Overview

<aside> 🦾 Our team took on a project in modern medicine, focusing on custom sterilization containers designed for low-gravity environments such as space missions and lunar bases. The challenge was to seamlessly integrate the container with a robotic arm for efficient surgical tool sterilization. Our objectives encompassed creating a computer program that is easy to follow, effective, well-organized, and efficient and designing a container that interfaces with the Q-arm. Some constraints were:

• Weigh less than 350 grams.
• Fit within the assigned autoclave.
• Precise robotic arm control via potentiometers.

This innovative solution represents a significant stride in advancing medical practices for safety and excellence in challenging settings.

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<aside> 🗓️ Timeline: (October 26 – December 6)

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Final solution

Team’s Work and Personal Contributions

<aside> 👥 Personal Contributions :

• Created preliminary sketch.

  

• I created a model of my teammate’s preliminary sketch of the sterilization container.

  

• Did an independent materials research.

• Contributed to the final solution (especially the ridges).

• Documentation of meeting minutes, ensuring clarity on completed tasks, challenges faced, and improvement plans.

Team’s Work :

• Brainstorming sessions to discuss and ideate on the proposed solution, integrating sterilization container design with robotic technology (Modelling team).
• Decision-making on the critical features of the sterilization container model, such as rectangular slits, security, and robotic arm compatibility (Modelling team).
• Creating a computer program for colour and size detection, facilitating the movement of the Q-Arm and precise placement of containers (Computing team).
• Discussion and refinement of the program to enhance efficiency and reliability (computing team).
• Weekly meetings to discuss progress, address questions, and assign tasks for the upcoming weeks. </aside>

Reflection

<aside> 📝 I found this project to be quite enjoyable as it presented a challenging opportunity to combine technology and healthcare. Specifically, the task involved creating a sterilization container that could be utilized by a robotic arm. Building a container and integrating it with a robotic arm proved more challenging than anticipated. Ensuring the container's measurements remained within a specific range (2mm to 4mm) was tricky during the designing phase. Careful focus on particulars and knowledge of the 3D printing process is essential to achieve such accurate outcomes within such tight constraints. Due to the imposed constraints, the model needed to remain under 350 grams in weight. Achieving the ideal balance between structural integrity and weight limits proved to be quite challenging, necessitating numerous rounds of design modifications.

Developing models of characteristics that facilitate the sterilization process was another significant challenge. Ensuring proper steam ventilation and secure preservation for surgical tools necessitated careful consideration of the container's practicality and structural integrity.

Ensuring compatibility between the container shape and the Q-Arm was a challenging aspect of integrating the robotic arm. The CAD design needed to ensure that the container could be lifted and transported securely without causing any harm to its contents.

If we could have done something different, we could have incorporated additional functionalities to enhance its security.

Aside from the technical challenges, this project highlighted the significance of adaptability in handling unexpected issues and continuously enhancing the design process.

Ultimately, this project challenged me to put my CAD modelling skills to the test, demanding a comprehensive grasp of design principles in both theory and practice. The knowledge acquired, particularly in addressing challenges while designing on Autodesk Inventor, will undoubtedly influence my future approaches to complex design projects.

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