SurgiGauge wrapped up their year of hard work with the Final Design Review at Reitz on Tuesday, 04/23. The team had an opportunity to showcase their final prototype, poster, and awesome video (linked above!) to the IPPD staff and liaisons, as well as to the general public. The team was excited to speak to friends and younger undergraduate students and about their project and the program, as well as see the culmination of other IPPD teams’ hard work this year. With just a few minor sign-offs and loose ends to tie up before the end of the program, it’s safe to say that SurgiGauge had an incredibly productive and gratifying two semesters. Special thanks again to our wonderful liaisons, Alex and Elizabeth, our coach, Dr. Schulze, and the IPPD staff for their constant support.

The end of the semester is right around the corner!

Team SurgiGauge completes their peer FDR presentation at the beginning of the week in preparation for their sponsor FDR presentation in Naples, Fl.

SurgiGauge had an amazing time traveling together, as they got to bond while listening to electronic dance music on the drive down from Gainesville. SurgiGauge then had a team dinner at a Hibachi restaurant together while they tested to see who could catch the most food in their mouth.

SurgiGauge then blew the audience at Arthrex away with their presentation skills while also getting a chance to see their product work in its ideal environment. 

This week the SurgiGauge Team shifted some resources to completing the video for IPPD. After some discussion with our liaison, it was decided that the best course of action for displaying prototype was to dissociate from the true end use application. The video received a very positive reception from our class mates during the last in class day for IPPD, so very minor adjustments were made.

In other news the team also prepared a new full prototype for combined system testing, which was conducted at the end of this week. With final prototypes being completed over the weekend, everything is wrapping up smoothly as the team prepares to present to Arthrex.

Stay tuned for our trip to Arthrex in Naples next week!

SurgiGauge hit another milestone this week!

This week marked the successful completion of Prototype Inspection & Test Evaluation Day (PITED). The team spent time preparing a presentation which included a hands-on demonstration of our product. On PITED, panels of judges were able to interact and use our prototype to give valuable feedback that we can implement before our next major milestones which include presenting our Final Design to Arthrex and then to the public at the Final Design Review.

The presentation also included our testing methods and results. Overall, the feedback was great and the team is happy with the work that has been done and with the positive feedback that was given.

In addition to PITED, the team continues on improving the final product with the feedback given. Full prototype testing begins and the team begins formally preparing documentation and final reports.

This week has been very eventful for SurgiGauge!

We started off the week strong by preparing for Prototype Inspection & Tests Evaluation Day (PITED) coming up next week (Tuesday, 4/2). We presented our plan for PITED to the class, and they gave us great feedback for how to improve our plan.

Throughout the week, we continued to test our sensors, getting results that reflected our defined technical performance measures. The testing sub-team continued to use the Shimadzu UTM in the Materials Lab (link to their website: Weil Hall Structures and Materials Laboratory – Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment (ufl.edu)) to validate the sensors.

At the end of the week, SurgiGauge met in the lab all together to assemble the first our two final prototypes. This marked a successful milestone for the team, as we were able to see the completion of our work toward fully integrating the mechanical and electrical subsystems.

Following a restful and recharging Spring Break last week, the team came back prepared to finish the semester strong. Throughout the week, the team continued to refine their electrical subsystems and testing/validation efforts, and their mechanical designs are wrapping up into a final, sophisticated model. The team anticipates assembling and testing the final prototype in time for showcase at the Prototype Inspection & Test Evaluation Day in less than two weeks.

Additionally, this week’s lecture featured Dr. Elif Akcali from the EII in an engaging and creative discussion on storytelling in preparation for project presentation to both a technical and non-technical audience, live and in an online video. To get inspired, Dr. Akcali led the IPPD teams through a short comic exercise, which resulted in several entertaining stories by SurgiGauge (see below!). The team left with a great game plan for their project video and are eager to start filming!

SurgiGauge prepares for spring break by getting many aspects of the project ready for when they return.

More comprehensive testing was conducted on the sensors within the project. The team continues to discuss previous test results with our liaisons engineers in order to improve our testing procedures.

Surgigauge has made a great amount of progress on completing a fully-fledged prototype integrating all the parts we have into our housing. Some additional changes still need to be made such as figuring out how we are going to get all the wiring to fit in the housing and making multiple prototypes, but those are problems for us to do after our break.

This week was an eventful one for SurgiGauge, from Qualification Review Board 2 (QRB2), to testing sensors, and soldering PCBs.

Beginning with QRB2, the team presented a progress report to a panel of faculty, the focus for this QRB was testing; the testing that’s already been completed along with the plans for future testing. The feedback gained from the panel was valuable and the team plans on implementing that feedback to further our product. Overall, the feedback was positive and it looks like the team is on track to meeting all deliverables.

Next, using the feedback from QRB2, the team made updates to the testing procedure and implemented it promptly. The team performed high quality testing whose results are currently being analyzed. This data will inform our design choice in meeting the TPMs (Technical Performance Measures) for our sensors, whether that’s implementing offsets or using hardware.

Lastly, a set of PCBs came in! The tolerancing and quality of the boards were fantastic and they passed the continuity checks. The PCBs also fit perfectly into our attachment system, a testament to the great communication and collaboration between the mechanical and electrical sub-teams. The integration of the two sub-systems is starting off smoothly. Components were soldered onto the board and the systems placed so far have performed nominally. The team awaits another set of PCBs before being able to create the first fully operational product.

This week the SurgiGauge team made massive progress by finalizing and ordering the PCBs for the attachments. Prior to putting the finishing touches on the design, the team had put together a breadboard circuit representation to ensure everything is working as intended. The test circuit showed issues with the current battery design, which was addressed prior to ordering the PCBs.

Despite dodging the bullet when ordering the last major component, the team still faces hurdles as they test the sensors and prepare for the adjustments that will need to be made. Additional testing is underway, as a full prototype is nearing completion. The housing was adjusted for the electrical changes and printed. A few cut outs with the PCBs’ dimensions were fit tested in the new housing to ensure seamless integration.

The team and the housing eagerly awaits the arrival of the PCBs and the completion of the 1^st full prototype!

This week, SurgiGauge surged forward in their prototype development, finishing iteration 5 of their attachment housing.

Both the electrical and mechanical sub-teams made strides in product development, with the mechanical team implementing a new lining for the housing, and the electrical team soldering components together to ensure proper function.

The testing sub-team used a UTM to test one of the sensors and tested the other sensor in lab using a new procedure developed with our liaison, Alex.