Day 4- Turning Point
Today, we broke off into groups within our patient project in order to create needs statements. From now on, we will be primarily working within this smaller group to come up with a solution to our determined need. My smaller group within the visual impairment group came up with the need to determine “A way for a visually impaired patient to locate his/her guide dog’s toys.” This need was determined through observation and through interviews, as our patient’s dog would not bring back its toy back to the patient during the dog’s allotted play time. After class, my group went to the library to search for possible solutions or current available technology that could be of use. We found the app, “Tile,” which is used to help one locate objects that he/she has misplaced. By inserting a chip, similar to the one used by Tile, into a dog toy, our patient could locate the dog toy dropped by his/her dog during play time by tapping a button on her phone and listening for the ring coming from the toy. In the upcoming question, we will address multiple problems that we have come up with that may be an issue. Potential issues we will have to address include (but are not limited to) durability, farthest distance the device can work from, whether the locator chip can work through different objects (tennis ball, stuffed animal, etc.), and concerns regarding the battery life of the locator.
-Kyle
BME Design 