Open Hardware licenced anti-tremor cup

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istapp
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Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2021 7:30 pm

Open Hardware licenced anti-tremor cup

Post by istapp »

Looking for collaborators

During this semester of my Mechanical Engineering degree, I chose an elective course to create something innovative while following project management best practices.
In this project I want to design and produce a mechanically stabilized and dampened cup / cup handle to help people with involuntary tremors, i.e. Parkinson.
This device will be licenced under CERN-OHL-W, to ensure it reaches as many of those who would benefit form its use, as possible.

To boost chances of finishing the project before December, and to increase overall quality of the final product, I'm currently looking for collaborators.
Whether your area of interest is product design, mechanical engineering, project management, governance;
If you want to participate, don't hesitate to contact me.

If the device fulfills its intended function, I plan to produce and sell it in Norway, where I live. Collaborators are encouraged to produce and distribute it locally, as well.



To let you know a little bit about me: Someone who is kind to me has Parkinson, and my desire to improve their quality of life inspired me to undertake this project. I'm on the third year of my BsC degree, and I have a little experience contributing to open source software projects. Last semester, a project group I was part of made the hull of a small autonomous surface vessel, following inner source principles using Grabcad and Google's office suite. We licenced the hull under CERN-OHL-W: https://hackaday.io/project/179597-small-surface-vessel
I am moderately proficient at using Freecad and other relevant OSS tools, and my OS of choice is Manjaro Linux.



Best Regards,
Jacob
chrisb
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Re: Open Hardware licenced anti-tremor cup

Post by chrisb »

What do you have until now?
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istapp
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Re: Open Hardware licenced anti-tremor cup

Post by istapp »

I have concept sketches on paper, as well as a rough 3D model.
Contact with healthcare workers willing to test the thing out in a nursing home.
As part of the project management course, I'm currently writing up a project specification.
-And I have a 3D printer.
chrisb
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Re: Open Hardware licenced anti-tremor cup

Post by chrisb »

You should share what you have. Well, not the healthcare workers.
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freedman
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Re: Open Hardware licenced anti-tremor cup

Post by freedman »

For something like this you will need access to a SLA or DLP printer I presume.

How about using a normal cup and you gryo stabilize the hand.
istapp
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Re: Open Hardware licenced anti-tremor cup

Post by istapp »

It might be neat if people could use their favourite cup from before onset of parkinson, so I'd like to accomodate that. Part of the challenge in that case would be to determine a reliable method of interfacing with cups of different geometries and weights.
Will run a survey to find user priorities in the near future (within 2 weeks), once I've mocked up the project specification.


See the project repository for general info (licence, notice, etc) : https://hackaday.io/project/181394-mech ... cup-handle

Here's the Assembly4 file of a quick concept. Don't mind the missing fasteners or rough geometry.
cup_asm.FCStd
(337.63 KiB) Downloaded 91 times
initial_perspective.png
initial_perspective.png (102.56 KiB) Viewed 13398 times
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Markymark
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Re: Open Hardware licenced anti-tremor cup

Post by Markymark »

Are those spirals ment to be flextures? Could make sense if the final product should be 3D printable. Otherwise this will be quite complicated to keep it clean.

I have no idea regarding health care products. But, are you re-inventing the wheel? I would think that products like this are ready available.

Interesting anyway.

P.S.: Using a sucker cap attached to the bottom of the prefered coffee mug might be an idea.
istapp
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Re: Open Hardware licenced anti-tremor cup

Post by istapp »

Thanks for the sucker tip Markymark, that might be viable. I don't have a sucker on me, could you try it?

My thought is to have the cup stabilizer consist of only readily available parts, and 3D printable parts. This lowers the bar of production.
When made of somewhat heat resistant filament, this thing should be dish washing machine safe.
It might be prudent to use metal spiral springs instead of printed spiral springs, and cover them somehow.

One would think this problem has already been solved, and jugding by the variety of products available which purport to solve it, to a large degree it has. Most of the products were somewhat expensive however, like electronic solutions (readi-steadi, liftware steady) and mechanical solutions (no-spill cup, handsteady cup).

There are still people with tremors who don't use these aids. Why that is, I don't know yet. But I believe price might be a factor.
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Markymark
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Re: Open Hardware licenced anti-tremor cup

Post by Markymark »

Jep, there are not that much products around. I found this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM9_Ol4K-bA

This handles just one axis and seems to work (more or less). Regarding the springs you have to consider resonances. This might be a dead end. With a heavy tremor using your favourite mug might be your smallest problem. But don't be discouraged. The idea to have this as open hardware ist great anyway.

VG m.
freedman
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Re: Open Hardware licenced anti-tremor cup

Post by freedman »

That hand-steady cup is funny. They should call it hand-trough, you have to insert your head in the cup before you can drink. I'll bet it's a big mess when the cup is almost empty.

Anyway, back to the tremor-cup; A spring stores energy so I don't think that's the best approach, you want to burn energy. You could possibly engineer and 3D print a shock absorber, a gas (air) operated shock that's just a simple tube and plunger. Control how fast the air escapes and you can delay the moment-of. Maybe add a screw vent to adjust the shock.
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