Pop Up Books

Below are all my assignments for Pop Up Books with Marianne Petit.

Click on the little dude to see the Picasa gallery.

Midterm Proposal: Physical Visualization of Gait

For our midterm in Biomechanics, Eric Hagan and I would like to implement two separate data collections of the human gait: extension and flexion of the knee joint, and recording the moment of footfall within the gait.

The knee data will be taken with a potentiometer attached to armatures that go both up and down the leg and attached to a standard knee brace. As the knee joint swings back and forth, the potentiometer oscillates and records serial data.

The footfalls will be recorded by FSRs mounted to the user's shoe soles. Every heel strike will be registered and recorded for the subsequent physical representation.

The collected data from each leg will be separately graphed, with the curved potentiometer data on one side, and the spiky heel strike data from the FSR on the other side.

Once the data visualization from both legs are cut from the laser cutter or the CNC, they can be physically mated, and the spaces between the curves and spikes can allow the user to see the eccentricity of their gait.

FitBit Data

The above graph shows the relationship between # of steps walked per day (red), and distance walked (blue). The blue graph peaks at 13.3

See another depiction at Eric Hagan's blog.

Hacked Mickey Mouse and range of motion

I hacked a Mickey Mouse toy in order to measure sagittal flexion and extension in the hip joint. I did this by finding the leads to the motor that controls the hips, and powering it externally with a battery. Oh yeah, I had to skin him first too. By doing this I was able to isolate only the motions Mickey made when walking.

I then used an angle guide for a saw to measure flexion and extension

Both flexion and extension terminated at 18 degrees, making the full range of motion 36 degrees. I believe this is comparable to a human gait, which, if I'm reading this chart correctly, is 40 degrees (30 to -10).

Test for Pop Ups

test

Todd Kuiken and Spring Steel Finger Extenders

Todd Kuiken is a doctor specializing in prosthetics. A profile and list of some of his devices is here: http://www.ric.org/aboutus/people/doctors/detail.aspx?doctorId=43

What struck me most was his finger extender patent, which strengthens the flexor muscles in the forearm by using a sort of sleeve made of spring steel. - http://www.google.com/patents?hl=en&lr=&vid=USPAT5113849&id=iUwfAAAAEBAJ&oi=fnd&dq=finger+extender&printsec=abstract#v=onepage&q=finger%20extender&f=false

This is of particular interest to me because I want to design and build a sort of prosthetic from spring steel that actually extends the length of the fingertips to accomodate a set of tape heads with which a user can play my Magnetotron musical instrument - http://pushtheotherbutton.com/index.php?id=7459781963938377025