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Our team’s goal is to create a design to help our kid with Short Gut Syndrome. This child is very active and loves to play however due to his condition he needs to be attached to two pumps for 18 hours a day. Because of his age and size, he is unable to carry his own pumps, and the lines attaching them only give him four feet radius to move around. The main goal of this project is to give this kid more independence.
Our child requires a central line attached to a medical pump for him to retain sustenance throughout the day. All of their pumps and medical supplies are kept in a backpack that is too heavy for him to carry on his own at such a young age. Our immediate solution is to create a way for him to carry this bag around without needing his parents help. Our overall design involves attaching the bag to a contraption with wheels to give him more independence of movement. To further add to this, we would like to give him a harness that attaches to the contraption so that he may move around without having to worry about pulling or pushing it.
Short Gut Syndrome:
The IV bags must stay upright, requiring hooks in the design. The pumps are sensitive to impact, so padding must be brought into consideration. Additionally, when fully loaded the bag can weigh around 15 lbs, so the design must be stable enough to account for the weight.
The concept design under consideration is an aluminum framed box with a rectangular base on four Mechanum wheels that has a tough fabric body with a hard top and bottom. The interior will be padded to reduce any jostling or damage the pumps could receive. The interior will also have hooks so that the backpack can be easily taken out and inserted and have ample space should any toys or items need to be carried as well. To keep the child out of the pump bag, the buggy will have a sectioned-off area that will have a child lock on it. To support outdoor use, the buggy will have outdoor wheels that can handle tougher terrain and be removed easily with the use of cotter pins. The buggy will also have an adjustable handle and a harness that will be comfortable for the child to wear and still provide support. The harness will have a form of spring and flexible yet tough pipe or cable that will keep the buggy from hitting the child when he stops moving.
Pros for Base:
Cons for Base:
Pros for Mechanum Wheels:
Cons for Mechanum Wheels:
The concept design under consideration is an aluminum framed box with a triangle base on three Omni wheels that has a tough fabric body with a hard top and bottom. The interior will be padded to reduce any jostling or damage the pumps could receive. The interior will also have hooks so that the backpack can be easily taken out and inserted and have space should any toys or items need to be carried as well. To support outdoor use, the buggy will have solid rubber outdoor wheels that can handle tougher terrain and be removed easily with the use of cotter pins. The buggy will also have an adjustable handle and a harness that will be comfortable for the child to wear and still provide support. The harness will have a form of spring and flexible yet tough pipe or cable that will keep the buggy from hitting the child when he stops moving.
Pros for Base:
Cons for Base:
Pros for Omni Wheels:
Cons for Omni Wheels:
The concept design under consideration is a five-gallon bucket with 3 casters evenly spaced, bolted through the bottom with a layer of padding on inside of the bucket to protect the backpack and the sensitive calibrated pumps inside from bumps. The bucket will have a child-proof lid so they will not be able to mess with the backpack inside. The cart will be attached with an elastic cord to a harness that is comfortable for the child to wear, while the casters will be modified so that they have a slight resistance to rolling freely. This way the cart will not roll into the child when he stops moving. To support outdoor use, the cart will have a separate detachable base that can be freely attached and removed with a butterfly set screws. With this mechanism, the family can be outside quickly just by dropping the main body into the base and tightening the set screws. The indoor wheels will fit in the gaps of this base and hang down while the bigger outdoor wheels are able to move freely.
Pros for Base:
Cons for Base:
Pros for Caster Wheels:
Cons for Caster Wheels:
