07 - Conclusions & Future Work

Currently, our design contains fixed link lengths, so it is only effective for people with similar shank and foot proportions to the linkage lengths we implemented. Ideally, we would like for the mechanism to be customizable to different sized users since shank and foot proportions differ from person to person. In the future, adjustable linkages would be convenient so that the same mechanism can be used by different people. One option to do this involves cutting slots into the links with notches at certain increments. Then, an additional link with a type of pin could lock at any desired length to fit each user. Additionally, we would want to test the efficacy of our design to confirm that we promote less risk of injury than use without our instrument. We would perform multiple trials, and perhaps compare the difference in how people heal from ACL injuries using and not using the mechanism. In addition to human testing, we would want to receive user feedback and understand areas of improvement from the actual consumer base or other features which would significantly make the product more desirable.

With respect to functional improvements on the mechanism itself, linkage connections could be strengthened as the hinges currently are likely to break if used with great voracity. 3D-printed parts made of ABS plastic would not be sufficiently strong enough to have a long lifetime in a physical application like ours where it may have some rough usage by different people. Better ergonomics and a more slender design could be incorporated to provide a more elegant and streamlined design as well.