The first STEAM course of my Junior year, Design & Engineering, is about re-evaluating your definition of "design." Unit 1, Stronger, talked about how to use empathy to make a product more effective and useful for its users. The purpose of our Action Project was to change our product to be more elder-friendly. My partner’s and my tool was the "Hand Tiller." It seemed like a very fun tool to research and redesign so we were quick to choose it. The photos below depict our new product, the better and more elder-friendly version of the "Hand Tiller." It was quite hard to come up with ideas but it was fun at the same time. I had an interesting time and I hope you enjoy my project as much as I enjoyed making it for you! Thank you!
The purpose of this assignment is to innovate equipment so that it is more effective for people of all ages. The user I am trying to appeal to is someone who has a garden and needs to turn soil. The assignment is focused on older people though. We learned a lot about empathy, which is feeling something for someone else. It relates to this project because we listen to what our elderly have to say, and start re-designing off of that.
I interviewed my grandmother, who is a gardener, and found out some interesting stuff:
Another thing that interested me was a certain quote she had said: “It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just that I can’t do it all the time. Don’t have the strength.” This fit in amazingly with my project since not all old people hate being active and gardening, but it just takes up too much energy and time. I also learned that the tool I chose has never been VERY elder-friendly. I’ve observed that all of these tools lack visual appeal and I have also examined the effectiveness of the tool and want it to stay effective but with less force applied.
Our new tool is "Tiller Kicks." - Jashawn Products. This product will be a strap on shoe, but it will have tines on the bottom to turn and mix the soil. Generally, it does what the original Tiller would do, but it can be worn on your foot. Also it's automatic with a small remote to turn it on. Initially, the tines turn under your feet when you turn them on, and MAKE SURE you take the safety locks off!
I believe this is an improvement because of 3 reasons:
Applying my tool more to science, the tines at the bottom of the shoe serve as wedges, cutting and chopping up dirt and soil.
But, indeed, we encountered many obstacles and here's how we solved them; we discussed how to make the shoe safer. We came up with the idea of toe slip-ins/protectors and/or a firm bottom with a hard, light surface. We also discussed how to make it more effective but with less work. We came up with the idea of the Tiller Kicks Remote so you don't have to bend down to turn them on. More importantly, we discussed how to keep the user steady while they had one foot in their Tiller Kick. We thought about the Tiller only being placed on one foot so you have your other foot for balance and also making the tine at the bottom of the Tiller Kick durable enough to walk on.
"Tiller Kicks" By JV. Sep 24, 2015.
"Tiller Kicks' Storyboard" By JV. Sep 24, 2015.
"The Physics Behind It" By JV. Sep 27th, 2015.
The purpose of this assignment is to innovate equipment so that it is more effective for people of all ages. The user I am trying to appeal to is someone who has a garden and needs to turn soil. The assignment is focused on older people though. We learned a lot about empathy, which is feeling something for someone else. It relates to this project because we listen to what our elderly have to say, and start re-designing off of that.
I interviewed my grandmother, who is a gardener, and found out some interesting stuff:
- Tools are effective for older people
- Gardening is calming to some
- Your garden is also something to show off to others
Our new tool is "Tiller Kicks." - Jashawn Products. This product will be a strap on shoe, but it will have tines on the bottom to turn and mix the soil. Generally, it does what the original Tiller would do, but it can be worn on your foot. Also it's automatic with a small remote to turn it on. Initially, the tines turn under your feet when you turn them on, and MAKE SURE you take the safety locks off!
I believe this is an improvement because of 3 reasons:
- This can be worn on your foot
- It is automatic
- It is more effective than the original hand tiller
Applying my tool more to science, the tines at the bottom of the shoe serve as wedges, cutting and chopping up dirt and soil.
But, indeed, we encountered many obstacles and here's how we solved them; we discussed how to make the shoe safer. We came up with the idea of toe slip-ins/protectors and/or a firm bottom with a hard, light surface. We also discussed how to make it more effective but with less work. We came up with the idea of the Tiller Kicks Remote so you don't have to bend down to turn them on. More importantly, we discussed how to keep the user steady while they had one foot in their Tiller Kick. We thought about the Tiller only being placed on one foot so you have your other foot for balance and also making the tine at the bottom of the Tiller Kick durable enough to walk on.
