Danny’s Recumbent Bike Accessibility Device Final Design Report

The purpose of this document is to fully define our design solution and explain our manufacturing and testing results. Our project’s goal is to find a way to allow Danny Knutson, a retired Navy pilot and incomplete quadriplegic with limited use of his arms and an impaired sense of balance, to enter and exit his recumbent tricycle without any discomfort for him or his aide. We completed multiple interviews with Danny, patent research, existing product research, and other technical literature research in order to fully understand the problem. We synthesized this information to create a concrete list of customer wants and needs, which led to a full list of specifications that were developed using the Quality Function Deployment technique. Key specifications from this list that our design will satisfy are as follows, but not limited to: the machine’s range of motion both horizontally and vertically, level of comfortability to use, and force required by the user to operate. These specifications were accepted by our sponsor and we then began the ideation phase of the project. Once we had numerous concepts, we employed the use of a decision matrix to determine the best idea for our project. We then performed preliminary analyses, risk analysis, and cost analysis in order to further develop our concept. After completing further engineering analyses, we refined our design to meet the required specifications. We purchased all necessary components, designed the parts that must be manufactured in-house, and drew up a plan to modify ordered parts for assembly. After all parts were received and manufacturing was complete, we enacted a testing plan on the assembled device. With the device finalized, we traveled to Danny’s home in Sacramento to install the device and complete our final testing. This document details this process and the results of the projec