March - June 2023 | DTC 106: Design Thinking & Communication
Aim Buddy is a residual limb joystick designed and built by myself, Jared Berry, Ben Cole, and Cole Abbott for an upper-arm amputee as part of our DTC 106 class. View the full design document here.
#team | #client-based | #design | #project
Aim Buddy
Our team of 4 worked in collaboration with another team in our class to produce a comprehensive controller system. Our team’s goal was to create a joystick that our client could use with their residual limb, while the other team created a custom controller for their other hand. These inputs would be used in tandem with Microsoft’s existing Xbox Adaptive Controller interface.
During this project, we worked through the entire design life cycle to solve the problem posed by our client. Our client was an upper-arm amputee who wanted a solution that enabled them to play video games to the precision of a first-person combat game. To start, we researched, communicated with our client, and conducted user testing to settle on a preliminary design. Next, we built and iterated over multiple prototypes to refine and adjust our design, and we finally tested our finished product to ensure it met the criteria and needs of our client.
Aim Buddy is comprised of three main parts. The “cup” is a half-spherical padded dish for the user’s residual limb; the “base” is a system of two linear potentiometers to track the movement of the “cup” for the controller input; and the “straps”, which allow the user to flexibly strap Aim Buddy onto their chair.
Features
Flexible and customizable armchair strap attachment
Padded cup for residual limb comfort
Accessible one-arm setup
Dual linear potentiometer system for precise control
Our final joystick, which we named Aim Buddy, allowed us to successfully play FPS games such as shellshock.io. We presented Aim Buddy, along with a 58-page report of the design and fabrication process, in a presentation to our client. The full design document can be found here.
