Group partners: Zainab and Kiki
This week, we mostly discussed how to move forward in our next iteration of the project as there wasn’t a lot to do until the parts we ordered came in. One of the main issues our initial prototypes faced was keeping the oars secure and balanced on the shoulder, instead of slipping off. We wanted to improve a lot on the shoulder strap to fix this problem, and although we experimented with creating a new strap (pictured) we figured we could just order a shoulder brace, which already has a tried and true design for securing a shoulder with adjustability.
Additionally, we wanted to make the device with the PVC pipes on the shoulder longer, so that the point of balance maybe didn’t have to be so exact when locking in the oars. We ordered both the shoulder brace and more PVC pipe of the right dimension, which should arrive on Friday, and from there we can build our next prototype. Another issue we are trying to think of a solution to is that the velcro strap that holds the oars in the pipes currently goes under the device and must be pulled through, which is kind of awkward — something to be considered in our next prototype.
