Week One Progress

SITE
I have completed to site models, one made of plaster and another I developed on Rhino and cut out using the laser cutter. Considering it was my first time using Rhino and the 3D printer, I'd say my attempt was pretty successful. My site area is focused on the head and neck area of the human body. Besides the head being kind of creepy, it will allow me to start developing my ideas to be able to see how it will fit/affect the body.

CONCEPT
The concept of my project is to develop a mask able to filter out the Anthrax bacteria so the user will not inhale the deadly stran. I will be focusing on providing my device to the US Postal Service, because of the outbreak of Anthrax in 2001 by terrorist. Terrorism still exist today, and the threat of another serious outbreak is always on hand. As in 2001, the mail system could be an easy target, because it is so easy to spread the bateria by constant transfer. My goal is to protect the Postal employees from getting infected with Anthrax by inhalation.

STRATEGY
My initial approach was to develop a mask to filter out the bateria, but mask are a pain to wear and it is even more painful to be seen wearing a mask at times. So I wanted to get away from your typical white face mask as much as possible; however, I don't think it is possible to fully get away from the mask itself. So I thought that if I incorporated another idea with the mask, it may make the mask more acceptable to wear. I thought about it, and I have noticed that the Postal vehicals do no have A/C's installed in them. Plus, the mailman is constantly walking in hot or cold conditions. I thought it would be nice to creat a device that would fit around the neck of the user, which would cool or warm the person wearing the devise. After a brief talk with my mailman, I recieved positive feedback on the idea. The only problem is it would be two different systems when, initially, my only goal was to create a device to protect against inhaling Anthrax. I am currently brainstorming, trying to figure out a way to combine the two. In my studio desk critque, I was given the idea of filtering the air by means of water itself. I think this is a great idea and I plan on moving in that direction at this point.