Learning Sparks Innovative Solutions
With all innovation and creativity, there is a passion driving one's desire to find solutions that make the lives of those around them better. The wonderful truth is that each person has this ability. The question each individual has to ask is what sparks that desire for them? Our team at Design Department is full of passionate designers and innovators that posses the itch to learn more, improve, and consistently make products better. We want to know every detail of why a product does what it does and how it does it, while constantly asking the ‘what if’ questions. ‘What if’ is how our team thrives, and how we consistently develop prototypes and product designs for partner companies no matter how complex a project ends up being.
A Journey to Robotics
Discovering what drives passion makes life exciting. Oftentimes, we get a glimmer of what it is we’re most interested in through an experience. This sparks an interest to learn more about whatever was involved in such circumstances. These moments can happen at home, in school, in the field, or anywhere our lives take us. We found this to be the case for Alexey Ledyukov, a student at ITMO University’s faculty of control systems & robotics, and his story of how he became interested in his designs for an exoskeleton.
Alexey began his mechanical design journey on the 8th grade robotics team, with his first project being a radio-controlled tank. But he didn’t seem to be challenged by this out-of-the-box project. He wanted to do more, so he decided to make his first attempt at designing an exoskeleton. In his first attempt, he utilized flimsy materials, but took note of what wasn’t up to his standards. He used this same approach for his next two versions of the exoskeleton designed with the help of his grandfather.
Discovering Purpose: Designing an Exoskeleton
Discovering what makes you want to learn more can happen at a young age, and with the help and support of mentors during those important timeframes, massive amounts of creativity and innovation can be ignited. Alexey continued his work and eventually developed both a passive and active exoskeleton, which differed in the energy source and overall mass of each prototype. As we strive to do at DDI, Alexey continued asking ‘what if’ questions, such as what if the exoskeleton could be produced in such a way to allow the user to run it it? Or what if this exoskeleton could have more hinge mobility without being so paralytic to a user? He eventually was able to make a more flexible prototype for people of different sizes along with a third prototype that only weighed 100 kilograms. His goal is to make a prototype that is only 40-50 kilograms by using smaller materials and components.
What’s amazing is where Alexey’s continual innovation and passion for knowledge in the production & prototyping world have taken him. Through his involvement with the Baltic Scientific and Engineering competition, as well as other academies, ITMO took notice of his projects and invited him to be admitted. Now Alexey wants to design exoskeletons that could be utilized for rescue missions and air soft equipment. From his early 8th grade robotics to ITMO rescue services and air soft exoskeleton designs, he has come a long way by continuing to learn, innovate, and bring solutions!
Success stories like this hit home for our Design Department team. There is so much potential to be reached and ‘what if’ questions to be asked. This is why we exist. We want to help our clients continually innovate their products to do more than they ever thought possible. Our team is passionate about bringing these ideas to fruition and we’d love to speak with you about how to make this happen.
Check Out Some Design Humor From Our Team!
Article Source: Student Designs an Active Exoskeleton to Lift Weight
