Abstract
Both my technical and STS projects address the fundamental challenge of protecting human life in environments where technology is both essential and inherently dangerous. This intersection is critical because when high-risk technology outpaces our current safety standards, the resulting gaps in protection often lead to catastrophic physical or systemic harm. In my technical research, my group designs a spring-loaded guard for lawnmowers to physically close safety gaps that current regulations have failed to address, directly protecting children from preventable injury. My STS research scales up this problem to Martian colonization, where I propose a framework of international regulations and labor policies to protect nations, workers, and the environment from the risks of a life-support-reliant society. By addressing both the immediate mechanical hazards on Earth and the structural governance needed on Mars, I argue that true safety requires a combination of failsafe hardware and robust policymaking.
My technical capstone project was tasked to develop a way to reduce pediatric lawnmower accidents. These accidents frequently occur when small children are run over or slip under a lawn mower, especially under riding-style mowers where the operator’s visibility is significantly reduced. Such accidents often result in amputation or significant trauma. Our group investigated this problem through research into current safety regulations surrounding mowers, as well as medical studies of the injuries incurred over the past decades, and sought to find a way to reduce injuries without hampering effective usage of the mower. We decided the most effective solution was an automated safety system. We developed a human-sensing addition to a mower that uses radar to detect human presence nearby and drop a spring-loaded guard to cover dangerous gaps and prevent limbs from entering without needing to change human behavior or introduce new regulations. We found that such a system can be effective, but is expensive, finicky, and may reduce mowing convenience and effectiveness.
My STS paper focused on the challenges of organizing a future colony on Mars. While significant human settlement may be decades away, there is no currently viable legal framework for Martian settlements, and the potential exists for international conflict, corporate monopolization, worker abuse, and environmental degradation. I looked at this problem through historical evidence of colonial settlement and worker regulations, scholarly predictions on the technology and structure of a Martian society, and through Winner’s framework on technological artifacts (Winner, 1980), seeking to find remedies to these challenges. I also examined proposed solutions from scholars, and concluded that a strong political framework encompassing a licensing system, corporate land-leases, colonial embassies, and an international commission to regulate land could significantly reduce these issues and facilitate sustainable, peaceful development.
I have been moderately successful in my solutions to the general problem outlined by solving a regulatory failure with technology, and environmentally and technologically induced systematic risks with better regulation. The combination of technology and regulation done effectively can protect people in dangerous situations, including the specific ones tackled. I did not, however, show the intersection as effectively as I would have desired. For the case of the lawn mower, future research should investigate how regulations and safety systems can work together more effectively than as separate challenges, as the device we developed was not likely to be adopted by consumers. Similarly, more specific research must be done to analyze the expected results of my proposed policy framework for extra-terrestrial settlement, as my current model is more speculative than grounded and lacks detailed, actionable proposals.
I want to thank my technical advisor, Prof. Foreman, for his insights and support, as well as my STS instructor Prof. Wiley for her writing feedback and enlightening discussions about ethics in society. I would also like to thank my teammates: Jackson, Mia, Jimmy, Averell, David, Richard, and Vincent, for their tireless work and creativity in building our project, and to my fellow classmates for their feedback on my paper.
Notes
School of Engineering and Applied Science
Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering
Technical Advisor: Jason Foreman
STS Advisor: Caitlin Wylie
Technical Team Members: Cole Smith, Jackson Berry, Mia Bonutti, David Cuyuch, Richard Townsley, Vincent Hu, Averell Stith, Jimmy Sejas
