Mission Scenario:
Project Hydra’s mission is to create a soft robot capable of increasing the range of motion of the shoulder joint in an injured patient. Our design will be capable of aiding in the rehabilitation of people of all ages and sizes, across all three planes of motion (frontal, sagittal, and transverse).
Goals:
This semester, our objective was to go through the process of researching, brainstorming designs, designing, and eventually creating a functioning prototype of a soft robot capable of aiding in the rehabilitation of a person’s shoulder mobility. This prototype will act as a proof of concept for our final model at the end of the year, which we will gift to the physical therapy department here at Iowa State University, in hopes that they can use it in their practice. This semester we hoped to learn what kinds of problems can be solved using soft robotics and how we can apply what we learned to our field of choice. By using this information as well as what learn over the course of this first semester, we aim to alter our prototype design to better approach the correction of these problems for our final model.
Deliverables:
This semester we designed and created a prototype soft robot made to aid in the rehabilitation of patients in physical therapy. The robot will focus on regaining range of motion in an injured shoulder. This prototype will act as a proof of concept, capable of closely replicating how our final model will both look and function at the end of the school year. Working alongside the physical therapy department here at Iowa State University, Hydra will build the prototype to their specifications and needs, in hopes that it can then be put to use in their facility.