The Cultivator 3000

    

In our design and engineering class at gce we are doing a project based around empathy and considering elders needs. The purpose of this project was to take a simple gardening tool and turn it into something that can be more useful to elders. We are doing this because elderly usually aren't considered when designers are designing something. Empathy is putting yourself in somebody else's shoes and seeing things from their point of view and this relates to this project because we need to have empathy and take an elder's perspective and challenges into thought.

Some research I did before coming up with a better tool was going to Home Depot and talking to a worker there. I also interviewed a gardener and got their opinion on hand tools and how it works for them. There are many different tools for different people and different uses. Not everybody uses big tools, most people that just do everyday gardening in their backyards are most likely to just use hand tools rather than big tools for professionals. Not many tools are designed to fit specific people. There are many different versions. A lot of different companies make them look different but they work pretty much the same. The prices vary depending on the material and the length and size.

My tool mixes and breaks apart hard pieces of soil. There are blades that rotate and you go over the soil with it and it does the work for you. It's like a tractor, there is a seat and in the front there is the blades that till the soil. There is also a plastic shield over it so that dirt isn't flying at you.

One Way that our tool is better is that you can sit while tilling your soil instead of standing. Another is that it would be safer because there would be a protective cover over the blades. It would also be electric and if you ever needed to stop there would be a sensor, it would almost work like a Tesla, for example it would stop if you are about to hit something. It would be more durable because there would be an engine and it would be part metal, and plastic. I like to think of my tool as a wedge because the blades go in between the soil to break it up.

There are many ways you can make a tool better depending on what you want in a tool. I think knowing who we were making this tool for was helpful and made it a bit easier to make more efficient. There are many different versions of this tool so we had to take all that into consideration. We weighed out our options and thought about which one was better for our situation. I don't think I would do anything different maybe just think out the materials and the things that go into it. Overall, I enjoyed putting myself in somebody else's shoes and designing something more efficient for them.