Project Thoughts and Consideration

Summarize:

The big goal of this project was to create a mechanism that could help prevent people from falling on ice, and deal with the consequences of hurting themselves. I had the vision to create a setup during the Expo that would allow attendees to demo a full-size prototype themselves. But I was unable to successfully upscale my prototype to human sizes and had to settle for a mini model demo instead. My Expo table ended up showing off the physical evidence that was the result of me iterating a hands-free design, a mini timeline of prints and failures on display. The day of, I also added a looping video showing people falling on ice as a visual hook to get attention.

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Challenges:

1. Formatting finished STL files into Makerbot files was one of the first notable struggles I encountered. It ended up being a short, technical process that I needed to learn and incorporate in order to keep making forward progress.

2. A few weeks prior to the Expo, I tried to come up with a way to upscale my most recent prototype into a human-sized model. I tried to use acrylic as a base and attach an upscaled mechanism to that but ended up scrapping the idea due to acrylic being an unsuitable material.

3. After I learned that I was going to be a Spotlight Speaker during the Expo event, I struggled with coming up with a good story flow. My first draft of a speech was very disconnected, I would go from point A to point R because in my head I was filling in the gaps, which doesn't work when trying to tell an idea to someone who is completely unfamiliar with what you have been working on. Once I learned to slow down the flow, my draft was too long, it had extraneous information that added no value to the story (although I'm sure the final talk still had extraneous info regardless). Finding the balance of breaking down an idea into digestible chunks, while remaining concise, was the last major hurdle I needed to overcome.

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Rewarding:

1. Problem-solving in general. Being in a new rut, and then being able to get myself out of it by thinking differently is a wonderful feeling.​

2. Being chosen to be a Spotlight Speaker, and then doing a not-half bad job of sharing my story. I didn't expect to be recognized, much less put on stage.

3. Being able to look back, after the Expo had concluded, and think "I would do that again". I like to think that I did good work and that I had to try in order to achieve what I achieved. 

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Connect to the future:

Being in STEAM has been a powerfully effective learning experience for me. A combination of hands-on skills, technical knowledge, self-guidance, and defined goal setting has helped me find what works for me and what doesn't. I plan to go into a STEAM-related career as a result of my time here, and I feel that I have enough experience to feel much more confident in my choices moving forward. Also being a student of Mr. Hunter has pushed me to live with just a little bit more purpose every day. I want to do the most good I can, I believe this program is helping me do that.