Project Development
a. Describe your partner
Our partner is a very kind, energetic and participative person. She is very eager to collaborate with the questions we ask her, and expresses her concerns freely. During this week’s interview, a new aspect that we encountered in our partner, was that she wants the umbrella holder to be fixed on her wheelchair, and comfortable to have around, as specially nowadays in the winter she was describing to us how she uses the umbrella quite often.
b. What are their desires/challenges/difficulties?
An additional desire and challenge that our partner expressed regarding the umbrella holder, was for it to be situated in the middle of the wheelchair, that way it could cover the most area possible around her body. Furthermore, she also expressed wanting (if possible) to have an additional storage area where she would put the umbrella after using it, in order for it to dry.
c. What is your project? 1 paragraph description + pictures or videos
Our project is a collapsable umbrella holder that will be attached from the side tube of the wheelchair and will move towards the center of the users body, in order to support any type of umbrella with different sizes and weights. This product is aimed to help our partner hold her umbrella on rainy days without getting her hand tired.
d. Development process. Include 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 TaoBao for a steel holder. For this following week’s meeting, we will test this new prototype in order to find its most suitable place and length on the wheelchair based on our partner’s comfort as well.
