After almost a year of working on our Capstone project, we finally were able to create a functional prototype and have clear future plans for our smart blood pressure monitor. For our STEM project exhibition night, we had our poster with all the necessary information on display, as well as a computer with our slideshow presentation and lastly our prototype; which connects to a computer and inflates the way any blood pressure monitor would.
Our poster included our 2D and 3D model designs, our 3D printed prototype parts, our alternative designs, experiments, prototype photos, and more information about our device.
Design Report
Prototype
Unfortunately, our prototype didn't at all resemble what we hoped our blood pressure monitor would look like. It functions as we hoped, and inflates the cuff using a circuit board, but doesn't resemble our 3D model at all and needs to be downsized. It didn't have bluetooth either as we'd planned, but we were still happy with the result as it's very difficult to create a functionally electronic device.
Slideshow Presentation
Our presentation was displayed on a separate computer on exhibition night, and gave viewers a chance to see more detail and information about the device.
When working on the same project for months on end, you learn a lot about your team, strengths, and problem solving tactics. It wasn't all smooth sailing, and my group and I ran into many issues along the way, but we also learned a lot from these setbacks and had a lot of positive experiences. One of the highlights of the project for me was learning how to work with different types of people, and make sure everyone got along and had their place and tasks within the group. We as a whole group learned a lot about what we each could bring to the table, and what areas we needed to work on were. One of my personal strengths would be facilitating and doing a lot of the behind-the-scenes work, like presentations and lab reports. Another positive thing I learned was that as long as you really try your best, you will come up with a result you are at least satisfied with. When we started brainstorming and coming up with ideas, we had no idea how difficult creating a blood pressure monitor really was. Over time, after lots of research and trial and error, we were able to create a prototype we were happy with. Even though we knew it was virtually impossible to create the exact design we had hoped for, we tried our best with the tools we had and 0 funding and are very proud of our results. While this project was extremely eye opening and a positive experience, we did have issues along the way. For starters, it was very difficult for a long time to figure out who had what job. One of our group members knew a lot more about electrical work than the other two, which made it difficult to follow along and fully understand the functionality of the device. Staying on task was also hard at times, which I take responsibility for, and I definitely could've applied myself more at times. All in all, I'm very proud of our results and the hard work we all put into this project. We weren't perfect and didn't reach our final goal, but we did the best we could and that I am happy with.