This week, the team gathered the Arduino and breadboard to start the process of creating a physical prototype. GRIPPD plans to show how the sensor responds to pressure applied since the reaction from the sensor is the most important component of the product. Behind the scenes, GRIPPD will be testing how precise the prototype is. The team plans to conduct multiple tests to see how much force the sensor could withstand. This will give an idea of how the product can work. A picture is shown below of what the team has been working on so far.
First off congrats to the Tampa Bay Rays for making it to the World Series!!!
This week the team met with our sponsor to present our PDR presentation to give the liaisons more insight into the team’s prototype design. After listening to different prototype concepts, the sponsors gave us some feedback on specific technical performance measures that have to be attained. For example, the product’s weight needs to be as light as possible as the weight can change the dynamic of a player’s swings. The team is now in the prototype design stage, where we will begin to purchase parts and build a prototype based on the concept screening matrix.
This feedback we have received is greatly appreciated and we are looking forward to building our first prototype.
This week the team was focused on working on the PDR presentation and the PDR report. These assignments are the basis for the team’s prototype design. After identifying the main subfunctions that this project must perform, which are sensing pressure, retrieving data, storing data, and visualizing data. We then identified multiple solutions for each of these subfunctions and organized them into a concept combinations tables. Then, we were able to propose four possible prototype designs and then compare them in a concept screening matrix.
All these tools were definitely helpful for us in the process of decision making and definitely will use them again on future product design projects!
This week our team was focused on defining sub-functions for our product. As a little reminder, we are creating a device that will measure the pressure of an elite athlete’s grip on a baseball bat as they hit the baseball. The primary function of the device is to retrieve the pressure data so that the coaches and players will be able to gage how much pressure to use when holding the bat.
Although this task may seem simple, there are multiple pieces that have to come together for this device to function as needed. Some questions that arose were:
What will we use for a power supply?
Where will we attach this power supply?
What kind of storage device can we use to capture and store data?
From these questions came some subfunctions, such as: charging the device, sending data, and retrieving data. These sub-functions are stepping stones to creating a polished final product.
Welcome to our page! We are so excited to share our journey through the IPPD program with you. Our project for this upcoming year is to design a device that can measure grip pressure for elite athletes. Specifically, we will be working with the Tampa Bay Rays. Before going further in depth about the project, we would first like to introduce ourselves.
Our team consists of five student members who have spent the past four years focusing on various engineering disciplines, our coach who is a UF Professor, and two liaisons who work for the Tampa Bay Rays as a Biomechanist and a Baseball R&D Analyst. Here we are:
Team Members:
Alexandria Ozycz – BME
Ana Patricia Michelena – MSE
Dakota Roy – ME
De’Andre Miles – EE
Ernestine Celestial – ME
Coach: Dr. Van Oostrom
Liaisons:
Michael McNally
David Marshall
Now that you have met the team behind this project, we’d like to further explain the key objectives of this project. Our goal is to design a pressure mapping glove that can measure grip pressure and a player’s unique grip signature. By the end of this project, we want to have a functional prototype that can be tested by a professional baseball player that can withstand sweat, weather conditions/ temperature changes, and is extremely durable in the case that the player was to be hit with a fast-paced pitch. Moreover, we also want to ensure that the glove is capable of transmitting the data that it collects from the individual players to an internal data base. Therefore, this data can be easily accessible to coaches, players, and biomechanists who can then study the data to see the different grip patterns players present based on the outcome of their trip up to bat.
We believe this product could be a game changer for the Tampa Bay Rays and for the future of baseball. We are extremely excited for this amazing opportunity and look forward to updating you weekly on the progress we are making!
