Six weeks after the 2015 Recycle Rush challenge was issued, build season has ended! This year’s competition requires teams to lift and stack totes and recycling containers on two types of scoring platforms. I’m excited that the barebones robot we’ve bagged is fully functional, and in the weeks leading up to competition we will continue to work on modules under the 30 pound limit that we’ll add on at competition. Here’s a short video of bag-day practicing.
Author: leelaamladi
ReMotion Knee Research Project
This summer I interned for seven weeks at D-Rev, a nonprofit that designs and delivers well-designed products to those living on under four dollars a day. Among other jobs, one project was to conduct research about target markets for D-Rev’s ReMotion Knee, a low-cost prosthetic knee joint. I began with the premise that traffic accidents are one of the leading causes for amputations in the developing world. You can check out the blog post on D-Rev’s site here: http://d-rev.org/2014/12/intern-desk-d-rev-traffic-accidents-amputees-plotting-data-derive-countries-greatest-need-prosthetic-knees/
Pill Buddy – Part 1: The Smart Pillbox
Summary
For many seniors, pill schedules are difficult to adhere to both because of complicated medication schedules and increasing forgetfulness. Personally, both my grandmothers have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and it is very common for them to either forget, or mix up their medications. My parents, their primary caregivers, live a distance away, and it is difficult for them to keep track of their parents medication schedules. To address this problem, I designed and built a Smart Pillbox, with technology to sense when seniors have not taken their pills, and the ability to contact patients and caregivers with reminders and alerts. The final pillbox is able to tweet and text reminders to patients, primary caregivers, and a network of secondary caregivers.
Pill Buddy – Part 2: The Web App
Summary
After Part 1 of the Pill Buddy project, in which I built an Arduino Smart Pillbox to remind patients and caregivers of pill schedules, I realized that an important component was missing. Long-distance caregivers who are responsible for their patients needed more control. I designed a companion web application to give caregivers more control over activities such as setting pill schedules and communicating with other caregivers.
Patented Walking Aid: WedgeWalk
Summary
After a trip to India in 2010, I noticed my grandmother’s quad-tipped cane was more often a hindrance to her than help on her daily walk. It was difficult for her to walk on uneven terrain, maneuver in densely populated areas, walk up stairs, and carry her cane into compact cars. When I returned, I set out to design and build a cane that would provide her with support in all these circumstances.
Wireless Locator Device: WaldoWatch
Summary
Forgetfulness plagues not only seniors, but people of all age groups. In my first electronics project, I decided to address this problem by designing and building an Arduino locator device, with a watch-like transmitter, and mini receiver tags to attach to commonly misplaced items.
Leela Amladi 