LIFE UPDATE + Further Research

Hello readers,
I am back, after a while spent away to focus on my prediction exams (for readers not from the UK, these are exams taken in the penultimate year of school that are used to apply to university with). Now that they are over a lot has happened in that time.
Probably the biggest thing that has happened to me was getting awarded the Silver Award, for Second Place in the Nation for the Young Engineer of the Year Award. For something like this to happen to me is not something I take lightly and I am still in shock about it! However there is more detail to go into about it so I will elaborate in another post.
I have also been working on my Gamekid project. My last game is almost complete (just getting graphics ready) and then the plans for the actual Gamekid's body design should be in headway.
So as promised I have done further research. As you will remember in my previous post I went to a tech exhibition (amazing might I add) and that inspired me to hit up some of the people there. Mitt actually came back to me, and I'll give the transcript of the question and answer sort of interaction that ensued over email:

Dear Wear Mitt,

My name is Emmauela Onah and I am an Arkwright Scholar and aspiring electronic engineer and currently in year 12. A couple of months back I attended the Imperial College Lates, where a smart tech exhibition was taking place. I visited your stall and was really amazed to see your creation! I find it so cool how the robotic arm works like a normal arm, and makes use of internal sensors to mimic the movement of a wrist. I have a blog I update, at www.craetif.blogspot.com and I have written a small section on how I found your stall so inspiring, especially as I really want to specialise in the fusion between electronics and wearables /  body parts. I hope you don’t mind me asking you to go into perhaps more detail on how the product was made – I am really curious to know these things:

What materials did you use to make it and how/where were they incorporated into the design?

We like to keep things simple. We use materials that are similar to what you find in trainers. Just standard fabrics and plastics that have been used in the clothing and sporting goods industries. 

Where were electronics used, and how were they manufactured. Also, how did you make a circuit in the Mitt?

Again – keeping it simple is our motto. The device that we created that is being trialled by people with limb-differences around the UK does not have any electronics! Instead it has interchangeable tools that are designed to help people do all the unique things they tell us they love, or really need, to do. The original prototype was manufactured by Nate and his third year Mechanical Engineering project group at Imperial and they used standard servo motors and circuit boards that they coded and assembled themselves. But when they tested that device with our friend Alex Lewis, who is a designer, father and also a quadruple amputee, he said I don’t need these electronics that make it heavy and expensive. He echoed what we still hold to today- make it affordable, comfortable and easy to use. That is how we have got to where we are at today – by following Alex’s, and many others around the UK, feedback on what they actually want their prosthetics to do and how they want it to feel. 

Where do you see wearable technology going in the future?

This excites us a lot! Keeping it simple now allows us to help more people, sooner, but can start adding more complexity to the designs later. The wearables industry has made tremendous progress in the last 10 years in making electronics smaller and more affordable than ever before, that will be coupled with innovative textiles to create an incredible new world of intelligent, wearable consumer products. 

The feedback, while a little vague in some areas, was very insightful and I'm very excited to research more into the types of materials that are used in trainers and prosthetics, and discovering the parts that are often mixed and matched in the prosthetics industry. I'm currently reading a book called "Think Like an Engineer" and its really interesting to see how the idea of making things adaptable and reusing parts has been a thing since the time of Gribeauval where weaponry was maximised revolutionarily by focussing not just on the function of the design but the usability of the design that aids the function. 
I look forward to returning  with even more information!
EO