Kenya Make Energy? By Evan Tony – Thomas Landi – Peter Son –

Project Assigned For this project we were assigned with creating a family for a Case Study Also, we were tasked with developing ing and testing a solution for charging a cell phone for this family.

Mission Statement We aim to make a cheap, durable, and easy to use product to sell to third world families like our case study that will charge their phone. Changing the way these families’ lives and making it easier for them to communicate is our main goal.

Our Family for the Case Study Our Family: Consists of Father, Mother, and Son. o Nomadic Family o Live in straw hut Lives in poorest area of Kenya o Kenya is not very safe or stable o Lowest population density area of Kenya o Miles away from other families and cities Very low water and precipitation levels

Needs for Product Does not require water Is not flashy or attractive Safe to use Lightweight and portable Easy to understand Cheap Fits different sizes of people From our knowledge of our customer, we developed a needs list:

Criteria These needs turned into our criteria for choosing the best design: Effort needed to use … x7 Price … x5 Safety … x6 Time to charge … x5 Ease of assembly … x3 Environmental impact … x2 Upkeep … x5 Each criteria was then given a weighting of up to seven by importance

Decision Matrix Travel (Status Quo) Shoe Generator MaskRock on Pedestal BikeMagnets Effort (x7) Price (x5) Safety (x6) Time to Charge (x5) Easy to Build (x3) Environmental Impact (x2) Upkeep (x5) Sum

Deciding on a Design After putting them all through a decision matrix we found that our bike dynamo engine was the best option for our customer because, according to our estimates the bike was: Moderately priced Durable Takes low time to charge phone Very Safe Low effort Lightweight/takes up very little room

Prototype 1

Tests For our prototype we devised several tests to ensure it would work suit our customer’s needs. Safety: User would ride the product for 3 minutes shoeless, and we would observe any possible dangers to them. Durability:Use the product for three minutes and take note of any deterioration. If there were none, and no suspicions of stress points, the test would be passed. Effort Requirement: User would use product for 3 minutes and would report any strenuous effort or discomfort Ease of Understanding: Ask someone who has never seen the product before to use the device Size Compatible: Have two heights at the opposite ends of the spectrum use the prototype Strength: Place a 25 pound weight on top of the prototype for thirty seconds

Prototype 1 Tests/ Evaluation These tests presented several issues: Possible injury or discomfort while using it Very awkward to use o Both for a smaller and a larger person Prone to bending or breaking Structure was flimsy The product would slide away from the user frequently Therefore, we needed to redesign the product. TestPass/Fail SafetyFail Effort RequiredFail Ease of Understanding Pass Size CompatibleFail DurabilityFail StrengthFail

Prototype 2

The Second Prototype was a large improvement over the first prototype. ○No more possibility of injury ○More versatile ○Still easy to understand ○Much sturdier due to double-thick cardboard Yet there is still room for improvement ○Connections bend with continued use ■Makes the pedals get stuck and therefore awkward to use ○It slides away from the user TestPass/Fail SafetyPass Effort Required Fail Ease of Understanding Pass Size Compatible Pass DurabilityFail StrengthPass

Ideas for Prototype 3 Keep from prototype 2: Cardboard thickness Metal pedals and legs Length of the pedals and legs Change for prototype 3: Thinner box More secure connections between legs and pedals Include a seat for the user ○Allow user to apply more pressure and speed without it sliding away

What We Learned Designing something directly related to the human body is much more difficult than we thought It was difficult to think of the needs of someone in another totally different lifestyle Using simple household items to make a prototype is very beneficial to learning how to actually design a product Price ranges and resources available act as a much larger constraint than originally thought Identifying how to improve our prototype during the production process takes a lot more effort than originally planned.