Week 1: Finalizing a Design
Group: Hillary, Lizzy, Stephanie
We first recalled what Joanna said from our visit to CRI. Joanna’s current situation to bring a boat down to the river is for her have someone help her bring the boat onto her shoulder and then hop down to the river. It is unwieldy and inconvenient–so she said that a ridge or clip on her shoulder that would keep the boat balanced on her her shoulder while she carried it with someone else would be most quick and ideal. She and her coach also mentioned that if she could bring the boat down to the water by herself, it would be even better, given the fact that she is a high performing athlete and wants to be able to practice on her own time. One of the coaches also mentioned that rowers with arthritis also need some sort of aid to carry the boats to the water.
With all of these in mind, we drew out three options and did a gallery walk. We thought about where the center of balance of the boat would be in relation to two v. one person holding the boat.
Our main takeaways were
- how to get the boat balanced in the first place
- ease of use–needs to be more intuitive/easier
- consider build-ability/practicality
After going through the feedback from the gallery walk, we decided and created a sketch model of The Lean. We thought that The Lean was similar to how able-bodied rowers would carry a boat on their own. The ability to put more pressure on the opposite shoulder of the rower and use the head as the balancing point could hopefully substitute the use of an arm to hold the boat in place.
Some takeaways from the design review session:
Our sketch model is not as easy to understand as our prototype so I have included photos of our working prototype instead. It wasn’t until after the design review did we go back to our original goal statement and evaluate what we really want to accomplish and what realistically was the best way to go about this project. We decided to focus on Joanna and not try to make the tool adaptable for rowers with arthritis as well. We had some difficulty communicating to each other what it was we were each visualizing. In order to get us all in the same page, we drew out the two routes we could take the project, one being a ridge for Joanna to carry the boat with someone else, and one with her able to carry it on her own.
After drawing it out, our group was all at the same key understanding which was valuable for our next step. We thought about safety and how realistic it was to be able to attach/use our tool. In the end, we thought that best case scenario, we could make something that would allow Joanna to carry the boat by herself and have her elbows and hands free to use her crutches. The device would also not have to involve a lot of complexity. With the sketch model we created, we thought that with some adaptations to materials and positioning of the strap, we could create something functional.
Our prototype involves a suction and a strap with an adjustable buckle fastener. We tested it on the door to show how it would work. The strap would go under your armpit, over your chest. The suction would stick to the interior of the boat, and the boat would be placed on the shoulder. The strap would keep the boat secure, and the suction keeps the boat close to the body and resting on the head as a balance point. 
Our next steps would be to find a stronger suction, as these boats are extremely expensive and a secure suction needs to be in place. We would also want to try it out on an actual long boat to see if the device does what we envision it to do, and if the strap is enough to counteract the weight of the boat and leave the arms free.