Hello There,

RideOn! made amazing progress this week! On Monday, we got the chance to meet with a DMD patient and Dr. Lott, research professor in physical therapy, to gain their perspectives and inputs on tricycle’s design. Thanks to them, we we’re able to gain valuable information on the range of mobility someone with DMD will typically have. Furthermore, we were able gain their insights on what they like and dislike about existing designs. Needless to say but this demonstration has completely reshaped how we approach our design ideas.

Not wanting to waste time, on Wednesday, RideOn! met and divided into two groups:

• a mechanical team (MEs + BME)
• an electrical team (EEs + CPE)

Within these two teams we brainstormed ideas based off the insight we got from Monday. Each team created multiple main and alternative design ideas in order to explore different solutions but also to act as a backup in case one idea becomes unfeasible later down the road.

On Thursday, we met with our coach and liaisons (Dr. Cardenas, Dr. Stubbs, and Dr. Taivassalo respectively) to present our new design ideas and progress. In this meeting we gain valuable feedback on our concept generation. Such as for the adjustable hand crank and removable battery to circumvent weight constrictions.

Although we made tons of progress this week, we aren’t finished yet! We hope to continue into next week to expand ideas, unite the mechanical & electrical systems, and conduct more market research in the feasibility of our design ideas.

Well, until then, see you next week!

Good Afternoon Everyone!

This past few weeks, our team has been working hard to develop design ideas that meets all the requirements for our project. On Monday, we had the chance to present our ideas to our coach and liaison. After having them reviewed, we came to realize that some of our specifications went beyond the project’s aim. While our liaison liked our ideas, she worried that it would make the tricycle too heavy to transport or too costly to reproduce. As a response, on Wednesday, we returned to the drawing board (literally) and brainstormed ideas for a new design.

As we turn the corner into next week, we plan to have another set of design ideas ready to present to our coach and liaison. This time with a focus on keeping weight and cost as low as possible while still meeting our requirements.

That’s all for now, see you next week!

We would like to proudly announce that Team 22 has officially decided on the team name RideOn! and the following logo.

The logo reflects our project in various ways:

• The legs of the “R” represent a bike handle with hand brakes
• The three wheels represent the tricycle we are modifying
• The lime green color represents DMD (Duchenne muscular dystrophy)
• The red color represents DMD awareness
• The blue color represents the boys diagnosed with DMD

And our team’s name shows enthusiasm and freedom.

Now, let’s take a U-turn and see what all we accomplished this week. Last Saturday, we held our second meeting as a team and our first meeting with our coach, Dr. Cristian Cardenas. We discussed availability for future meetings and other logistics. The following Monday, we met with our Liaison, Dr. Tanja Taivassalo, and we were shown more about the history of the project, its end users, and the impact of a successful prototype. In short, this project has the potential to give children with DMD a more fulfilling and happy life. And we will all work hard for that!

In the meantime, we plan to get more familiar with our project, clear up any vague details, and have a complete overview of what we plan to deliver.

Well, that’s all for now. See you next week!

Greetings All!

Welcome to Team 22’s blog! We are excited to be working with the UF Department of Physiology and Aging to modify a Rifton Adaptive Tricycle so that it is able to be used in cycle exercise training therapy for boys with DMD.

This week, we held our first meeting to discuss the team’s organization going forward. The most important being the date and time for future meetings, which was difficult due to all of our conflicting schedules. However, we pulled through, made compromises, and settled on having meeting on Wednesdays and Saturdays in the morning. Furthermore, we assigned roles to each team member with the intent to rotate them so that each team member can get experience in each role.

In our upcoming meeting, this Saturday, we are planning to meet with our coach and further discuss the project’s scope of work so that we can truly get started on the technical aspects of the project. Also we will be deciding our team’s name and logo so stay tuned!

Our Team Members

• Arabella Readey (Biomedical Engineering Major)
• David Castillo (Electrical Engineering Major)
• Hanson Tang (Electrical Engineering Major)
• Cesar Brasileiro Alencar (Mechanical Engineering Major)
• Antoine Martinez Beau (Mechanical Engineering Major)
• Danilo Inestroza (Computer Engineering Major)