Production Video!

After a whole lot of hand making, videography, story boarding, and video editing we mad the first production-level live demo video. Soon I will be posting the storyboards and elements that went into this video.

Although its not perfect, we are pretty happy with the outcome.

The video is hosted on Vimeo because of its size and HD qualities. 

http://vimeo.com/80761732

All the details on the slow motion capture

This week we were able to make serious progress with the high speed camera and our drop column demos. Below are some photos from our day in the laboratory and some video products from the shots. We are one step away from having a production level video. Kudos to Sid and Spencer for some great work.

Prepping a hand for the drop column

These were our conditions on the day of the shoot. We had to open the bay door because we needed the natural light for the high-speed camera.

Using the new drop column from an elevated work platform in the University of Colorado Structures Laboratory.

Spencer draining the tested hand. Take a close look at the labeling of that trash can :)

This is the aftermath of a drop...sometimes difficult to explain but very effective in achieving our goals. This is what an unattended hand would look like after being struck by a concrete chisel from a 10-foot drop.

This is the resulting video from a high-speed drop. We are very pleased. You are seeing the hand hit on the radial artery. The blood bladder has the same internal pressure as your arteries (approximately 2 psi). Pretty dramatic and very realistic.

Scaling UP!

Today I began making hands for a CoP Project in Australia. I figured folks out there may like to see what the process looks like to create one of these hands. Below is a time lapse video over 45 mins. Add 120 minutes for curing and viola! Ten more hands to go.

CoP Conference

Short story: The ConocoPhillips Conference went really well. There was no question that the conference was early since our project started only 2 months ago BUT it was a wonderful opportunity to showcase the idea and receive feedback early in the journey. Overall, the idea received overwhelming support from the global community. Multiple times we received comments like: "you are really onto something!" " You cant stop!" "Don't give up on this idea" and "How do I bring this to my region." Feedback like this is excellent motivation to keep the project moving forward rapidly and for thinking BIG!

Here is how the conference went down:

Day 1 (Sunday): Matt and Alex arrive at the conference venue in Houston with a load of baggage.  We brought all of the hands, a high-speed camera, the materials for the demos, and the presentations. Traveling through TSA with a cooler full of hands was an interesting experience. They did not like it.

Once we arrived we knew that we had a lot of work ahead of us because these would be our very first demos. Since we had to focus first on making the hands, no demos were complete. As a person who likes to share things that are finished and polished, this was certainly outside of my comfort zone.

Dave and his colleague Glen brought the 10 ft long clear acrylic pipe for the drop demo and the proper PPE. Once we all got together, we started practice.

Alex holding the 4 in diameter pipe, Dave about to drop, and Glen holding the ladder

Day 2 (Monday AM): The entire conference kicked off with our demo. Since ConocoPhillips begins their meetings with a "safety moment," we were up first. Our plan was for me to present the Live demo concept and show some of the high speed video for the situation with a glove and without a glove. The presentation was a huge hit and was mentioned several times later in the conference. Below are the key videos from the presentation.

This video is without a glove. Contact pressure of the chisel is 9000 psi

This video captures the falling chisel with the glove. The impact pressure is reduced by 98% because of the increase in contact area. 

Day 2 (Monday PM): The afternoon was filled with trying to get our second demo complete. Do we use a grinder or a box cutter? The answer was quickly determined once Dave tried cutting a sample hand with a box cutter. The knife went through the hand like butter - just like it would with real skin. We knew immediately that the the demo had to be a cut with a box cutter. The box cutter demo ended up being an excellent choice because it focuses on the decision to use the right tool (which is sometimes inconvenient) or the easy tool (e.g., box cutter, which is NEVER the right tool). The demo also deals with an issue that plagues almost every project.

Day 3 (Tuesday AM): We kicked off the second day conference similar to the first. Our goal with the second presentation was to do two demos: the full-scale drop column and the box cutter demo. We had shown the videos above on the first day but wanted to demonstrate the actual full-size drop column. The second demo would involve using the right tool to cut a cable tie and a video showing the box cutter hitting a hand.

