You are working for a company. Your task is to improve a tool or  appliance from your daily life. Pick a tool or appliance from your daily  life or home and redesign it for better functionality, reliability, and  cost. You are required to create a prototype. What steps would you use  to complete the redesign and prototype? We'll explore this further in  our discussion this week.

Today I will be redesigning my Horizon 7.4 AT treadmill. The heart  rate monitor handles in particular. On this unit there are 2 handles  that house the heart rate monitor that sit at an angle that for me is  not usable while running. I like the speed and incline adjustment wheels  and want to ensure they stay functional with this redesign. The main  issue I have with the heart rate handles is I am too tall for the angle  they are set at. I am required to hunch over to hold onto them properly  so the treadmill can read my heart rate. As you can imagine this is  difficult to do while in motion at anything other than a walking pace.  My redesign will incorporate a knurled shaft and receiver that is  tightened with the mounting bolts used to attach the current handle  bracket to the main body of the treadmill. This will allow the user of  the treadmill to adjust the handles to a more comfortable angle without  sacrificing the rigidity of the handles. The steps I would take to test  and prototype this change is first, create a 3D model of the design in  SolidWorks. With the digital model I would be able to ensure all  components are able to be properly mounted together without  interference. I would then utilize 3D printing to create a physical  prototype of the 3D model that can be used to test the fit and function  of the proposed design. Once the proposed design has been proved  functional by the 3D model, I would commission a steel version of the  handles to be made. The steel version would then be tested for  durability and wear over time. Assuming no issues were found in the  steel version I would proceed to sourcing components. The revised  version could be manufactured cheaper than the original by removing the  weld op that is currently used to join the handle to the bracket. There  would need to be an added knurling op, but this can be performed by less  skilled labor meaning lower cost to manufacture. I would like to  incorporate a more robust locking mechanism with tessellated shaft and  receiver design but that would increase the cost of the assembly quite  considerably. The increased ergonomics and rigidity of the tessellated  design could be used to justify the cost increase of the unit.

Please note I removed the handle tube from the top view.