ReBorn

Welcome to the Husky ADAPT Reborn project page!

About

We are team ReBorn! Our focus is on enhancing the cooking experience. We aim to create a design that turns a two-handed activity in the kitchen into a one-handed task.

Progress

Week 1
Teams were formed, and topics were distributed among the 8 teams.

Week 2
For the next several months we will be working closely with Carolee to design a product catered toward kitchen accessibility.
Background on Carolee:
Carolee is a retired school teacher and former avid cook who was diagnosed with Inclusion-Body Myositis (IBM), a form of muscular dystrophy 12 years ago. Her right arm is functional with limited strength, however we aim to harness this mobility and strength when creating a kitchen product with her!

Week 3
In preparation for our first meeting with Carolee, we created a set of questions to ask both her and her husband Tom. These questions will focus on their experiences in the kitchen, and allow us to understand their daily routine and some pain points during the process

Week 4
Our first meeting with Carolee was incredibly insightful, and helped us narrow the scope of our project. We learned that she does not cook now, but still participates by reading recipes to Tom and guiding him through the process. Our next step will be to analyze all the information we obtained. Below are photos of her kitchen, as well as how she grips a spoon with her right hand. (Put those pictures here)

Week 5
Our goal this week was to create point of view statements that will help guide us as we continue to ideate. We asked ourselves:
How might we increase the scope of activities Carolee can do in the kitchen?
How might we make cooking a daily hobby for Carolee?
How might we make cooking a zero-handed process?

Week 6
Our current needs statement is: Carolee needs a hands-free way to prepare food because she is passionate about cooking and would like to use her current strengths and Tom’s help to do that
We also continued to brainstorm ideas. This week we went all out with sticky notes

Week 7
We currently have 5 direction; cutting food, peeling food, seasoning food, dispensing snacks, nd dispensing liquids. We hope to narrow our focus to one direction by the end of the quarter. There have been a lot of scheduling conflicts, so our group has not been able meet for as long as we want during the weekly meeting.

Week 8
No class this week due to break, but we will all bring ideas to our next meeting. Happy Thanksgiving!

Week 9
We are starting to think of our next meeting with Carolee, and how we can get the most out of it. We want to better understand her range of arm and hand motions, and see what sort of grips are easiest for her to work with.

Week 10
This week, we are preparing for our Autumn showcase. We are waiting for a response from Carolee, but in the meantime, we are looking for ways to use the showcase as a way of getting feedback from the community. As a recap, our current directions include cutting food, peeling food, seasoning food, dispensing snacks, and dispensing liquids. We want to know which of our 5 directions people like the most, and which one they think is the most challenging to accomplish using just one hand. We have prepared activities for the guests to try out, so they can see first hand how tricky it can be to do these things with one hand. To measure their responses, we will have them vote on which activity was the most challenging, and which one they think has the most potential for future design.
This is our poster for the 2017 Autumn showcase.

Week 11
Before we leave for winter break, here is are the results from the showcase.
Cutting food was the most popular choice among guests at the showcase, and Carolee+Tom.
We received a lot of great feedback from thiss showcase, and we are excited for our next phase of product development once we start school in January 2018!

Winter Quarter 2018

Week 1
Over the break we brainstormed potential ideas for one-handed cutting devices. Justin created quick 3D renders of our ideas

Week 2
We met up with Carolee this week to show her our current ideas and get feedback. We found out that she has the most difficulty cutting cooked meats such as chicken. She also wants a way to cut food directly on her plate, instead of cutting it on a cutting board and then transferring it onto her plate. It is also important that the product is dish washer safe, and lightweight.
Additional findings we discovered: We measured how much Carolee can pick up, and it turns out she can lift up to 12oz instead of the 5oz we originally assumed. The shape of the object is important too; it was not within her ability to lift up a 12oz gym ball, but she could easily lift a 12oz book. This is because the book was easier for her to grip.

Week 3
After talking to Carolee, we began thinking of ways we can create a device that chops food on or into a plate. Justin made another render, and 3D printed the design. A blade was very carefully added to the design, and we successfully cut a piece of popcorn with it; but could it stand up to something as tough as cooked chicken?
This is a lineup of our prototypes currently After getting critiques on our prototypes from the teaching team, this is a render that we came up with

Week 4
We met with Carolee and Tom again to show them our prototypes. From this meeting, we learned about which grips are easiest for her to use, and which design languages she is drawn toward. We showed Carolee and Tom mood boards with different kitchen brands. Oxo and Chef’n were their favorite because of the simple design language (oxo) and fun form and colors (Chef’n).

Week 5
During our midterm presentation, we presented two potential design directions; one that is portable, and one for home use. They are quite different, so we are hoping to narrow it down to just one direction in the following week(s). Check out our designs:

Meet the Designers

Kristin Anderson is a third year Mechanical Engineering student
Justin Ho is a junior in the Mechanical Engineering department at the UW
Victoria Peskin is in her junior year in the Industrial Design program
Aditya Sharma is a junior studying Electrical Engineering