Element H: PROTOTYPE TESTING AND DATA COLLECTION PLAN

STEM Principles to Consider/Research

Science and technology were big factors to consider when building the braille device. The technology used for this project was CAD on Autodesk Fusion 360 and the lab’s 3D printer. Technology is the basis of what this project is made of, all the designs and features made were online and all drawings of the device were on Fusion. The science principle was used to make the hinge and other parts of the device. The Engineering principle helped the team with the design process of the device so new versions can be made with ease. Stakeholder feedback was also helpful in designing new prototypes because the team took their ideas and then designed features based on what requirements they thought were the most important. 

Testing Criteria

1.  durability: the device itself holds up after a certain amount of force is put on the hinge and bars to see how flexible the material is

2. size: the device fits onto the back of a phone case (small or big) and can fit comfortably inside a pants pocket or jacket pocket

3. readability: braille printed on paper currency is still readable to the user after being stamped for several days

Testing Procedures

Usability Test

1. Have users put the device in and out of their pocket twice.

2. We would hand them a bill and tell them to brail the bill with the $1 mark.

3. If they did not remove the device from the back of the phone we will give them instruction to do so.

4. After brailling the bill we would then give them a “magical $100” note to braille forcing them to remove and swap out the current bill to add the 100 to it.

5. We would then record their responses to our stander set of questions on a scale of 1 - 5. Our questions were, how easy is it to put in/take out of pocket, how easy was it to put money into the device, how easy was it to brail money, readability of braille on paper currency, and what is your overall experience with the device.

Durability Test

1. Tested durability of braille by rubbing it on the edge of desk 10 times then trying to read braille, and braille currency and leave it in wallet for 24 hours and then see what happened to the braille.

2. We purposely abused the device to get a qualitative measurement of its durability during use oftentimes snapping off the fingers of a prototype accidentally and then purposefully moving purposely to test the durability by snapping off some of the features.

3. We also ran a force and deflection simulation on the newest iteration of the design to test if it could withstand the force of being pinched with some of its walls being so thin. 

Physical Test

1. We tested size of the device in pocket by putting it in pants pocket and taking it out 10 times to see if it snagged or was uncomfortable to the test subject

Equipment and or Software Needed

A 3D printer was needed to print the final designs of the device, without this necessity, the team would not have gotten this far in the project. CAD in Autodesk Fusion was used to create a digital sketch with measurements that can easily be manipulated for each prototype

the tub was needed to take the supports off of the device without snapping the actual design

All that was needed for the testing procedure was the braille prototype itself and test subjects willing to supply feedback on 3 separate tests with the device.

Testing Photos

TESTING DATA

Citations 

• Brorson, H. B., Werner, C. W., & Thorngren, K. T. (1989). Normal pinch strength. Acta Orthopaedica Scandinavica. https://doi.org/10.3109/17453678909150096