The presentation was well executed. Unfortunately, as we feared, the drop column didnt work quite right. The diameter of the pipe is so large that we cant be sure to hit the hand every time. Of course, both drops int eh live presentation missed after every one in our practice hit. Fortunately, we had a back-up plan and I had a hand that had been hit to show the camera.

The slow motion laceration of a box cutter

Day 3 (Tuesday PM): The afternoon of the second day of the conference involve an "un-poster session." In this session we had one-on-one time with the conference attendees. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. This session gave us the confidence to know that this would receive broad and long-term support. Below are some photos from this session taken by Alex.

Our booth

Showing off the Phantom camera

Showing off the hands. People thought "cool" or "creepy" but everyone had some sort of memorable reaction.

We had a steady crowd for the whole 2-hour period - How cool!

The Kong gloves were a pretty big hit. new to almost everyone.

Lots and Lots of Hands

After a long weekend, we now have a fluid process and a whole lot of hands. We have come a long way but it looks like we have a sustainable and productive operation.

A new, more streamlined operation. Hands take about 2 hours to make and require about $40 in materials

The blood bladders are leak-free and easy to install.

We have a pile of defect hands for preliminary testing and six new hands for show time!

In one week we will be heading to Houston for ConocoPhillips conference where we will be doing a live demonstration. Wish us luck!

PS. I need to stop watching Breaking Bad as I make these hands because I am starting to refer to them as a "cook."

SloMo Safety Video

The first safety video is out! In a demo conducted by our supplier, we can observe the stress distribution that occurs when a concrete chisel is dropped from a height of 10 cm. This height is certainly sufficient to break skin. we hope to obtain enough funding to purchase a camera like this to observe impacts on the body from tools, projectiles, falling objects, electricity, etc. It is amazing the detail that you can see in these videos.

Check out the YouTube video here

Using the mold and embedding blood bladder and bones

Now that the reusable mold is complete, it was time to try it out. We learned the hard way that the mold needs to stay very rigid. We ended up having serious leaks around the edges due to the compression of the straps. The hand was mediocre but we learned a whole lot in the process. The next pour should go more smoothly.

The hand is a little off kilter but has an embedded blood bladder and bones. If we can get the mold set up correctly, I think we have a suitable process. Interestingly, when we were cleaning up the damaged hand we realized that the hands will be quite difficult to cut with a box cutter and may even be difficult to pierce. We will have to test them and find out.

Some photos from the latest activities:

The mold from our last activities

We poured a small amount. Since the dragon skin mix sticks to itself, we can pour in stages. Once the first stage started to set, we installed the blood bladder and bones.

Kind of cool side-by-side photo. You can start to see how realistic this really is. The bladder and hosing replicate, very accurately, the Radial Artery.

Once the first layer of dragon skin has cured, we installed the top half of the mold and reassembled part of the plexiglass casing. Unfortunately, we learned later that we should have reassembled the whole box. The syringe is for later pumping a blood mixture into the hand's blood bladder.

The mess. The compression straps were too tight and caused a gap to form in the edges of the mold. 

The disaster. With some cleaning up it wasn't a total loss.

The hand didn't turn out too terribly. It can be used for testing but isnt the prettiest thing. This photo shows pumping blood into the blood bladder.

Close-up of a hand with artery and wrist bone. Not too bad.

Success! Making a reusable mold is not the easiest thing to do but we did it!

Our team of three embarked on a more informed journey to create a realistic hand. Using the knowledge gained from our first experiments, we attempted the following process:

1. Cast a negative using alginate
2. Cast a positive with resin (with a wrist this time)
3. Construct a plexiglas box
4. Cover the resin hand half with clay and install acorn nuts
5. Spray all surfaces liberally with mold release
6. Pour silicone rubber in the box to fill the container
7. Once cured, strip the box and remove the clay
8. Level all surfaces, spray with mold release, and pour again
9. Strip the form and yield 2 halves
10. Party

Here are some photos of key moments in this process.

This is our spread. all of the materials needed for the aforementioned steps!

Our team (Alex and Spencer) taking initial measurements

Mixing alginate. This is a 50/50 mix by volume water/alginate powder

Waiting...I had the pleasure of casting my hand in the alginate. It takes about 8 minutes to cure. In the meantime, you must be very still as the alginate/water mixture cures. I was nominated for this task because I have the smallest hands.

