What is I-Glove-U

I-Glove-U is an automated glove wearing machine which allows the user to eliminate the need to strech the gloves and reduce contact of the gloves to maintain hygiene which highly prioritised in medical and food industry. So, how does I-Glove-U works?

Idea Inspiration

The idea for I-Glove-U was inspired by the team which faced difficluities to wear rubber gloves in the chemical labaratory in school. The tight fitting rubber gloves are designed to fit tightly with its latax properties which causes the gloves to be difficult to wear. The thin properties of he gloves also causes the gloves to be torn easily from hands movements and stretchings, thus wasting time and resources. Also, surgeons and doctors who are required to disinfect their hands are prone to bacterial infections. The same goes to food industrial workers who place hygene as their top priority when processing foods. The process of wearing gloves requires lots of physical contact with the gloves which can easily cause the spread of bacterial. The I-Glove-U will include a disinfectant system to disinfect the bacterials while wearing gloves to maintain cleanliness. 

How I-Glove-U Works ?

I-Glove-U is designed using simple physics and mechanics to function. The main structure of the box will be made by PLA thermoplastic due to its light, cheap and strong properties. The user is required to place the gloves around two movable support rings on each sides and it will expends the wrist section of the glove. By sucking out the air in the chamber using a vacuum pump at the back of the chamber, creating a vacuum environment in the chamber which allows the gloves to expend due to the difference in air pressure. Four buttons indicating Small (S), Medium (M), Large (L) and Extra Large (XL) is designed to allow the users to input the size of the glove and the support will expand accordingly to the user inputs.

Project Timeline

Budget Plan

The total amount required to manufactue I-Glove-U is RM 1500. The total amount pledged will be allocated as seen in the table below.

Project Plan

The team is currently facing a budget crisis for our CDIO module project, thus the team is turning towards crowdfunding platforms to raise budget for our project. The funds will be used to assemble a proper working prototype project and to further improve our project. The project duration will be held until the end of November and the prototype will be demonstated during the Engineering Fair event.

Production

The team will be improving the idea of the I-Glove-U using the experience from the producing the first prototype which was able to expand but unable to reload automatically. To make the product, the chassis of the I-Glove-U and the glove rings will first be 3D Printed using 3D printers available in Taylor's University, then a fan blade of the desired size will also be either 3D printed or brought from hardware shops for the partial vacuum system. The electronics of the system will then be brought from vendors and then assembled and installed in a control box that contains all the electronics and wirings. Programming will be done by Amos Goay, and Johnathan Kau to allow the glove rings to expand and contract, and a mechanism for an automated reloading system will be formulated and added in later on. After gathering and printing all the parts required, all that is left would be assembly and programming, and also adding in the reloading system which will be the main challenge.

Team Introduction

Introducing from the left, Tan Jia Hao, Amos Goay, Hong Jian Hua, and Johnathan Kau, the project team.

The team has developed a project risk management to indicate the challenges and oppoturnities of the project. During research, the team found out that there is similar project in existence. Therefore, the team needs to up our game to overcome the challenges faced by other competitors. The greatest challenge that the team faced is the design of an automated glove reloading system to replace the gloves into position after the gloves had been worn. It has been some time where the team tought of an idea to overcome this problem, but is without success but we will not give up.