Week 10

     This week during class we continued researching the cross-sectional area and modulus of elasticity of bone by discussing and reviewing some of the articles found during the previous week (see Week 9's blog post for reference). We also spoke with our professor, Dr. Gordon, and discussed our direction for the future. He told us that our Deliverable 5 was due sometime before the end of the semester, and that we could submit it early if we wanted feedback before including it in the final report packet. We also downloaded the STL file for a femur (also shown in Week 9's post) and opened it in Solidworks. We were able to closely estimate the cross-sectional area of the femur by taking a "slice" of the femur in Solidworks. It was found that the cross-sectional area was within the size range we found reported in research papers and internet searches,
     We also met as a group during the week to brainstorm ideas for how we want to target the legs, since astronauts do not move them very often while in space. We had two major strategies: overpowering (where the device or suit moves the leg) and frequency-based (where we would be trying to achieve a minimum strain delivered at a specified frequency). Concepts were generated under these two main strategies and can be seen in the pictures below.

Concepts for the frequency strategy.

Concepts for the overpowering strategy.

It was decided that the following considerations would be important for ranking the concepts. Group members were asked to rank the concepts individually over break. 

Important considerations when ranking concepts. 

Below is an example of one group member's rankings shown in a decision matrix:

Decision matrix created by one group member.