The five weeks in Tokyo were so short, yet so long at the same time. We spent the last week prototyping our device and presenting it to the sharks.
Monday included a morning of EDES301 as we gained more Arduino knowledge to apply to our EDES200/EDES301 projects. The afternoon lasted until 6pm, as we were locked in on prototyping. I spent about three hours straight sawing wood with a tiny saw from Daiso. My forearms burned, yet my passion for our project burned more intensely. We assembled most of the basic components for the main platform of our shoe-removing device — sawing wood to fit our ideal size for the platform, nailing in the toe box holders, and assembling one heel hook remover. We also began constructing the base platform, adding linear rails and setting up the motor/pulley system. A cardboard box was found in a backroom which was duct taped to function as the shoe locker. Finally, we tested the pressure sensors we procured from Akihabara to ensure they worked with the Arduino. I enjoyed the construction work (nailing and sawing), as it was hands on. Building mechanical components are fun because while not seeming as fancy or important perhaps as the electrical components, they hold the entire device together and allow it to function.
Tuesday was dedicated to a progress update, prototyping, and a visit to a museum. We tested the main platform, which functioned as it should. However, the heel hook was a bit unstable. We coated it with wood glue, and built the second one with wood glue in between each nailed layer. An external driver was built to provide stable power to the Arduino. The afternoon museum visit allowed us to learn about Japanese innovations, including an Edison lightbulb with carbonized bamboo filament, a massive computer which one would need over a thousand of to replace the Arduino processor, a calculator which one would need over 350 million of to replace my laptop, and an early motor vehicles exhibit demonstrating the difference between Japanese culture and innovation from the rest of the world. The museum was really interesting, and I enjoyed attempting to decipher the motivations behind certain components within Japanese innovations.
Wednesday we completed EDES301 learning in the morning and furthered prototyping in the afternoon. With regards to prototyping, we integrated and mounted the driver and motor/pulley systems to function together, hot glued nails sticking out, transitioned from two pressure sensors to one to activate the device’s lateral sliding ability, and utilized what we learned from the “Park of Aging” exhibit at the museum the week prior to create instructions for users with aging eyes or lack of access to memory or knowledge. It was nice to see things begin to come together, also revisiting how we could improve our existing ideas to increase usability and accessibility.
Thursday we delivered another progress reports and finished up prototyping. We condensed the area in which the electrical components resided, built the aluminum frame, attached the aluminum frame to the bottom platform, greased the linear rails, epoxied the main platform to the linear rails, sanded raw wooden edges, built a new shoe locker out of aluminum rails, implemented a photoresistor to tell the platform when to stop moving instead of a timer in the code, and outlined where the shoes should be placed on the platform (inspired by the “Park of Aging”). These were all final touches in a sense as we put together all pretty much finalized components of our device. My favorite part of Thursday was probably figuring out how to attach the bottom platform to the aluminum rails. We found out we didn’t have the parts we thought, which would’ve slid into the indents in the rails and screwed onto the board. However, we were able to work with what we had to create our own method of attachment, which was exciting and rewarding as it turned out to be solid and stable.
Thursday night we had dinner as a group with my classmate’s family. I tried a lot of new foods, including this small salted fish that you ate whole (including the eyes, organs, and tail), raw tuna, some random vegetables, something that was in a clam shell, and other things I’m forgetting. It was interesting, and despite being a picky eater I determined I would be adventurous and full send, because who knows when I’d get the next opportunity to eat this disturbing whole fish (with its eyes) again.
Our presentation on Friday went smoothly as we asked the sharks (professors) for $3 trillion in return for a .3% stake in our company. I learned I strongly dislike most things business-related, but enjoyed explaining the prototyping process to my peers. It was interesting to learn about others’ devices, and hear about their thought processes and engineering design methods.
I am disappointed the study abroad is over, as I bonded well with my classmates, enjoyed (most of) the topics we learned about as well as the projects we completed, and had fun exploring Tokyo and Japan with my peers. I will return to Chicago in a week, after visiting other spots in Japan with my mom. Following this experience, I will continue to take to heart the lesson about prototyping an experience that we learned in BUSI220, as it not only sets the tone but can also determine the outcome of the user’s interaction with the device. I will continue to consider cultural distinctions and how they affect innovation and engineering design, and I will continue to consider how electrical and mechanical components can be integrated within a design. Most of all, I will continue to be adventurous, present, and open-minded.