The problem we were assigned was to create a project around having healthy individuals be able to empathize with those who have a specific disease.

We chose parkinson's due to the physical nature of the symptoms. We felt that physical symptoms could be best represented mechanically versus mental symptoms. Of the many symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease, we chose to represent hand tremors and poor posture. This was done through the use of mounting motors to the back of the user's hands.

The main problem we were trying to solve was the inability for people to experience parkinson’s disease. It is hard for people in general to experience what life might be like to actually have those symptoms.  With our project the participant gets to physically experience what the disease is actually like. They will understand the struggles associated with the disease and how much harder life becomes. We accomplished this through creating two hand modules and one back brace forcing the poor posture of parkinson’s victims.

Our project is built of two hand modules and one back piece. In our hand modules each hand was powered by a single motor. The module was build around the single motor as it was the main source of movement and power. We designed the motor to be encased with a wooden walls connecting on a bottom base. This base board is then strapped to the back of the hand through the use of velcro. Atop the motor lies a gear which is meshed to a wooden ellipse. On the opposite side of the ellipse lies a hole fitted with a M6 screw and two M6 nuts. This provides the weight needed to make the hand tremor.

We faced many challenges over the progression of our project. Our first main problem was determining how we should mount the motor on the hand. At first we thought that we would use a glove, but we soon realized we needed to use straps for additional tightness. Our next problem revolved around the soldering. Since the two wires traveling from the battery to the motor were soldered to the motor, it could easily be pulled off. We ended up breaking the solder off twice. Our final problem was beyond our control. The motors we were using were on the cheaper side and could burn out easily. To cope with this, we had to monitor motor head and make sure not to run the motor for extended periods of time.  

We had many iterations for the different aspects of the project. At first we began to decide on the ellipse size which we made far too large the first time. We ended up lowing the size of the ellipse two more times until we found the size we wanted. Do to the smaller size and faster rotation, we had to add an 20mm M6 and two nuts to the end of the ellipse to create more of a tremor.

We had many cardboard iterations of our back brace that we designed. Designing the back brace was exceptionally hard because no two humans have the same structure. We decided that we would make the brace more accepting to broader ranges of people. To do this we created rounder and more forgiving edges, and made them less intense. This way the brace fit a larger selection of people.

We faced two iterations when creating the box to hold the batteries. Our first iteration was too big for our preference and the extra size was not necessary. The extra size also made it harder for the user to access the batteries for switching out the old. We ended up lowering the size down on the edges making it more comfortable to wear.

Our assignment was to create a simulation of a disease for the user to empathize with the victims. To do this we had to find and research a disease that could be represented mechanically. Parkinson’s proved to have physical symptoms that wished to recreate. We chose to represent the hand tremors and the poor posture. To represent hand tremors, we created a laser cutted hand plate that would mount on the back of one's hand. Atop the hand plate we vertically placed a motor surrounded by laser cutted walls in order to provide stability. A 3.5 centimeter ellipse was then meshed to the gear on the motor. On the far side of the ellipse was a 20 millimeter M6 screw with two M6 nuts holding it in place. The hardware was incorporated to provide additional force exerted on the hand with each rotation of the motor. This created for more realistic hand tremors. To power the motor, we created a wrist module to encase a 9 volt battery. We then soldered a wire connector to the motor leaving a connectable side for the battery. Sturdy fabric strips and velcro were used to secure both the wrist and hand modules. To represent the poor posture that is often associated with parkinson’s, we designed a back brace that forces poor posture. This consisted of creating one large curve and notching four additional pieces horizontally. The back brace also used fabric straps to secure itself to the user's back. Our project produced extremely realistic results. The hand tremors were very natural and made normal tasks exceedingly difficult. One of the best traits of our project is the hand modules ability to shake more vigorously when the user performs a task. When the user grabs an object such as a pencil, the hand module will tighten around the hand creating faster tremors. This is often how hand tremors affect those with Parkinson’s disease. The back brace creates an unbalanced feeling and forces the user to experience bad posture. The two elements create for an overwhelming, slightly scary, and empathizing experience for the user.