156B Week 2

Overview of Status of Analysis, Design, Fabrication, Tests, etc.

• In the middle of the Design Phase now

  • Purchasing pushed back one week, but will be done immediately after methods for strain and stress are approved by sponsor

  • Once purchased, circuit design will begin (Arduino based)

Accomplishments from Previous Week

• Pre-Sponsor Meeting:

  • Methods for strain and stress measurement chosen, to be presented to sponsor (all team members - discussion)

  • Inventory check for Arduino circuits (all team members)

    • All members have access to 156A circuit, some Arduino Uno component access, breadboard access

• First Sponsor Meeting:

  • General Takeaways:

    • Focusing on nerve tissue

    • Confirmed Arduino-based prototype

    • Confirmed general methods for measurement (force transducer, digital imaging)

    • Purchasing methods coordinated with sponsor

  • After meeting, tasked with brainstorming for 10 methods of stress and strain measurement using specific methods:

    • Stress - Force Transducer - (John and Ryan, 5 each)

    • Strain - Optical Analysis - (Tejas and Archana, 5 each)

• Second Sponsor Meeting:

  • Explained our various stress and strain concepts we had researched over the weekend (All)

  • Told to narrow down strain method to either a miniature strain fiber gage or an optical camera-based system (Archana and Tejas)

  • Told to narrow down on a specific transducer component (John and Ryan)

  • For an optical system find a way to account for the angle of the tissue and the distance of the camera from the tissue, look into Arduino sonar sensors and ultrasound transducers (Archana and Tejas)

Goals for Next Week (list names after each item). Use specific and measurable objectives.

• Finalize strain and stress device (Stress - John and Ryan, Strain - Archana and Tejas)

• Make final Pros/Cons list (All)

• Choose and purchase sensors (Stress - John and Ryan, Strain - Archana and Tejas, Purchasing - Archana)

Sponsor Comments from Last Meeting and Actions Taken to Address these Comments (indicate date of comments and if via email or in person)

• First Meeting (In person 1/8/21):

  • Intermediate Task: 10 Methods (as described above)

    • Team successfully split and developed descriptions for digital imaging method for strain and force transducer-based method for stress

• Second Meeting (In person 1/13/21):

  • • Told to make a new Pros/Cons list with our methods and finalize down to top two which we will do by the end of this week (All)

    • Asked to look into the concept of “running line tension”: way to measure how tight you are tying the suture knot during surgery, reflects the amount of strain the nerve is putting on the suture (All)

Instructor Comments from Last Meeting and Actions Taken to Address these Comments (indicate date of comments and if via email or in person)

• All in person 1/7/21 (over zoom)

  • Define tissue area of focus as soon as possible

    • After meeting with sponsor, team has zeroed in on designing a device that can work best with nerve tissue

  • Define model for obtaining stress and strain

    • Stress: Force Transducer

    • Strain: Strain fiber gauge or optical camera-based system

Comments from Other Students in the Class (indicate date of comments and if via email or in person)

• N/A

Risks and Areas of Concern

• Only Real Risk Currently: Delivery Times

  • Based on schedule, should not be a problem at the moment

Resources or Information Required but not Available

• N/A

Schedule

• Rest of Week 2:

  • Do last bit of research sponsor asked us to do (All)

  • Pick final two methods (Stress-John and Ryan, Strain- Archana and Tejas)

  • Purchase components (Archana)

• Beginning Week 3:

  • Wait for components to be delivered, start creating CAD files and think about how to build first physical prototype (All)

Budget (list amount spent and amount remaining)

• Amount Spent: $0

• Amount Remaining: $2600

Progress on Report and Webpage

• Report:

  • Draft officially begun - based on “Week 2 Sections of Report” Requirements

  • Will be uploaded to web page before Friday of Week 2

• Webpage:

  • Weekly progress reports updated, once purchasing is done, the rest of the webpage will be updated (budget report, files, team page, etc.)