Abstract
Technical Project Abstract
Injuries from lawnmowers are one of the leading causes of traumatic amputations for children yet little advancement has been made to prevent these injuries. While proper use of a lawnmower would prevent many of these injuries, there needs to be another way to protect not only children but adults too. The goal of my group’s capstone project is to create a guard that drops down to prevent any limbs from getting near the mower blade with limited user input. The challenge with this project is the timing of the guard as accidents that occur happen in milliseconds, but most devices operate in seconds, which is too slow. In order for this device to prevent amputations, lawnmower users actually need to want this device on their mower and not add extra time or steps to their routine. The team was divided into 4 sub-teams: sensor, release, retraction, and track and guard. Within each sub-team, parts were designed and integrated into a full assembly using SolidWorks and simulated using ANSYS. Since the team was not allowed a real lawnmower, we constructed a wooden box with wheels to serve as the lawnmower deck for our device to be added on top of. Before the full assembly was completed for the conceptual prototype, each sub-team conducted testing to ensure their components worked by themselves in an attempt to minimize issues when integrated. Once sub-team testing was completed, the full prototype was assembled and tested with a bias towards false positives when the sensors detected a human. The project deliverables include a working prototype, both an oral and written report detailing the design process, part selection, build process, and testing of our safety guard. Through this project, my team hopes to create a conceptual design to better protect lawnmower bystanders from getting injured.
STS Project Abstract
In my Science, Technology, and Society (STS) research paper, I examine how the historical actions of key actors like, government agencies, research laboratories, and vehicle manufacturers, have shaped policies that contribute to the persistent underrepresentation of the female body in seatbelt safety design. Using a combination of historical and political analysis, I investigate why women remain less protected than men in vehicle crashes, despite making up a substantial portion of the driving population. Federal crash safety standards and testing protocols continue to be centered on male body models which reinforce the disparities. My analysis begins by tracing the historical development of each major actor in the automotive safety field, guided by the archival research framework outlined in Niamh Moore’s The Archive Project: Archival Research in the Social Sciences. This historical analysis reveals that early crash test development prioritized the 50th percentile male Anthropomorphic Test Device (ATD), establishing a design legacy that continues to shape modern safety standards. Female ATDs, when used at all, are often scaled-down male models that fail to capture critical biomechanical differences such as pelvic geometry, neck strength, and muscle distribution. This policy analysis follows the framework outlined in Policy Analysis: Concepts and Practices by David Weimer and Aidan Vining. The main actors that are investigated are the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), original equipment manufacturers (OEM), Anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs) and research labs. The findings show that although better technologies already exist, slow regulatory action and high costs continue to delay their adoption. Additionally NHTSA policies prolong development timelines and do not require the use of female ATDs in crash testing, making OEMs unlikely to conduct voluntary additional, expensive testing to include female ATDs.
Relationship Between the Technical and STS Projects
My technical project seeks to design and build a conceptual prototype that keeps human and animal limbs from getting near a mower blade to prevent accidental amputation. A major challenge is creating devices that require minimal user input so people will actually use it, while also ensuring the system reacts quickly enough to account for human motion. The motivation behind my STS stems from my passion for automotive safety. Although the idea of developing anthropometric test devices (ATDs) that better represent the human body is not new, I was struck by how consistently women have been treated as an afterthought in the creation and testing of these devices. Researchers have proven that even with the advancements in automotive safety, women continue to experience more severe injuries than men in comparable crashes, yet this disparity remains unresolved. While a lawnmower is not the same thing as a car, it is still a motorized machine people ride on and serious injuries occur. The connection between my STS and technical topic lies in their shared goal of safety devices to prevent people from getting injured in accidents from motorized vehicles.
Notes
School of Engineering and Applied Science
Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering
Technical Advisor: Jason Forman
STS Advisor: Joshua Earle
Technical Team Members: Jackson Berry, Jimmy Sejas, Vincent Hu, Averell Stith, Richard Townsley, David Cuyuch, Cole Smith
