e-NABLE R&D Leader
A specific person in charge of coordinating research and development within e-NABLE. This refers to CAD and digital design. The discussion is about whether this (paid) role is needed, and it's exact roles, as well as possible people that might help or be appropriate for the role.
Alexander (Maverick - EU-RO) Fri 16 Jul 2021 8:10PM
my main reason for needing such a role filled is that personally, as a designer, I want to do the CAD work, but I have no idea what the community actually needs, so on my own I have a lot of pressure from that. Moreover, lone designers might have great ideas, but without guidance and checking from a community experienced person, they might end up designing something both great and unusable. I have been told of such cases that were funded, and ended up seeing much less action than expected.
Alexander (Maverick - EU-RO) Sat 17 Jul 2021 1:14PM
Moreover, while I understand and mostly agree why e-NABLE is designed to be decentralized, I think as a community it has achieved critical mass quite some time ago, without putting this mass behind an obvious goal. As it stands right now, I personally think e-NABLE can (easily) become a Hub of research in the field of prosthetics, especially since it probably contains more involved people (engineers, medical and others) than any other singular prosthetics entity on the planet, besides only country or international level prosthetist meetings. I do get that everyone is doing volunteer work just by being present, but I doubt that I'm the only one waiting for a precise target to push towards.
Bob Rieger Fri 16 Jul 2021 11:33PM
I believe Alexander's concept is noble and most certainly has value to the community. Having several times experienced putting together teams in e-NABLE, it is not a trivial undertaking, requiring considerable commitment of time and frequent communication. Therefore, I feel it would be best to set modest goals for the position at the beginning, expanding scope as time and success allows.
Alexander (Maverick - EU-RO) Sat 17 Jul 2021 1:06PM
I think Jeremy and Ben have given similar warnings :) Do you have any suggestions which goals should take priority in the beginning?
I also want to mention that, if the position of a Leader is successfully filled, by me or someone else, the position will in the future end up needing assistance to achieve the full undertaking. Hopefully such a position would also bring forth the best from the community, which would in turn create even more work. Granted at this point this are just delusional ideas.
Alexander (Maverick - EU-RO) · Fri 16 Jul 2021 8:08PM
In my mind, this includes coordinating new and old CAD and digital designers to projects, keeping proper documentation on all the ongoing research projects, including requesting data from chapters.
The main lines of my thinking (albeit this might be too large for a role):
find designers (explore the community) and document them (their skills and experience)
contact chapters about their ongoing research; document that
poll, find and describe meaningful research directions for the future/present
manage designers (either document their direction of work, OR direct them to projects: either EWC distribution (with the help of Bob Rieger), or cases or research)
help designers in their work (sourcing ideas, sourcing sources of ideas (internet or bringing other people), connect them with all relevant resources, define their needs)
Such a person would need to either become a "device specialist" or be one. Where a device specialist is someone who has experience using most of the devices and can guide the maker and user through the right choices.