Reflection

My design has changed quite a bit from its first iteration.

My first version of this concept involved the user dragging the sled as it skids along the ground, overcoming the mud and silt. This would be achieved through low friction skids made of Delrin Polymer and the user would drag it behind them. This very notion proved hard to achieve. The combination of mud and debris would make it very difficult to carry a load over this kind of surface, even with the use of this special material. Loads in excess of 60kgs would be incredibly difficult to overcome, as I experienced through my full scale experiments.

Through the addition of wheels, I was able to overcome this problem. I originally wanted to avoid the use of wheels, as traditional wheelbarrows would be immobilised in the deluge. But by positioning the wheels toward the rear of the product, as well as using large, wide, pneumatic tyres, the likely-hood of this happening was drastically reduced. I had gone through several designs where the wheels would be stored in recesses within the chassis, but this added unnecessary areas of the mould, rendering the chassis large. Instead it was found to be better to have the product become a dedicated rolling chassis, rather than have it dragged.

The initial size of my product was unpractically large. Its width was meant to allow 2 bodies to be laid side by side. This was incredibly impractical, as the weight of this load would exceed 100kgs, making it nearly impossible to drag along the ground in my products current form.

My product was then given a diet. It was slimmed down significantly, only allowing room for 1 body, and the profile trimmed down to make an easier frame to transport. My materials were narrowed down; no longer would I use the expensive Delrin, as it was no longer required due to the addition of wheels. The chassis would now be made completely of High Density Polyethylene primarily for its cost and its ability to be moulded.

Overall I believe my product was able to achieve what I had set out. I believe there really is room for this product and that it would in fact aid greatly during a Tsunami and can easily be used for other natural disasters, as with any disaster, aid needs to be distributed and dead bodies need to be moved, exactly what my product is designed to perform.