell a computer to release set dosages. The computer would then make a motorized system push the drug through a tube into a patient's vein.
We talked about our design and tried to figure out what would be possible for us to make in the ten-week span. Our final proposal consists of a syringe whose contents will be pushed out by a motor at a certain rate set in MATLAB. Once we decided on a design, we began our design proposal and broke down what we would be doing for the next ten weeks.

This week, some of our initial ideas changed. One aspect that we altered was the type of programming we will use to control the device. Initially we were planning on using a data aquisition unit with a MATLab code, but we have decided to use an Arduino with its own coding instead. We will now have to create an "analogwrite" code in the Arduino application that will control the motor servos. Time was spent this week also looking at the motor servos itself. We learned how much voltage is required to initial the motor and cause it to rotate, creating a force. The Ardurino "analogewrite" code will control the pulse width modulation (PMW) that powers the motor servos. The tasks that need to be completed for next week include, attaining a syringe, understanding the motors and compute the force needed to push the syringe.

Week 4 4/26

Throughout the week, our group worked on the finalized design we came up with last week. One of the first things we did was to order a syringe. The syringe is 10 mL, and it will be used to store and push out the medicine. Once our group had the syringe, we were able to start working on the more technical aspects of the design. This means that we started calculating the torque. To do this, we first found out that 4 oz. was enough weight to push water out of the syringe. With this weight, we were able to calculate the torque. After we finished calculating the torque though, we decided to use a different type of motor. We decided to use a rack and pinion with a stepper motor. The rack and pinion would change the rotation motion into translational motion.

Week 5 5/0

This week, our group decided on two plans of action. The first plan was to use the servos motor to power the syringe. The servos motor would be programmed using the Arduino program. Along with using the Arduino program, the servos motor would be connected to the syringe with hinges. To start building this design, the group ordered the servos motor along with starting to write the program. The program will be tested once the servos motor arrives. The second plan of action is using the Lego NXT kit. The Lego NXT kit will be used to construct hinges to pull the syringe back, so the medicine will be expelled. These hinges will be pulled back using the motor from the Lego NXT kit. This motor will be programmed using the NXT Mindstorm program. In class, our group constructed initial hinges connecting the NXT motor and the syringe. Along with constructing the hinges, our group also wrote an initial program for the hinges to pull back the syringe. The program worked, and it just has to be adjusted to fit our requirements. Our group also realized that there is a need for a base to hold the syringe, the hinges, and the motor too. The group is still brainstorming on what materials to make the base out of. One of the other things our group discussed was using the rack and pinion. Our group decided not to use the rack and pinion because the group wanted to make the rack using the 3D printer. Since the 3D printer is not very strong and the rack has to withstand a strong force, our group decided against using the rack and pinion. The rack would have also been very hard to design since it would have to be custom designed to fit in the syringe.

First prototype of the Lego syringe.

Week 6 5/10

Week 6 brought upon both successes and difficulties. The great success was the development of the Graphical User Interface (GUI). This was created in Matlab, and is an interface that will allow a doctor to set the automatic drug delivery device to emit a preset volume of liquid drugs and at specific time intervals. However, once this was made, problems arose when attempting to connect Matlab to the NXT. Even after downloading tutorials and attempting several different codes, no progress was made. The goal for next week is to research more about connecting Matlab to the NXT brick in order to complete the code.

Syringe pushed all the way down

Syringe pulled all the way up

Week 7 5/17

This week, the fundamental trial and error process of engineering became largely understood by the entire group. We encountered many setbacks as new problems continuously arose acting as gigantic seemingly impassible roadblocks. We set off the beginning of the week with excitement to use MatLab, and with the intentions of finishing our project early and being able to advance our project further than previously thought. Our initial intentions were to write code in MatLab in order to control our device. We found a promising video online that took the viewers through the process of connecting the Lego NXT brick to MatLab. However, everything was going all too well, which meant that something unfortunate was bound to occur. Inevitably, our NXT brick came down with the "Clicking Brick Syndrome." This caused the NXT brick to fail to show any signs of viability other than its continuous clicking. We thought it had malfunctioned, but after switching out the brick for a new one, and having the same event occur, we knew that it was not the brick that was the problem and discovered from online forums, its dreaded syndrome. In an attempt to revive the brick and bring it back to its functioning state, we restored the original NXT firmware back onto the brick. We though, "AHAH!" Until then the computer would no longer recognize the NXT brick and we were further back then we were before the brick contracted the syndrome. We tried it on different computers, and finally found a computer that would recognize the problem, however, a step in the video could not be completed on our computer because our MatLab did not have an option that the video required before continuing. We tried to obtain what we needed to continue, but to no avail. The trail and error process will continue into next week. Hopefully more research and ingenuity will allow us to find success.

Week 8 5/24

During the lab period for week 8 all the groups were asked to give a quick presentation about their projects. Each group shared their overall concept, motivation, expected deliverable and biggest challenge. After the presentations were finished half of our group began creating the Power Point presentation for week 10. The other half of the group continued brainstorming alternative options for controlling the device with a graphical user interface. The connection between the NXT robot and the MATLAB program was unsuccessful so a new method still needs to be established. We decided to investigate the program Lab View which has been used with NXT in the past. A few members will go to the ECE lab next week in order to get help setting up the NXT with Lab View. Other members will work to generate the GUI using Lab View. When we meet again in week 9, hopefully we can get the NXT device to be controlled using Lab View. We will also finish up the Power Point in week 9 and decide which members will present each part.

Group 9: Human Assist Devices

Weekly Progress