Aerial view of Spencer mixing resin. Yes, it was well ventilated!

Pouring the resin with high hopes.

High five! The resin cast worked...very well.

Trimming the excess resin from the wrist. It is strange to cut
a replica of your own wrist.

Resin hand in the Plexiglas box. This was uncharted territory.

Since we need two halves, we must cover up one half with clay before pouring the silicone mold. This was VERY time consuming.

This is the hand half covered in clay. The acorn nuts are to key the surface so the silicone halves fit perfectly when casting in the future.

The resin hand with clay and acorn nuts in the Plexiglas box.

Mixing the silicone rubber for the first half

Mixing parts A and B!

Pouring the silicone rubber...you must be very careful!

The hand once the rubber has been poured and the Plexiglass has been stripped.

We put the box back together, sprayed it all down with mold release, and poured the second half of the silicone rubber over the first half (resin hand stays in place)

This is the final block. It doesn't look like much but...

Once you separate the two halves and the resin hand, you can see that this is a reusable silicone mold. The acorn nuts can be used to help line up the halves. If you look closely, you can see the funnel we made for pouring. The whole purpose of this mold is to be able to later skip the alginate steps and pour many exact copes of a hand for demonstrations. This is important for demos that are aimed at showing the difference in injury with and without gloves, for example.

Learning from mistakes...

Based on ConocoPhllips data, we decided to focus on hand injuries for our first LiveDemo. There are a surprising number of hand injuries related to grinders, box cutters, and falling objects. Logically, that meant we needed to make some super realistic hands for use in demos. Unfortunately, there is little guidance on the web for such things (for good reason, I think). There began our adventure...

On a trip to Boston (on the way to my wedding) we decided to do some initial experiments with lifecasting. Our goal was to make a reusable mold through the following steps:
1. Use alginate to cast a one-time negative of a hand
2. Use a high strength resin to make a positive by pouring the resin directly into the alginate
3. Use the resin positive and plaster to make a reusable negative for later pouring a specially designed mix.

Interestingly, this is how crowns (for teeth) are made by dentists. This is where we got the idea.

The first two steps went very smoothly. Alginate is an interesting material. It is actually found in a lot of foods as a thickening agent. It is extracted from seaweed, absorbs water very quickly, and sets from a liquid to solid in a matter of ~8 mins. It is also safe for the skin and captures very fine detail on the surfaces to which it is exposed. It also smells like candy, which is cool.

This is what the alginate looks like when it has cured.
In this photo the resin has already been poured into the cavity

The resin, while volatile and quite noxious, was easy to mix and pours quickly. We poured the liquid resin directly into the void of the alginate mold and allowed the resin to set for about 1 hour.

This is the resin hand once the alginate has been stripped. 

After an hour, the alginate is stripped and...viola...an incredibly high detailed replica of a hand. The only problem: The resin hand is nothing like a human hand.

Now, for the problematic part. After a few tries we learned quickly that typical plaster will not work for making a reusable mold. The resin sticks and the plaster captures almost no detail.

Resin hand in plaster in our (failed) attempt to make a reusable negative.

We had to stop our experiment there. Since I was getting married in a few days, I needed to divert my attention to flowers, cake, and my fiancee!

Kick off!

We are starting the journey to create the first true Live Learning Laboratory for construction safety. The idea is simple: Most workers do not learn from PowerPoint sing-alongs. Rather, they learn and retain important information better when they see and experience REAL events.

We are targeting three main questions:

1. Can we show people what its like to be injured without actually injuring them?
2. Will live demos improve learning and retention?
3. Will this experience change their perspective of and tolerance for risk?

This project is a partnership between the University of Colorado and ConocoPhillips. Fortunately, our collective team has a wealth of safety management knowledge, we know how workers are being injured, and we are well versed in the theory of effective teaching and learning. We do not yet know how to model injuries in a hyper-realistic manner or how experiential learning impacts risk tolerance and retention. This blog will document our journey to learn LifeCasting, experiential safety demonstration, sensing, high speed videography, and  much more. This blog will also document my journey to learn how to blog.

Hand injuries like this are all too common in our industry! In this project we will start by realistically modeling hand injuries.