Wheels2Africa

2019-2021

This project is about my time in the EPICS program which stands for Engineering Projects in Community Service. The program allows ASU students to either join or found their own team where all semester long the objective is to work with a real community on developing a solution to a need they have. In this case Wheels2Africa was founded by me during my Freshman year, and the goal was to develop a new innovative wheelchair design to help the physically impaired in South Africa.

The main focus below is my personal technical contributions to the latest developments on the project.

Product Description

The product being developed is a new concept wheelchair made for the community in South Africa. The key features in the model are the wheel which has been design for both indoor and outdoor use based on customer research, as well as an adjustable seat frame for easy reorientation.

skills developed

Leadership / Team Management
SolidWorks Modeling and Rendering
SolidWorks Top Down Assembly
FEA Stress Testing
Experimental Statistics / ANOVA
Test Designing

Design Purpose

Wheel is designed for all terrain based on primary research
Testing fixture design to test relative "bumpiness"
Minimal mechanical components for simple international product support
Design to client needs

Phase 1: Wheel Development Progress

Developed Concept Designs

Created Testing Mechanism

Constructed Testing Fixture

Prototype Testing

Project Takeaways

Made many local friends and an international friend
Learned what it took to manage a project for over two years
Made mistakes, but made them fast teaching me many lessons
Practical application of technical classroom knowledge