This is my part of the group essay, I was tasked with doing the introduction of this group project. I mostly worked on the slides and presentation.

 

GROUP 4: Eric L., Araf A., Sebastian M., Nitay E.

ENGL 21007: Writing for Engineering

December 13th, 2022

Final Project Proposal, Technical Description

 

SPINOSAURUS

FOR DISABILITIES, DISEASES, INJURIES AND RECOVERIES

 

INTRODUCTION

Back injuries are one of the most prevalent forms of workplace injuries. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, every year, more than one million workers suffer from some form of back injury. Back injuries count for one in every five workplace injuries, this a serious problem for many people who have to do manual labor or lift heavy objects. The market for helping people with back problems, posture issues, or spine issues is not small.

Originally, this project was about creating an exoskeleton for construction workers, to help construction workers with heavy lifting. However, our group decided to go with the medical field. There are already a lot of different types of exoskeletons for the military and workforce. However, there are not many exoskeletons for people who have suffered injuries or have illnesses. The main audience for our exoskeleton is people who suffer from illnesses or have major back injuries. Some examples of this could be scoliosis, which is when the spine is bent incorrectly, it is a disease people are born with. The point of our exoskeleton would be to help people who have this sort of handicap to do daily work without hurting themselves.

The existing exoskeletons are for military personal and fighter pilots. Most exoskeletons on the market are not made for the public. The average cost for an exoskeleton would be around 50,000 dollars. Most people cannot afford this; therefore, we will be making our own exoskeleton. The main point of making our exoskeleton is so the common patient can use it. Our innovation is of design, yes. However, it is also about cost. We want to make exoskeletons that support the back, much cheaper. This is so people can maybe buy it and pay it off over time or even have insurance on it. Our price range would hopefully be 20,000 to 25,000 dollars in an ideal world.

Another issue we have with current exoskeletons is that they are too clunky. Current exoskeletons are very uncomfortable to use, this is for a variety of reasons. From having pads too big, to having a mechanical exoskeleton. These are factors that lead to discomfort in the patient who is using an exoskeleton to heal. Our main goal would be to make a much more comfortable exoskeleton, which allows for a range of motion to a recovering patient. That will be the main issue we try to tackle in this project.

 

Ani, Araf                                                                                                                          12/12/2022

Final Project Self Reflection                                                                          Writing for Engineers

 

Overall, I enjoyed this project a lot. Group work is my favorite type of work, out of all the assignments you have given us. I prefer working with a team, as appose to working by myself. I enjoyed the presentation portion of this assignment; I know some people don’t like public speaking. However, I find it enjoyable and a challenge that I must overcome. I also enjoyed the gathering of resources and data. I didn’t know that back injures were some of the most common types of injury in a workspace. I learned a lot from this assignment. I learned how hard it is to live life being disabled or injured. My main goal while working with my group was to make a hypothetical device that could help all these people in need. That was what was driving my forward during this assignment.

Things I would do different is trying to prepare more before presenting. I felt I was stuttering a lot during my presentation on my slides, I felt really nervous. I should have practiced more before the presentation day. I also would have wanted to add a section in our presentation showing our design for our hypothetical exoskeleton. This is mostly my fault, because I forgot we needed to show an actual design for our exoskeleton. If I could redo this project again, I would show a “blueprint” or design of how our exoskeleton works in the real world. My group put the design in our essay, but I wish we also put it in the slide show presentation.

Overall, I really enjoyed this class. Over covid, I haven’t done any group work in 2 years. This was the first class in a long time that I did group work. I rate the class overall a 10/10, I would take this class again.