STEM II is a group assistive technology project. The objective is to engineer a device to aid someone with a disability in their life. This project also involves interacting with a client and developing the device to fit their needs. My project was an assitive dog feeder for a client that used a wheelchair and required a mechanism that would streamline their process to feed their dog. My teammates were Diksha Sriram, Smita Bhogle, and Kiara Lavana
Manually administering food to a dog presents additional challenges for individuals using wheelchairs due to their limited range of motion. Holistically, the standard process of providing food to dogs using a dog bowl on a floor with the products on the market is ill-adapted to individuals without full use of their legs.
For each design, sketches were drawn with dimensions and scaled down cardboard models were made to gauge feasibility for different design approaches. The advantages and disadvantages of each design, especially in their ability to fulfill the client-centered criteria, were considered and weighed to decide which option was optimal to continue. Afterwards, CAD was designed to begin prototyping. After some consideration the original design was altered with inspiration from an Open-Source CAD.
Below are pictures of the current version of our prototype as well as the sketch.