John Deere Team Weekly Status Report Week 3

1
John Deere TeamWeekly Status ReportWeek 3

• Josh Ebeling
• Jamari Haynes
• James June
• Mike Reno
• Ben Spivey
• Gary Twedt

2
Project Modification of Gator for Handicap
Accessibility

• Task assigned by John Deere is the open-ended
  modification of their six wheeled Gator Utility
  Vehicle to facilitate handicapped accessibility
• Two primary suggestions wheelchair hoisting
  mechanism and controls modification

3
Review of Previous Action Items

• Continued contact with Bobby and other John Deere
  personnel to facilitate web conferencing with
  teams at other schools. Responsibility Gary
  Twedt
• Informed that other school began school this
  week the goal is to make contact with other
  schools this week or next week.

4
Review of Previous Action Items

• Continued updating of webpage with relevant
  documents. Responsibility Gary Twedt
• Webpage has been updated to include the weekly
  deliverables from the first two weeks and
  relevant documents created by the previous team.
• Contact information has been updated for new team
  members.

5
Review of Previous Action Items

• Contact companies for information and advice on
  incorporating wheelchairs as the driver seat on
  the Gator vehicle and possibly obtain free
  equipment to test. Responsibility Ben Spivey
• Met with a physical therapist from Emorys Center
  for Rehabilitation Medicine and decided not to
  incorporate the wheelchair as a drivers seat
  after discussion due to the customization needed
  for wheelchairs.
• Established connection with a representative from
  National Seating and Mobility.
• A folding wheelchair was donated by Diane
  Beckwith from ECRM.

6
Review of Previous Action Items

• Investigate preliminary design possibilities for
  implementation of steering wheel-controlled gas
  and brake pedals. Responsibility Josh
  Ebeling
• Developed a couple ideas for a mechanical
  hand-controlled gas and brake system but decided
  that the wheelchair hoist was more suitable for
  this project.
• Team has decided to make the wheelchair hoist the
  primary objective but will leave open the
  possibility for designing handicapped-accessible
  controls permitted the primary objective is being
  met.

7
Review of Previous Action Items

• Investigate preliminary design possibilities for
  wheelchair hoisting mechanism.
  Responsibility Mike Reno and James June
• Possibilities considered include placing the
  wheelchair on roll-bars mounted above passenger
  seats, placing it in the bed, or placing it in
  front of the passenger seat.
• Team has decided to move forward with a hoist
  located in the bed which will transfer the folded
  wheelchair into the bed behind the driver seat.

8
Problem Statement

• Product Idea semi-automatic hoist that lifts
  wheelchair into bed while retaining a majority of
  bed storage space.
• Market Need John Deere customers have requested
  an option to assist with transferring their
  wheelchairs into the Gator, a currently
  unavailable feature.
• Functional Goals Lifting and lowering
  wheelchairs, positioning wheelchair, and
  collapsing hoist when not in use.
• Challenges robustness under moment loading
  conditions, minimize usage of cargo space

9
Design Partition

• Grasping Function
• Challenges wheelchairs disassemble when lifted,
  variance of wheelchair assemblies
• Folding Function
• Challenges wheelchairs lifted by seat typically
• Lifting Function
• Challenges moment loading, space limitations,
  power for automatic device

10
Design Partition

• Reverse Function
• Challenges designing the device to reverse
  previously mentioned functions

11
Project Plan

• Project Responsibility Assignment
• Group Management Gary Twedt
• CAD/FEA Support Ben Spivey
• All members will be involved with concept
  development, drawing support, report writing, etc.

12
Project Plan

• Short-term Project Timeline
• 9/8- Complete 5 Conceptual Designs
• 9/15- Patent Search Completed
• Long-term Project Timeline
• 9/29- Mid-term Presentation
• 10/20- Engineering Analysis
• 11/24- Prototype Review Completed
• 12/1- Final Project Submitted

13
Current Action Items

• Conduct patent/product search for products
  similar to wheelchair hoist. Responsibility All
  team members
• Develop at least five feasible concepts with
  written description, sketches, and analysis of
  advantages and disadvantages.