Jenga Earthquake Table
NU Toys: Club Project (2017)
PROBLEM STATEMENT:
Construct a randomly vibrating base table for a game to Jenga to increase the game's difficulty.
CONSTRAINTS:
Budget limited to $50. Due to fall e-board responsibilities I set myself a deadline to finish this project before 09/2017, leaving about one month to complete the first prototype.
Jenga Earthquake Table
NU Toys: Club Project (2017)
PROBLEM STATEMENT:
Construct a randomly vibrating base table for a game to Jenga to increase the game's difficulty.
CONSTRAINTS:
Budget limited to $50. Due to fall e-board responsibilities I set myself a deadline to finish this project before 09/2017, leaving about one month to complete the first prototype.
Jenga Earthquake Table
NU Toys: Club Project (2017)
PROBLEM STATEMENT:
Construct a randomly vibrating base table for a game to Jenga to increase the game's difficulty.
CONSTRAINTS:
Budget limited to $50. Due to fall e-board responsibilities I set myself a deadline to finish this project before 09/2017, leaving about one month to complete the first prototype.
Vibration Pain Therapy Garment
Capstone: Senior Design Project (July 2019 - December 2019)
Awarded for "Biggest Potential Impact"
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Final vibration robe prototype shown in its intended use cases - lounging while affording moderate mobility
Design team receiving award!
PROBLEM STATEMENT:
Initial (July): Make something that uses vibration therapy for pain relief
Final (September): Create a wearable consumer product that uses whole-body vibration therapy to relieve the chronic pain symptoms of neuropathic conditions such as fibromyalgia and small fiber neuropathy.
PROJECT NEED & BACKGROUND RESEARCH:
- Chronic, neuropathic pain affects 10 million people in the US, is difficult to diagnose, and current treatments are often dangerous and/or addictive
- Vibration therapy is a promising alternative treatment backed by a body of research.
- Gate control theory explains how pain signals can be overriden by mechanical stimuli like vibrations
- Treatment is promising enough that products using vibration for pain relief already exist, although consumers report issues with comfort and durability
Visual representation of chronic, whole-body pain
PROJECT REQUIREMENT DEFINITION:
After extensive market research and discussion, the team decided to move forward with a robe form factor, intended for use as a consumer product. This option would allow consumers to try vibration pain therapy from the comfort of their own homes. Next, mechanical and electrical system development could begin.
DESIGN - VIBRATION DISPERSION UNIT (VDU)
- Goal to create structures distributing vibrations evenly without limiting comfort and mobility. Reduces total number of motors while optimizing overall feel of vibrations.
Design Evolution
Vibration source
Protective foam
Contact Locations
Fabric
Final Design
- Encouraged team to sketch several fundamentally different solutions, prototype the most promising ones, and use those to continue developing the design
- In final design, motor is elevated off the body, and uniformly vibrates the structure and contact pads
- Each vibration dispersion unit has a unique curvature specifically tailored to the body
- Made of 3D printed nylon for flexibility and ease of rapidly prototyping
Prototyped VDU
DESIGN - ELECTRONICS
- Cylindrical eccentric rotating mass motors used to create vibrations. Easy to control and adjust, widely available, and produced desirable vibration frequency and amplitude ranges.
- Led development and prototyping of electrical system, including safety and durability considerations
Designed Arduino-controlled system with 5+hrs of battery life
Hand-soldered several protoboards that fit within a 5"x6"x1" control box
Clamping clamshell design, wire loops, and wire fastening to VDUs provided strain relief to motor wires to increase product durability
FINAL DESIGN
- Vibrating robe design allows user both comfort and mobility
- 17 custom-designed vibration dispersion units distribute vibrations evenly throughout garment
- User-controlled intensity to ensure vibrations stay below safe daily limits laid out by the UK Health and Safety Executive
- Battery powered with a 5+ hour run time
- Blue outer layer protects the electronics and is easily removable so it can be washed
- Characterization testing showed significantly more even vibration distribution from robe when compared to a commercially available vibration plate
Model of high level garment design
Inner workings of prototype
Experimentally determined comparison of vibration distribution between a commercially available plate and the team's robe
SKILLS GAINED
- Defining problem and project requirements from an open ended initial problem statement
- Significant team collaboration and communication
- Mechanical and electronic prototyping and design
- Written and verbal presentation skills
- Project and resource management