Prototyping in Action

Prototyping in Action

On this page of our blog we plan to update with photos taken while prototyping. Different methods methods were tested by changing the weight distribution. The different methods used include a backpack, and backpack and a frontpack. A "stick" was also used and PVC will be used in the future to evenly distribute the weights on each shoulder.

Front Pack

Figure 1: Testing the frontpack [17]

The first method tried was just a frontpack. We found this to be slightly discomforting and it got in the way full mobility. Figure 1 is an example of how this method would generally look.

Weight Distribution Method

Figure 2: Even Weight Distribution [17]

The next method tried was using a stick to evenly distribute the weight between the two shoulders. We figured this would fix the mobility issue. The one problem with this method was that it limits where people can walk, and introduces the problem of putting the backpacks on the stick and actually carrying the stick behind shoulders. Figure 2 is an example of how this method would generally look. 

**PVC materials were recently received and were too late to use instead of the sticks during this prototyping stage.

Front and Back Method

The third method tried was using two backpacks to evenly distribute the weight. One pack would be put on the back and a smaller pack would be put on the front.While this method does re-introduce the mobility issue, the two packs make the weight distribution more even on the front and the back. This type of method could be seen as the most-realistic. We still need to fine-tune this method to fix the mobility-issue and other issue's that may occur while prototyping. Figure 5 is an example of Ian Shinbrot walking up a hill using the front-end method. Figure 3 shows the same method walking down-hill. Figure 4 shows how the two pack system would generally look. 

**Note that the weight might not be completely distributed in these packs, and they probably do not have the capacity to carry the same amount of load that the farmers will have to carry.

                                    Figure 3: down-hill  [17]       Figure 4: side view of               Figure 5: up-hill with
                                                with front-end method          backpacks with front-end           front-end method [17]
                                                                                        method [17]

We also attempted at using the front and backpack-end method while walking up and down a flight of stairs. An example of this can be seen in Video 1. As can be seen in the video, the two packs carry the same weight.

                                                                

Video 1: Alex using the front-end method up and down steps [18]