Sophomore Design Project

The sophomore design project was really open ended: Solve a problem that helps people. We were given past projects for inspiration and talked with other students to figure out what problems there were, and I found that a lot student teams were doing projects that I just felt weren't going far out of their comfort zones, or just already existed, so I wanted to do something really different.

The problem we sought to solve was making storage more accessible. For people with any sort of limitation with regards to reach, it can be incredibly difficult to make use of one's own shelves. The current solutions we found were of 3 different categories; Either it was extremely expensive, required a lot of work, or didn't really solve the problem. Someimes a few designs fit into multiple of those categories. Our design was meant to solve several draw backs of these designs. First, reasonable cost. No one wants to spend an absurd amount of money to use their own shelves. Secondly, Many expensive designs required custom installation, requiring a contractor or someone of the ability to make the installation. Third, ease of use. Some of the more reasonably priced products that were closest to our intended design either were gimmick-y wire racks that didn't do much or required full mobility to use. Please enjoy our prototype design that was built using arduino & components, sewing thread, a cardboard box, and a lot of 3D printing.