In order for the product to be successful, we need to know who we are selling too. This also attributes to other factors, such as the importance of certain specifications, what we should focus on refining the most on our product, and how effective is would be within the group of people we are targeting.
Cost
We need to know how much the materials needed to build our product cost so we can budget our money correctly. We can also decide what materials we want to use based on how much they cost. If a material is similar to another one but costs less, we would buy that one.
Materials needed
We are considering many types of material. In order to pick out the best however, we have to take into account the most important characteristics the problems should hit first. So, to focus on performance and comfort, we chose a certain set of materials in a elastic polyester knit fabric head band, combined with 2 velcro pieces, and all being attached to a plastic piece. We attack comfort with a fabric headband, being very light and comfortable on the head, while being effective in not moving. It can also adjust to head shape easily, and with the plastic piece, it will be able to move about 120 degrees, hitting performance as well.
Technology usage needed
The main component, the piece of plastic gluing the design together, will need the usage of a 3D printer. In order to use a 3D printer, we will have to design the plastic piece with specific measurements, slits, and a joint piece that will attach to main fabric. This design will need much testing before printing, to ensure that we can make a working prototype.
Measurements
We need to figure out the measurements of each piece before building so they can all fit together on the first try and the final product wouldn’t be too big or too small. The size of people’s heads tend to fluctuate a lot, so the size of our product would have to fit all people who use it.
How long to build
We may need around a week to build our design. The format would most likely be as followed- 1 day ensuring materials are durable, effective, and fit for what we need. 2 days- designing and 3D printing a working plastic piece. 3 days, sewing, and constructing the whole design together, 2-day, testing, fixing any problems, improving the design as needed. Total= around 7-8 days to complete construct an effective design
Proto Type Stages
During our construction stage we are going to need to make sure this is a simple solution and not so complicated to where it's only for a certain type of people. Making sure that it is not too heavy, adjustable to different head sizes/types, the types of materials being used, and it is comfortable. Then we start to construct how we think our design looks. Then as we test this is going to give us data on what works and what doesn't work. During testing we need to make sure we take enough test data so that we can prove that it works. Our advisor told us to not settle for just what works, and there may be other solutions. That also we should have others look at it to see maybe something we aren't seeing. When testing we need to make sure all the constraints we listed are there and which one is the most important to have. So when data collecting we need to make sure every test data is collected so that when we go to make sure the final product works as efficiently as possible.
Expert- Erin Reed
Additional Information
We are going to need to sew our fabric with a needle, and then we may need to 3D print we are not sure on that yet.