BLOG #6 - April: Anecdotes on Adventures and Advancements
Meetings #19-21 - SPARK Sessions
4/1/24
Met today at SPARK to plan out the month!
We started putting together our scaled prototype with the 3D printed parts from our mentor Rick ~ thanks Rick! ( ˶ˆᗜˆ˵ ) ~ There were a few hiccups, though, but any issues that popped up were cleared up after calling Rick. Also, installation of the electronics for our scaled prototype is planned to begin at our next meeting.
Mr. Kukulka from the local news outlet, MLive, has also come to write an article on our work! His article is here: mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2024/04/4-michigan-teens-invent-sitter-upper-for-seniors-will-showcase-work-at-mit.html
We’ve got May 8th circled on our calendars for the webinar about EurekaFest, which is creeping closer and closer…
4/7/24
We worked on our layout for EurekaFest today! We also focused a chunk of our time on exploring promotional materials we might hand out at EurekaFest. The current ideas are…
- Brochures
- Stickers
- Business cards
- Banner
- Giveaways
Before all of this, we have to come up with a name for our device and a logo, though. We’ll be mulling over this for the next day and come with ideas to our next meeting.
4/8/24
Solar eclipse day! Hope that everyone was able to experience it because the next total eclipse is pretty far from now ( T ᴖ T )
Today, we worked on marketing materials at SPARK and had a lovely dinner from a [sketchy] takeout restaurant (there were a lot of 1 star reviews, but the food was great!).
The team works while enjoying some food. Featured (from left) are Dr. Vivek, Jacob, and Suhani. Alice and Amy are off-camera, taking this picture
Alice came up with a snazzy business card design! We also worked on the color palette for our branding. Right now, we're leaning towards a mix of a deep forest green with a splash of dusty pink.
Oh, almost forgot to mention, but after cycling through many potential names, we’ve currently settled on SoloStep!
Alice and Jacob sketching out some possible logo designs
Also, logo design is underway and we’ve found one that really hits the mark. Amy will draw out the logo to ensure it's high-resolution, so we can paste it onto all of our promotional materials without it looking pixelated.
Brochure designing is also beginning! We’ve looked over a couple of examples for some inspiration. Alice and Amy will be working on finishing up the brochure.
We’ve also met in person with Rick today, who helped us out with our scaled prototype’s electronics. Also, some good news: the linear actuator that Suhani set up works! We’re super excited to incorporate that into our scaled prototype. Suhani will continue to work on the remaining electronics and coding to allow for our design’s obstacle-avoidance feature.
More good news: Microsoft will be working with us to help us file for a provisional patent through their Make What’s Next Patent Program! We’re truly grateful for this opportunity (づ๑•ᴗ•๑)づ♡
Side Quests - Crafting and Conquering
4/13/24
Fabrication day! We met with our mentors at a manufacturing plant in Detroit to learn about what goes into bringing our full-scale design to life and also help out where we can. We learned a lot about welding and drilling and got to try it ourselves ᕙ( •̀ ᗜ •́ )ᕗ
Here's a bunch of pictures we took:
The team working with our mentor
Amy learns how to use a drill
Alice (in super cool headgear) shows off her welding skills
Jacob and Suhani try their hand at welding
4/14/24
So…remember the Regionals Invention Convention we prepped for last month? Well, we made it to the state competition! Alice, Amy, and Jacob wrote a pitch that will be submitted for the competition. Fingers crossed that we’ll make it to nationals! It’ll be a good platform for exposure for our product and work before EurekaFest (maybe we’ll snatch up some funding?).
Gripping Progress - the Traction Talk
4/17/24
We’re getting traction from the MLive article Mr. Kukulka wrote on us at the beginning of the month (thank you Mr. Kukulka for writing the amazing article!). We were contacted by several individuals interested in our work and also met with one of them today over Zoom for some feedback on our design.
We’re currently exploring several handlebar designs:
- Grips on the entire bar
- Traditional curved bar, multiple bars on top of each other, or a bar with multiple divots
We’ve also learned to be mindful of the cushion thickness for the seat of our design. Too thick of a cushion would make it difficult for a user to get on, especially if they are easing themselves onto the seat from the floor.
