Preparing for the presentation (Karrie N)

After returning from Thanksgiving break, which was of course not long enough, our Biomedical Design and Entrepreneurship class is ready to really get to work on our final presentation that will be presented in front of a panel of professionals.

So far, Zabdi and Zane have been moving along on their Biomedical research on how our pillow will improve cervical spinal alignment and reduce subluxation. However, we as a group have a pretty big problem: without taking x-rays, there’s no way to really measure the impact and alignment the pillow will induce on the user’s vertebrae. We know the angle of the neck support roll; 180 degrees. We know the ideal curve of the cervical spine is around 35 degrees–the problem here is that the way THIS arc is measured is not the same way angles in general are measured, it’s more like a radian (arc) that is measured between the C2 and C7 vertebrae of the spine by looking at x-rays (Forward Head Posture and PCCRP).

Unfortunately, we don’t have an x-ray machine, so we’re in the process of trying to figure out how to measure how exactly our pillow affects the human body.

Jordan and I have been working on our 3D model–in the end, we decided to go with “old faithful”–that is, Autocad Inventor. Oh, it was so brilliant to return to my favorite modeling program! I was surprised at how much I remembered how to use it. After a few days, the 3D model was finished, and ready to share. The main issue was playing around with its appearance; as you can see, the colors and textures are a little “weird” but that’s the best we could do with what AutoCad Materials and Colors library had to offer.

It’s been two weeks since we ordered our materials, so those should be coming in any day now. Jordan and I were talking about how we are going to attach the pieces of the pillow together; we will test the foam and see how it responds to hot glue, and if that doesn’t work we may have to use duct tape, or attach the neck roll and fiber stuffing to the foam simply by cutting them and the foam so the components will fit together without an adhesive. Then the pillow will be inserted into a case to keep the parts secure…. hopefully hot glue will work though.

We shall see! I can’t believe our final presentation is in two weeks.