This week in class, we first had got the chance to speak with a Shapeways employee. She started off our session by giving us a virtual tour of the manufacturing facility she was at. It was interesting to hear and see how every employee in the business had a specific role to contribute to the 3D making and distribution process. I spent some time looking into the various companies she referenced, specifically HeroForge. It was amazing to see how 3D modeling is now available to desktop machines without any additional software or upgrades. I was able to create a custom figure and see it in live-dimensions on my screen. I’m curious to see how these capabilities will grow the personal 3D-making movement!
Next, we spent time actually creating crude mock-ups and prototypes in class. My group decided to move forward with our steering assistance tool. We looked into products that are actually on the market now, to understand what form factors work best and are most appealing to the public right now. We initially discussed the idea of using OpenSCAD to create modifiable dimensions within our steering assistance tool. However, we decided we wanted to go in a more modular direction. Similar to the way you can attach different heads onto an electric drill – we wanted to create a custom steering tool that can be utilized in a variety of use cases.
We decided to create a standard clamp that would affix to the user’s steering wheel. Then, we want to create at least 2 different attachments that can be utilized with the clamp. One would be a standard sort of knob (circular) that can provide general steering assistance to those with low motor strength. Another would be designed for with severely low motor strength, where the user would put their hand through a handle, and use their palm/wrist to steer the wheel.
The biggest challenges we are facing is safety – understanding how we can ensure that our modular design does not sacrifice design integrity. Since we are entering a product segment that requires products to work 100% of the time (driving a car) we have to make sure that our designs are solid. In the coming week, we plan to design and print actual prototypes of our models.
Hi Ajie,
I really like your project idea and I really believe it has the possibility to help a lot of people. The one question I have about a steering wheel assist tool is whether or not there are any legal restrictions or certifications that a product like this would need to have. Like you said, your biggest challenge is safety and with car accessories, there may be a process you need to go through to make sure it’s even allowed to be used in cars.
Hey Ajie,
Nice reflection this week! We definitely have a lot of design and prototyping work left to do with our project. The modularity aspect of the steering wheel knob is a feature that would increase the appeal of our project and increase its ability to make a larger impact. Learning about Shapeways really got me excited about 3D printing and our final project. I’m excited to see what we can come up with utilizing 3D printing software to finish designing our final prototype!