CONTEXT
2017-2018
Electrical and Systems Engineering Department
Interdisciplinary senior design team project
PROBLEM
Foot drop can be caused by musculoskeletal or nerve damage. Current foot drop solutions for patients on the market are either passive braces or electrical stimulation cuffs that don't work for all patients.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Medical: Defining a need, understanding the recovery timeline, seeking expert feedback
Engineering: Competitive analysis, creating a product development timeline, defining technical specifications, benchtop testing
PROCESS
Penn Engineering senior design capstone projects were what first drew me to apply to Penn when I was searching for mechanical engineering programs. I saw the breadth and depth that the projects achieved as a clear testament to the strong "learn by doing" approach, and I was so impressed by not only the projects students not only designed and built, but were able to conceive as a solution to a real-world need. From there, I took every project-based course I could, and familiarized myself with the student prototyping labs. My Interdisciplinary Senior Design team formed at the end of junior year with an interest in rehabilitation robotics and the goal of developing an alpha prototype.
Design Concept
Foot's Ease is an integrated smart shoe and paired activity tracker that improves daily mobility for foot drop patients. It is an electromechanical solution that integrates daily life into the rehabilitation process.
Defining User and Stakeholder Needs
To understand the rehabilitation process for lower body injuries, we interviewed multiple people that had recently recovered from a foot or leg injury or were currently recovering. Understanding the recovery timeline was important for us, and we quickly realized that the recovery process took months of reduced mobility and PT sessions that interfered with activities of daily living (ADLs). In addition to the patient perspective, we also interviewed and observed orthopaedic surgeons, neurologists, rehabilitation robotocists, orthotists, prothetists, and physical therapists to understand how they supported treatment and recovery of foot and leg injuries.
Engineering Specifications
The main engineering specifications were related to weight, lift speed, and battery life. There was an iterative product development process that allowed the electrical and mechanical teams to work together effectively and show progress with each prototype. The iterations from the end of fall semester demo day are shown below.
By the end of the spring semester, we had a custom PCB and scalable CAD model to fit different U.S. shoe sizes.
Medical Device Development
While we had considered regulatory, manufacturing, and testing while developing the product concept of Foot's Ease, we were not committed to the multiyear timeline of medical device development, so we continued with our individual post-graduation plans.
REFLECTIONS
The project was the culmination of our degrees, and we each brought skills that we had learned from different coursework to develop Foot's Ease. I am quite proud of our team and what we were able to accomplish over the year by defining our own milestones.
AWARDS
ESE Senior Design 2018 Demo Day Winning Team
Honorable Harold Berger Award
M&T Summit second place
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