Proposal

Orthotics Proposal Draft

Lynne & Joan

1. Project Summary: Currently, orthotics and shoe inserts are not sustainable. Since they are often used on a daily basis, orthotics need to be replaced periodically creating both cumulating cost and preventable waste. Quality shoe insoles need to be replaced making them inaccessible to people who cannot afford such a large cost approximately every six months. The lack of durability for the amount consumers pay, serve as a reason behind improving this situation. By creating inserts that are made out of a strong backbone material, with an easily replaceable cushion for comfort, it is possible to increase the lifetime of these inserts. Even though the design process may be difficult, our group is certain that we can work to complete this product based on the knowledge we have and the resources available.  
2. Background and Significance:
1. Background: As developers of an original product, we are dedicated to researching the impact of insoles on physical health and creating from that research a solution that encoumpases both marterial and monitary issues as well as health issues.
2. Analysis of Need: Those who need orthotics do not have the option of a sustainable and affordable insole to ensure their physical health as it relates to orthotics. With our access to various types of machinery and technology, we are offering a feasible solution to this problem.
1. Overall Need: Current orthotic insole products require frequent replacement. Exhausted insoles are not able to be reused, so they result in accumulating trash. The recurrent need to replace insoles is inefficient, costly, and wasteful. Our design, a combination of a shoe insole and orthotic with a sustainable part as well as a replaceable part, will use less material than an entirely new insole, therefore offering a solution to the needs presented.  
2. Current Status: Many researches and developers have ventured into using sustainable materials and techniques like 3D modeling and printing as a means to solve this problem. We plan to build off of their techniques to create an insole that also serves comprehensive orthotic support over a long period of time.  
3. Enabling Technology: With our focus on long-term usability, our access to machinery that allows us to explore various new materials and methods of production, we will be able to create a products that attains and hopefully surpassess all of our goals.  
4. Problem to be Solved: Working in the field of orthotics requires extensive knowledge of feet and alignment. In order to test out our product on a subject, there is a margin of error in which our work could result in orthotic damage.
3. Engineering Approach:
1. In order for us to create a more sustainable and accessible shoe insole/orthotic, we will need to create a redesign of current products.  Currently, there are not accessible insole that combine a harder orthotic with a softer insole.  Our project will begin with focusing on how we will create the two part orthotic without sacrificing quality.   
2. It is important in this stage of the project to come up with a variety of solutions that could work, each for their own reasons. This is because the wants and needs of the consumers, are unpredictable and may not align with what we believe them to want. Also, one design that seems as if it is going to be the most effective, may turn out to be the complete opposite, and to have other options in case of that situation will be beneficial.
3. The first basic idea is to create a heel plate out of a stiff material using measurements from the user’s heel. Then we will create a gelatin or foam padding to attach to the heel to provide a padding in each stride with the support necessary for relieving pressure points. This balance of structure with comfort should prove to be an efficient insole that accomplishes our task.
4. After we feel confident that our product is effective and has covered addressed the issues we want it to, we will begin to look into an orthotic for children with growing feet.  This orthotic should last a child for multiple shoe sizes, using the replaceable part to adapt and adjust the fit.
5. After that we will work on making the two part insole/orthotic design to be adaptable to different shoe types.  An orthotic for a heel is different from an orthotic for a sneaker, so we want our product to be able to easily be moved from one to the other.  This supports our focus on sustainability because instead of having multiple insoles, one could use the same one throughout all of their shoes (only needing to replace the gel/flexible part).
4. Tasks and Deliverables:
1. We will continue independent research to further understand the need for our product as well as narrow down our possible solutions to a few solid ideas.
2. In order to assess the feasibility of our project and further our research, we will meet with Union Orthotics and Prosthetics. We hope leave with a greater understanding of the limitations and possibilities of our project.
3. The next step in our process is to begin the initial design phase. This will include rough sketches and basic 3D models.
4. After this we will create our first low-res prototype.  It won't be functional but having it to work with and see will give us a better idea of what we need to improve before our actual 1st prototype.
5. We will continue to work on our 3d model of our parts and use the materials that  we have access to at WT to create our 1st prototype
6. At this point, we will get a TechShop membership in order to begin experimenting with the different forms of production and materials.  We will also use this resource  to begin replicating and improving our prototype.
7. We will have scheduled a meeting with experts at the Tech Shop to present our project. We hope to receive feedback on what we can do to better our product in addition to advice as to how to better use the resources of the Tech Shop.
8. The advice and suggestions of Tech Shop will be used to improve our CAD model and help us make our product as close to our ideas as we can.
9. We will then take our revised prototype and new ideas back to Union Orthotics and Prosthetics for more feedback and their insights on our designs.
10. Apply the suggestions from Union Orthotics and Prosthetics to our designs and begin to test our product on people after we are sure it is safe.
11. Until we are satisfied with our product we will continue to repeat the past four steps so that our product will be the best we can make it.
12. Near the end of the year, we will begin to construct our final presentation. Through gathering our materials and iterations of our product and creating a board filled with detailed information about our process and results, we hope to present our ideas to the Tech Shop, other partners, and the school.
5. Project Management: While the project is designed to last until June of 2016, our group has decided to break down the time into smaller sections. By the end of October we plan to have enough research accumulated to comfortably begin the design phase of our product. During this time a group member will be working with Mr. Marx to establish outside connections and relationships so that the group can become more educated on foot support and orthotics, allowing us to be more effective in designing a product. That gives us all of November and the first two weeks in December to begin designing and testing our product. After the new year, we plan to present the work we have completed up until that point in front of the Tech Shop experts, peers, and teachers. We will receive constructive criticism and use it to guide what steps we take during the next few months. What we do cannot be determined at this point because of the lack of information we have currently and the fact that we have not presented or received the critiques. However, our group will definitely continue to create, test, and redesign our product until we create a functional foot insole that accomplishes our desired task.

The budget for this product will not be overwhelmingly expensive. In the beginning phases, creating low resolution models and the 3D printers at Winchester Thurston should not be too expensive. However, as our group moves on into more complex designs with higher quality materials with more expensive machinery, such as vacuum fitting carbon fiber foot plates, the funding for the project will increase. We will always be sure to be conscientious of our spending and be sure we are using resources to the best of our ability.
With such a complicated design process ahead of us, we will most likely need a bit more training. We plan to fully utilize our memberships at the Tech Shop after the completion of our low resolution models. With this access to the Tech Shop comes a necessary higher level of knowledge that we must reach through courses. Each member of our group must have access to classes and training so that we may learn the required information in order to effectively utilize the amenities. We are also concerned about proper testing. The most obvious form of testing shoe insoles would be to put them on human subjects and measure the effects. However, we do not want to design an insole improperly and damage the feet of a real human subject. Therefore we are continuously thinking of new ideas for which we can test our product.