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Walker Project
Group members: Brandt Walton, Collin Vizina, Lucía Carballo, Joel Osuna
The walker project was about improving already existing assistive walkers designs. We explored diverse solutions to our problem by coming up with concepts that would improve maneuverability, weight, size, including having a walker with interchangeable, however, we decided to focus on the idea of improving the convenience of the user by making a walker that would be easy to transport.
Abstract
The purpose of this project was to take an item that hasn’t changed in many years and apply engineering methods and principles we learned to make it much better than before. Engineering is not always about creating something brand new that nobody’s ever done before, but rather by improving and building on what we have today. Our group chose an extreme redesign of a traditional walker that has not changed in years, and we learned so much along the way. We found out how big and bulky mainstream walkers are today and how they lack ease of use for the elderly.
Project Overview
The goal of our project is to create a mass market, universal, more compact walker for easier use and less storage. Current walkers only fold in one direction and are bulky and difficult to store. We believe there is a need for a more easily foldable walker that is made to fit each individual’s needs. Alongside this, our group would like to further the ease at which elderly individuals fold their walker, so we have developed a new spring loaded system to solve this dilemma.
Research
We Believe that the current staple for walkers is difficult to unfold and is far too large when “folded”. Through our research we found that many walkers are too difficult to be folded by the user and the elderly rely on outside assistance for folding. Also, when folded as you can see in the example, the walker is still very large and awkward to fit in the trunk of an average sedan.
The geometry of the sliding mechanism is the largest design constraint because our sliding components do not just slide up and down or side to side but rather in a specified and unique slope. If poorly designed, when trying to fold up the walker it may not slide into place all the way, but rather get stuck along the track.
This will also play into one of our manufacturing constraints because we will have to closely monitor the tolerancing on this piece so it is not too loose nor too tight. If poorly monitored we will end up with a defective product that grinds and or catches when trying to slide into place.
Design Matrix
When deciding on how to narrow the scope of our project, we decided to use a concept decision matrix to eliminate one of the three ideas we had so that we could focus on two more intensely. After debate, we decided that the dual-hinge folding, and the Crank-loading mechanism were the most important and could lead to the best success of our product.
Utility and Function
Our design is the first walker to fold into the size of an umbrella thanks to our one-touch use rotating handles and dual axis folding mechanism.
A spring mechanism is essential for the walker to fold up and down. A locking mechanism, which will be hidden, is also needed to release the sliding legs. This saves the user from having to bend down and unlock the sliding legs.
This increase the portability and relieves the strain on users having to normally bend down for conventional walkers.
Potential Problems
One of the main problems in our design is the folding. When the top bars(handles) are folded inwards, the legs will hit the opposite handle and will be unable to fold completely.
Another potential problem is the fold locking system. If there isn't a guaranteed lock in the folding, the structural members could be in free movement and fail during use. This could cause falls and physical harm to the user.
A major ethics problem is the factor of safety when designing the hinge and locking mechanism. Since we are dealing with elderly people and the risk of injury is high, there will be increased importance on minimizing both cyclic fatigue and increased stress scenarios. (e.g heavier individuals/bizarre situations)
Summary and Conclusion
We wanted to design a walker that is still simple and easy to use for the older generation, but is much more portable than a walker ever has been. We were able to achieve this with our dual axis design that allows our walker to fold into the size of a closed umbrella. Structural integrity was a concern when introducing something that folds into something so small compared to when it is in use. However, we found that aluminum was more than capable of achieving the structural integrity that was desired. Our locking and spring mechanism are by far the most innovative component of this entire project and were designed in a way no walker ever has before. Loading the springs have been designed with emphasis on the usability for elderly individuals. This makes it much easier for seriously restricted users to be independent. We believe with a strong design and structure, this can be the next step in portable walkers.