The Legs Guardians Final Presention
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Transcript:
Aaron: Hi everyone. Thank you for being here for our final presentation for this class. We are The Legs Guardians. To recap our mission this semester, we are working with our community member Milagros to create a mat that she could wear around her waist and be on her lap so that when her cat, Tammy, jumps onto her, she would not be scratched.
This is tonight’s agenda. I will first give a brief overview of what we did after our last midterm presentation. And then I’ll hand it to Nafl to talk about materials. After that, Yihan will be talking about our prototyping process. And finally, Jane will discuss our next steps.
So right after our midterm presentation, we immediately started our design development process. So in the remainder of the semester, we wanted to explore design options and we wanted to research on materials and form factors for the mat. Of course, we also wanted to prototype and to fabricate the final piece. And so here are some sketches that we individually came up with to articulate our ideas of what would fit best for Milagros’s needs. We ended up going with the first design where you could see a sketch of a wheelchair and some straps around. We decided to explore a strap system where, instead of strapping the mat over Milagros, we would strap the mat on the handles of the wheelchair.
We did a prototyping session to explore what form factors we will take and how we might attach the straps to the chair and to the fabric. In the first image there are cardboards, old fabrics and scissors and all these prototyping materials on the table. In the second image, you will see that Nafl standing by the table looking at a roll of vinyl, which is something that we were also exploring. And finally, in the last image, Nafl had created a prototype and he is testing the strap system with the fabric and with the chair.
And so after that, we did some shopping and we were able to stay under budget from the gift card that was given to us by Amy, We bought four types of fabrics. We bought some leather so that we could explore how to makes straps out of leather with push buttons. We also got some Kevlar because of its strength. And also thank you Alice for telling me about the microfiber that apparently is widely used in Taiwan to create scratch resistant furniture. And so from there I started learning more about microsuede. And finally, thank you Daniel our artists in residence who gave us a roll of vinyl for experiments.
I will pass it along to Nafl to talk about materials.
Nafl: When we started looking at materials to make the mat of we were concerned about three main properties.
First, strength, so that Tammy’s claws cannot cut through or penetrate. Second is weight. It should be as light as possible to be easier to put on and take off. Third, durability so we can achieve a sustainable solution.
There are also other properties of the materials that we consider too. Like maintenance, breathability, and comfort. Now we will talk a little bit more about fabric.
Leather fabric is strong, thick, but it’s a bit heavy. The color can change with time and they’re expensive. Kevlar fabric is heat resistant and made of strong synthetic fibers, mostly used to protect boat bottoms from rocks and anything that could puncture the boat. Microsuede is made of polyester. It’s made of millions of super fine fibers and has soft hand touch and feel like leather. And it’s breathable, durable. And water resistance. Vinyl is made of plastic. It’s waterproof, fade resistant, durable, and has great strength. Now Yihan is taking over to talk about prototype.
Yihan: After we narrow down and analyzed the materials, we proceeded to the prototyping phase because we couldn’t spend expensive time with Milagros’s chair and take all the measurements in order for us to make the Tammy Mat. We decided that the best way forward is to conduct a rapid prototyping session with Milagros.
This is our second time meeting up with Milagros at Dekalb Market Hall And this time we brought all the materials and did fitting on her while she’s in the chair so we know that the measurements and the fittings are right for the different materials that we did. We also measured the materials and marked the cuts that needs to be made in order for us to make the prototype.
And this is the prototype that we made and Milagros was testing for the past week. This is the vinyl layer. The prototype Milagros was testing also has a microsuede layer of the same shape as a double layer design held together by the clasp here. So with this design, in our sharp object testing, we believe that it’s sufficient against cat claw and distribute the force quite evenly. And instead of a leather strap design that attach the Tammy Mat to the chair, we opted in for this apron style design so that the turnaround time can be shortened; so that we can quickly iterate.
As with any user testing circumstances arise. In this case, Milagros’s usual chair, is in repair. And in this place, Milagros is in this temporary chair that the cat does not like and does not want to jump on. So we actually haven’t had a chance to test the mat against cat claw. But as I said with our own testing with sharp objects, we think the double layer vinyl and microsuede design is sufficient. Milagros also expressed that she actually prefers the apron style design because it’s not chair dependent. It’s also easier for her to take on and off. This is also a very surprise finding that informed our decision to change the design to fit her needs butter.
Jane: For next step. We got this feedback based on Yihan’s prototype and the user test from Milagros. The feedback is as follows: The Tammy Mat prototype is comfortable but the strap is too long. The belt is better attached to her body instead of around her neck. Also, she wishes to put this mat on and off more efficiently because Tammy will randomly jump on her and she wants to prepare as soon as possible. Besides, it will be helpful that the mat is adjustable and the length of the fabric will go shorter. Thanks to Milagros’s valuable feedback, now we have a clear idea of what we’re doing right, and what we should continue working now. First, we know that we choose the suitable material. Then we should put more effort into the belt’s design. and the selection. Also, we should adjust the size of the mat. As for the belt, we found these three solutions: snap fastener, buckle, touch fastener, and adjustable strap. I also sketched the final version of the Tammy Mat based on the prototype. And we’ll finish the final fabrication part in the following days. Thank you for listening.