Conclusions

During the project our group encountered some problems and solved them. Based on those experiences, we've written down helpful points for future development:

• Current design not expected to support the average person.

  When we designed this project, metal was the main material for building the device. Due to weight limitations, we changed the large metal pieces to wood. 
  In our design, we needed a light weight device. On the other hand, our final result is not expected to support the average person's weight yet. However, it will be developed from its current design limits into a better model.
• Use appropriate tool for dealing with material
  Our group  experienced a lot of trials and errors when we did wood work. We learned that wood should be dealt with carefully when it is screwed. There were unexpected cracks in the wood when we screwed with the cordless drill. With these trials and errors, we were able to figure out a successful system for screwing. We tightened the screws at the beginning and end using a screwdriver, and we used a cordless drill for the middle of the process.
• Bolt lengths
  The proper bolt length should be considered in the design stage of the project. Without much consideration for bolt lengths, we had to find other ways to combine the first prototype. After learning from this experience, we carefully designed the final project with necessary consideration given to bolt lengths, and it was successful.
• Functionality
  Before designing the project, we discussed which movement is most helpful to patients, going up or going down. Designing upward movement is much easier than downward movement. However, patients are only able to pull the handle up, and if we were to design our device to only go upward then downward movement would be difficult for the patients to achieve on their own. Thus, we decided to change our movement concept into a mixture of downward and upward when the handle is being pulled by combining two 4-bar mechanisms.
• Miscellaneous
  The toggle points can hold the handle in its initial position without specific gear or locking mechanisms.
  
  

During the entire process of creating our project, we learned a number of new things from designing, prototyping, and building the final model. For doing this successful work, we spent much time on Solidworks designing the best model.We also spent a lot of time on MATLAB designing and calculating the best position of each part. Nevertheless, our model still needs to be further developed in some areas.

By making the above improvements, we can make our project useful in the real world. By the end of our semester, we did not make a perfect model, but we made a successful model that was able to satisfy several of our client's requirements.