The PowerBin!
Abstract
Many people suffer from difficulties with mobility and muscular strength due to age, disabilities, or other conditions. Taking out the trash is often difficult for people with such complications. The average American produces approximately 34 pounds of trash per week. Transporting this amount of waste would pose a significant challenge to people with the aforementioned conditions. However, taking out the trash provides quality exercise, which is essential for decreasing the rate of bone and muscle degradation. As such, this team’s goal is to create an electrically powered trash barrel that assists users in maneuvering their barrel while still allowing them to remain involved in the transportation process. In turn, the target audience will be able to continue taking out their own trash, which comes with the large benefits of perceived independence and exercise. In order to ensure a comfortable experience, the degree of assistance will be adjustable by the user, allowing them to customize the amount of labor the system subsidizes. Since the degree of muscular challenges may vary widely, especially with age and certain health conditions, this adjustability will be critical to ensure that this product maintains optimal utility.
Problem Statement
One of the main factors limiting the ability to move trash barrels to the curb is a lack of physical strength. Several factors can contribute to muscular deficiencies including age and specific medical conditions. The product put forth in this project aims to reduce the impact that these challenges have on a user’s ability to push a trash barrel.
A large component of the target audience for this product are people affected by muscular complications due to age. These individuals largely desire an independent lifestyle without the need of caretaker assistance. However, many are unable to perform necessary tasks without that support. One such task introduced by the clientele of this project is the transportation of a trash barrel to the curb. A large majority of this target audience retains their basic mobility, but do not possess the same strength or range of motion that an unaffected person may have. For example, muscular deterioration induced by rheumatoid arthritis (common in the elderly population) is often not completely debilitating. However, affected individuals experience muscle weakening, severely impeding their strength. On the other hand, for many, even a short walk at a moderate pace can promote cardiovascular health and help prevent many age-related diseases. Hence, the design seeks to balance providing adequate assistance while also allowing for the opportunity to exercise.
More generally, as people age, overall body strength decreases. With age comes a decline in anabolic hormones, causing muscles and bones to experience an unbalanced catabolic effect. A catabolic effect can be defined as a breakdown of one’s organic matter. When muscles experience an unbalanced catabolic effect, the result is a significant loss in muscle mass and consequently, strength. Additionally, a decrease in physical activity, often correlated with aging, can lead to muscle atrophy, a process with similar effects to unbalanced catabolism, reducing muscle mass and strength. It is clear that strength loss is a large problem for the elderly population.
Muscular degeneration is not solely caused by aging. Certain diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Guillain-Barré syndrome, and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) cause progressive decrease in muscle tissue. As is the case with the elderly population, this muscle degradation weakens the strength of those affected by these complications. Thus, such individuals are also a significant portion of this group’s target audience. While these individuals are more likely to live with caretakers, both formally or informally, enabling affected individuals to complete some tasks, such as taking out the trash, bolsters feelings of independence while reducing the burden on caretakers.
Device Overview
The device designed for this project was designed to ease the task of moving a trash bin for individuals who may have physical difficulty transporting their trash bin between their driveway and house. The prototype produced over the course of this project is able to successfully assist the user in taking out their trash. The prototype modifies a standard 64 gallon trash can to provide assistance in the form of motor power. The level of assistance and power can be controlled by the user via a potentiometer and two buttons. The controls are wired to an Arduino UNO which handles user input and PWM output to the motor controllers. The prototype was able to achieve the objective with minimal cost and modification to the standard trash barrel.
Apparatus Diagram
Model wiring