It’s official. We’re four weeks in and a little over halfway through the internship. Wow, how time flies by.

This week we only had three work days due to the Fourth of July holiday. However, team “Started From The Bottom” definitely used up every second in planning and prototyping. Yesterday we finished up our low fidelity prototype which consisted of a cardboard scissor lift, detachable chair, and cranking mechanism. The scissor lift was made at half-scale, meaning that the beams were 10″ long and created a 14″ vertical lift (exactly half the dimensions of the final device). The chair and crank were not to scale, but provided a good proof-of-concept prototype.

Scissor lift with mounting device for chair	Collapsible chair with removable sliding board and extendable footrests	Mechanism for moving scissor lift by hand crank

After we evaluated our low fidelity prototype and identified the weak points, we moved on to the medium fidelity prototype. For the medium fidelity prototype, we focused on enhancing the track system for the scissor lift. The scissors must be restricted to a certain path in order to prevent the device from reaching an unstable angle between members. We also focused on fleshing out the sliding mechanism for the chair. The middle picture below demonstrates in greater detail how the chair platform glides easily onto the base. Lastly, we improved upon the crank mechanism by making it out of more realistic materials.

Half-scale scissor lift with improved track	Sliding mechanism for attaching chair	3D-printed crank mechanism

 

 

On Thursday, our team also received a scissor lift that we had purchased. The device is used for lifting motorcycles; however, our current plan is to modify the existing device and make it applicable to our project. Currently, we have removed the pneumatic pump and have plans to add a hand crank in its place. We will also be removing any unnecessary steel parts to make the lift less heavy. This device is promising and I’m excited to see what we accomplish this upcoming week.

 

Now, in addition to working together 40 hours a week, many of us SEED interns often hang out together over the weekend to go on various adventures. Last Friday, Manuel and Kelvin invited everyone to join them on a bike ride as part of this group called Critical Mass. Their website describes the event as a “generally slow-paced ride where persons of all skill levels can participate”. Perfect! We (me, Kelvin, Manuel, Tori, Alex, Caz and Luis) made plans to head out after work, have fun on the “casual bike ride” and grab dinner afterwards. What could go wrong?

A lot…. A lot could go wrong.

When we finally caught up to the mass of bikers (after racing full-speed from Rice), we joined the crowd on a route moving directly away from downtown Houston. It wasn’t until we were 13 miles into the journey that we realized what we had gotten into. Each of us had only brought one water bottle and were down to our last sips. Many of us had not eaten. After stopping at the mid-way point in San Jacinto, we braced ourselves for the trip back.

We continued to bike in the dark across two of the largest hills in Houston. We lost Manuel, then when we found him we immediately lost Caz and Kelvin. 80% of the trip, we had no idea where Luis was. We reunited and stopped at a Jack In The Box for some water, got tired of waiting in the drive thru, and went to a gas station across the street to re-hydrate. We were ecstatic to see the Houston skyline come back into view, until we realized the Astros game was releasing at the same time. We dodged pedestrians and cars alike to get back to the Metro Rail and find out we had biked a grand total of 26.4 miles. I took the rail to a friend’s house and passed out after completing the marathon.

I can’t wait to do it again next month.

This past week we also spent the Fourth of July together. We had a cookout at Martel College featuring some tasty peach cobbler and chocolate salad. We then showed the international students some wholesome American team-building games and traveled to Hermann Park to watch the fireworks. We got there too late for a good spot and ended up watching the fireworks back at the dorms, but at least we got a nice picture before we left.

All in all, this was another amazing week. Here’s to more great adventures and memories!