Currently, the most significant risk to the success of the project is the mechanical side (mainly including the platform jack). We have already made proof of concepts for the posture tracking and facial landmark tracking which will be used for motor control. However, what remains a question is whether the actual stand will hold up to the stress from the computer on top, whether the motor will be forceful enough, whether the stand will stay level, how much friction there is in the platform jack screw, how big and heavy the whole stand will be after our modifications to add a battery/arduino compartment and the linear actuator compartment.
The way this risk is currently being managed is by ordering the stand as soon as possible to begin testing. The stand will be ordered at the start of this week. Additionally, Sebastian has done a lot of research on different stands by reading customer reviews to select the best one. The contingency plan is to simply buy progressively more expensive platform jacks which (according to reviews) are more stable and are machined with greater precision so they have less friction.
The only change we made to the existing design is to modify an off-the-shelf platform jack instead of making one from scratch. This change was necessary because creating a new platform jack was outside the scope of our experience. The only cost is the price of the stand, the design time of the stand has gone down because now Mary only has to design the compartments above and below the stand.
Part A (written by Sebastian):
Our product has an immense global impact because poor posture is a problem affecting almost all industrialized countries where consumer electronics are common. The most widely used consumer electronics are mobile phones and PCs, both of which promote poor posture. This contributes to the global health crisis where people in wealthy nations are becoming unhealthy. As a result, they require more and more expensive medications and treatments, which causes inflation, which lowers the quality of life even more for most people. So, as a result of poor posture, a vicious cycle is created. While this statement is a bit of a stretch, I believe that using technology to collectively improve our posture will considerably improve the general health of ourselves. Now SmartStand will hopefully only make a small dent in the general posture health of the public, but it is a first, and important step.
Part B (written by Olivia):
Our project was created with the target audience being students and people who may work remotely. Since these groups of people often have to work from public places and many different areas, they may not be able to have the most comfortable working environment. This is why we decided to include the height adjustment functionality of a laptop stand, in order to help such individuals improve their productivity and reduce pain from using their laptop for extended periods of time. Additionally, since these groups are often commuting and traveling, we are constantly considering the portability and convenience of our product, which is why we decided to make SmartStand battery powered, compatible with bluetooth, and compactly designed.
Part C (written by Mary Rose):
Seeing as our product is not very large, or particularly hard to produce, it is difficult to determine if it would have any effect on natural resources, or non-human living organisms. In addition, our device is intended to be used indoors, so it will not have much interaction with the environment. However, as one of the main goals of our device is centered around improving human health (helping people to fix their posture), it can be said that our device would have a positive effect on some living organisms (humans).
