Learning Journey
How did the project develop? What were the challenges in scoping/creating/ and implementing your project? What was the collaboration process? What worked and what didn’t work? What challenges did your team face and how did you overcome them? What worked well? What did you learn about collaborating between disciplines and working together as a team?
Nordic walking is a full-body activity that promotes improved health and activity. Nordic walking is performed using Nordic Walking Poles. Nordic walkers range from pro-athletes training for cross-country skiing during the summer to hobbyists maintaining their fitness to patients using Nordic walking during rehabilitation after an injury. There are numerous benefits to this activity, however from a biomechanical standpoint more data is required to examine how the use of Nordic Walking Poles leads to improved health.
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In our project, our team was tasked with developing an instrumented Nordic Walking Pole that will be able to monitor the real-time activities and biomechanics of the athletes that participate in Nordic Walking. Our challenge question reads “can we create better walking poles to help with faster recovery from leg injuries?”. Our project partner is Professor Garrett Malenka from the Faculty of Engineering at York University. The prototyping of the Nordic Walking Poles will occur in Dr. Melenka’s and Dr. Grau’s Engineering labs with all the required tools for fabrication and electrical and mechanical testing. The poles will be tested in Dr. Gage’s Kinesiology lab, which is equipped to record gait data from human subjects’ and this data will be compared with data collected from the sensors in the poles.
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Thus, in summary, the goal of our project is to build a nordic walking pole with a suite of compact sensors that will be incorporated in it, which will enable us and our project partner to conduct a biomechanical evaluation of nordic walking poles. Additionally, the sensor suite will be evaluated to ensure that long-term data can be collected while using the Nordic Walking Poles.
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However, before we begin constructing the new sensor integrated nordic walking pole, our project partner advised us to conduct a literature review in order to determine a baseline and the standards that our new walking pole should be able to achieve. By December 2022, our team had concluded our primary literature review and developed a Fall Design Portfolio. As per the feedback given to our team after our Fall Design Portfolio, we revised our 5 Whys in accordance with our revised project scope. Unlike our previous 5 whys analysis which focused on the usage of the collected data, this 5 Whys analysis is more concerned with the collection of data, which is now the primary focus of our project. Our design aims to provide, mainly, researchers, but also users and medical professionals, valuable insight regarding their walking and recovery techniques. Our design focuses on the issue of providing data and insight as modern walking sticks in use today do not provide feedback about their efficacy. This creates an issue because it is impossible to determine how effective walking sticks, or other contemporary treatment methods, are in improving a user's health or decreasing recovery times for leg injuries. It is also critical that we collect more data regarding the effectiveness of treatment methods because our team identified very limited preexisting research within the domain of walking sticks, and their effects.
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However, a significant issue we faced duing the early stages of our project was that our root cause was too vague and, hence, undefined. Our original root caused aimed to build new walking sticks as well as data storage & access infrastructure, which was a big ask given our abilities and time constraints. Thus, we revised our our old root cause aimed to address the issue of biomechanical data collection for use by medical professionals and researchers. Our new root cause acknowledges the gap in the research, which is that not enough biomechanical data has been collected in real-life situations. This new root cause really plays into our design problem, which is to make a data collection walking stick that can be used in any environment, and not just in a lab. Successful completion of this project question would also open the door for more research into how leg injuries are treated.
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During the winter semester, the team engaged in variious in-call activities such as backcasting, which helped us develop a time line for our deliverables going forward (this time line can be seen incorporated into out project management platform on monday.com), and the development of an elevator pitch. Additionally, our group also considered the legacy of our project and conducted a ‘trimming the sails’, which helped us assess our road forward, excersise during our weekly C4 class.
By then, we had summarizing our findings into a concise form to build a clear testing baseline as part of the secondary literature review phase. We concluded this phase of the project by the end of February 2023, while concurrently initiating our designphase that carried us into the end of March. By April, we were developing our final research portfolio and conducted our final calibration tests an in preparation for Capstone Day. By capstone day, we hope to have a working prototype of our sensor integrated nordic walking poles with us for a live demonstration.
Our project faced several challenges, which required us to pivot and change the scope of our work. Initially, we chose the project "How can we create better walking poles to help with faster recovery from leg injuries," and our team focused on developing a medical aid to assist patients and medical professionals. However, we encountered our first challenge early on in the semester when we met with our project partner, Dr. Garrett, and learned that the project's actual goal was to create a tool for his lab to study the effects of walking poles on recovering patients.
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This realization forced us to shift our project's direction from a medical assistance tool to a portable laboratory. Our team had to re-evaluate our approach and consider the best way to design a data-collecting walking pole within the given time and budget. Despite the initial setback, our team's adaptability and willingness to pivot enabled us to create a valuable and impactful product for our project partner. This experience taught us the importance of being flexible and adaptable in the face of challenges and unforeseen circumstances, ultimately leading to a successful outcome. A huge component in our success was the fact that we had an interdisciplinary team, and we were all able to leverage our prior knowledge and skills to be able to bring the project up to speed despite the lost time.
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One of the main benefits of collaboration between disciplines is the diversity of ideas that it brings. People from different fields think differently and approach problems in unique ways. When we work together, we can combine our knowledge and skills to come up with new solutions that we might not have thought of otherwise. For example, our team has four engineers: Kevin, Sebastian, Vedant, and Haya. Kevin took the lead on the circuitry, Sebastian used his 3D modeling skills to create brackets to add the sensors to the poles, and Vedant & Haya worked together as project managers to ensure that all the project components were prepared and submitted on time. We also had three team members who were in the health field: Sathini, Patalie, and Angel, who all worked together to carry out a literature review and understand the market needs. Finally, Hashem, who is a finance major, worked on the budgeting of the components and creating the bill of materials. Another benefit of collaboration between disciplines is that it can lead to better decision-making. When our team came together from different walks of life, we brought different perspectives and expertise to the table. This can help to identify potential risks and opportunities that might have been overlooked by a single discipline.
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However, cross-disciplinary projects can also present challenges due to our different backgrounds. When we started the project, we encountered some challenges primarily due to the varying training and approaches of team members. Our conflicts usually arise from differences in opinions and approaches to specific issues; this is not necessarily a flaw since we have a diverse team from many different disciplines, and we all have a lot to contribute to the project. However, effective conflict resolution was crucial for the success of our project. If left unresolved, these issues could have led to decreased morale, lower productivity, and even the breakdown of our team dynamic.
To overcome these challenges, the team set out specific guidelines on how to approach the project and resolve conflicts should they arise. First and foremost, our team developed a shared vision for what the project would look like which helped team members understand how their work fits into the larger picture and why their contributions are important. Additionally, we encouraged open communication, and ensured all members feel comfortable discussing their concerns and disagreements in a constructive manner. By following these steps, we were able to work towards resolving conflicts and maintaining a positive and productive work environment. Conflicts are a normal part of any team dynamic, but by addressing them effectively, our team can enhance our cohesiveness and ultimately achieve our goals
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In conclusion, collaboration between disciplines and working together as a team can bring many benefits, including diversity of ideas, better decision-making, and innovation. However, it can also present challenges, such as communication barriers and conflicts. By establishing clear team structures and roles, shared language and understanding, and a culture of open communication and feedback, our team was able to overcome these challenges and collaborate successfully to create a product that we are incredibly proud of. Ultimately, collaboration between disciplines and working together as a team was essential for tackling this complex project and achieving success.