a. Describe your partner
My partner is a very happy, and energetic woman. She has worked before in assistive technology workshops, therefore she already knows the dynamic regarding us trying to make a product that will help her overcome her difficulties. She is very eager to collaborate with the questions we ask her, and expresses her concerns freely. Every week she has been very participative in attempting to improve the prototypes we bring in for her to try on. She is very eager about the progress we have made with her umbrella holder, and her enthusiasm inspires my other partner and me to make the best of her experience. I am very excited to see her using this product in her daily life to improve commodities while going out in the street. As well as very eager to receive her feedback once she uses it under rainy weather conditions, that way we can improve it even further to make her user experience more satisfactory.
b. What are their desires/challenges/difficulties?
Since my partner uses a wheelchair, her main difficulty is carrying an umbrella when she is outside and it’s raining. This is due to the umbrella being too heavy for her to hold onto the whole time, and troublesome when it comes to controlling the wheelchair. Therefore, she desires something that will help her facilitate that process; an object that will keep her umbrella in place under any circumstance she may need. Further into details of the umbrella holder, my partner wants it to be situated in the middle of the wheelchair, that way it could cover the most area possible around her body. As well as, she wants to be able to store it in a convenient, accessible area, while it is not at use or necessary to take out. Another challenge she has, is going out at night or when it is dark, as cars cannot see her or identify her wheelchair in the dark.
c. What is your project?
Our project idea has been redefined from the first concept that was introduced. It is a collapsable, stable umbrella holder that will be fixed onto the left side of our partner’s wheelchair. This holder is made out of steel and plastic, and contains many rotating areas so just as it provides support for the umbrella, it also adjusts according to our partner’s needs. This product will be secured with a velcro strap when not in use. When in need of use, the umbrella holder will be able to be detached from the velcro and moved towards the center of the users body, to protect as much area as possible of my partner’s body from the rain. This project is aimed to help our partner feel more comfortable when having to go out on rainy days, since she can use her hands freely, while being under her secured umbrella. In addition to the umbrella holder, we also have the idea of adding reflective stickers to her wheelchair. This part of the project is aimed towards helping our partner be visible for cars at night, so she can comfortably go out in the dark without fear of getting into an accident.
d. Development process. With photos and video(s)
Our prototype has developed through different phases based on different materials. We initiated creating a model in paper, in order to see where it has to be placed, around what size, and how the rotations will actually occur. Later on, we used the paper prototype to create a basis of how strong the tube should be, by using as an example a water pipe. This design was tested on our partner’s wheelchair, and later iterated with materials bought on Taob ao for a steel holder.
After user testing two prototypes of steel holders, we noticed that both needed to be accommodated for our partner’s needs. Therefore, we created an iteration of the original idea, with different parts of both prototypes.
For this, we deconstructed the tubes, and placed them in such a way that the longer tube was aimed towards helping my partner have a more suitable umbrella height; whereas the smaller tube was used to fix the length of the product (the distance towards the middle that the umbrella would cover above my partner’s legs). We secured these new adaptations to the holder and the wheelchair through screws and hot glue.
Later on, my partner mentioned that she would also like the holder to be collapsable in a convenient way for her to access it at any times, as well as store it whenever not in use. For this reason we decided to situate a velcro strap on the side of the holder and chair, so she can find it more comfortable to carry around the product at all times.
The Final product iteration looks as following, however we further added an extra layer of reinforcement to the bottom part by drilling a hole and putting a screw to make sure it supports the weight of our partner’s umbrella.
We also added reflective stickers on the back and the side of our partner’s wheelchair.
Final image of user with wheelchair and project.
e. What was your difficulties?
Our difficulties were mainly focused on the elaboration of the product itself, as even though we used objects preordered from Taobao, there were arrangements that needed to be made to them in order to adjust to our partner’s needs. For example, when the height of the umbrella holder had to be adjusted, we needed to make sure that while adding a new tube on the top, it would be just as stable as the rest. Another difficulty and probably the main concern we faced was ensuring the umbrella holder would be able to hold and support the weight of our partner’s umbrella, as it was quite hard for it to stay in place at all times without moving to the sides. We fixed this problem by adding extra support to the length of the umbrella holder. However, we are still pending on our partner to give us feedback on how effective the umbrella holder is under different weather conditions.
f. What did you learn from this 4-week workshop?
From this 4-week workshop I learned that if we set standard goals and continuously iterate ideas, then great products can be created as a mutual cooperation between users and students. I have learned that no matter how complex the technologies, whether they are interactive screens or adjustable holders, they can improve another person’s life by assisting them in their challenges. In the case of our partner, she actively engaged with us to make the best of the four weeks and indeed end up with a final product that hopefully will help her fully overcome her challenge. However, I do have to highlight that we had classmates who’s experience was not as satisfactory, as they had more challenges with their user either arriving or openly communicating with them. Therefore, based on my experience, I can state that my biggest reflection is upon open communication with the user; and how just as it can be one of the major difficulties, it can also become one of the greatest advantages, as it is key for a successful project. It is a mutual relationship/symbiosis of the students wanting to help, and the users being open, eager, and wanting to accept the help, that assistive technologies completely fulfill their aims. My partner and me delivered our project, and were very satisfied with it. We consider there is still room for improvement once a real-life testing with weather conditions is held. However, for the time being we accomplished the goal of delivering our user the product that will solve her difficulty to the best of our current abilities, and she was very happy with the outcome as well.
g. Presentation File Link
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1c8rkSclVnuvILxNL2SBONFhfhYq-gN0J-2rIKzg1IwA/edit?usp=sharing