12 Jul Harper Lapp, Frazier Rehabilitation Institute, Week 4 (Wow.)

I know I just said it, but I will say it again: wow. I cannot fathom how I am a whole month into my internship. Stepping off that plane into the warm Louisville air and being greeted with warm welcomes from my host family doesn’t seem all that distant. And even after a complete turnaround of events throughout the last few weeks, time hasn’t slowed down one bit. That aspect of this week specifically stood out to me. I just wish time went by this fast while I’m in school–haha.

Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitor (ABPM)

The ABPM is back, so it seems…

It has returned…

While sitting down in my cubicle on Monday, I was welcomed by my fellow ABMP. I checked my email to gain some intel on why the ABPM monitor had returned. I had been prompted to troubleshoot the problem of the AA batteries dying unexpectedly in the ABPM, thus causing all the data and internal clock information to be wiped. That’s no good. The purpose of the internal batteries that Ines and I replaced a month back was to provide backup in case the AA batteries died…but apparently the internal batteries weren’t very efficient at their one and only simple job. I guess I’m not very efficient at my one and only job either because…I never got to fixing this…

I suppose, in unison, everyone said that this was next week’s problem.

Industrial and Systems Engineering Camp (Part 2!!)

My friend Lincoln testing out the motion capture suit!

And here I was back at the UofL Speed School. The majority of the people there were recurring, friendly, and familiar faces, which was quite nice. Professor Read led the program! We dove into the distracted driving simulation once again, the digital twin lab, and the motion capture. How fun! But since this was a two-day camp, we had additional time in each activity as well as some new ones. The first activity that my group started the day off with was a paper airplane lab. We were practically a manufacturing system, passing the planes off to the next person to complete their step of the process. I was given a role where I had to complete the final folds, place a sticker on the side to serve as an engine, and hook a paper clip under the plane to serve as the landing gear. Why was I given the heavy load of the manufacturing process? I will never know. I simply had so much more work to do than anyone else. But I fought through–sort of. At least…I thought I did…until the professor told me that all twenty of the planes were defective and couldn’t be sold because either the sticker wasn’t on right or the paper clip stuck out too much. Oh, I wonder who could have caused that…? So I turned out to be the reason that our group went into irredeemable debt. 

UofL “can opener”: An underpass that stands at a whopping 11’8″ devours the roofs of semis and campervans that dare to approach (even with the abundant amount of warning signs telling them that…it ain’t gonna fit). In the past month, around 40 trucks have fallen victim!

The camp also consisted of discussions and lectures focusing on cognitive and physical affordances. An affordance is an aspect of the surrounding environment that suggests and enables actions for the user. Each specific design of an object can manipulate how it is perceived. Industrial and systems engineering helps in easing the understanding of cognitive and physical perceptions of objects in everyday life.

KSCIRC Lab

The insides of the EMG.

Might I say, my favorite part of the week. Ines and I went back to the KSCIRC Engineering Lab (I think I got flashbacks of week 1 this entire week), and spent a couple of hours working on the microcontroller boards inside of the electromyography (EMG) sensors. I had to disconnect the wires from the microcontroller, strip them, expose the ground, and make efficient solder reconnections. I forgot that conduction was a thing and burnt myself a couple of times…lol.

Digital Oscilloscope & Hertz Generator

On the topic of EMG sensors, Aaron also introduced me to the digital oscilloscope and hertz generator. The oscilloscope and generator are basically a digital muscle simulation. The skeletal ground was connected with an alligator clip, and the EMG sensors were clipped onto the stimulation box. I cycled through a series of reportedly faulty EMG sensors to measure their efficiency and see if they were worthy of going back into circulation. I initially tested the sensors on the oscilloscope and generator to see if they produced a steady sine wave, and then on myself to measure for further efficiency. 

Life @ Home

Almond yearns for freedom…

Life at home was significantly lonelier this week. My entire host family was gone throughout my entire work week, so I always arrived home to a silent and empty house. But I didn’t let this stop me from going out! The KSCIRC Lab may have been my favorite part of the work week, but dare I say the cat cafe I went to was the ultimate favorite. I hadn’t seen a cat since I left home, so you can assume I was going through some withdrawals. And being surrounded by twenty playful kittens was exactly what I needed. Louis and I also had a nice night out at the movies to wrap up our work week as well! 

This upcoming week, being the second to last, is surreal to me; and with these days going by as fast as they are, I’m devoted to making the most out of my remaining time (which includes many more cat cafe visits, of course).