Modular Walking Aid

A product that caters to patients with fluctuating levels of mobility.

An Overview

One of the challenging aspects with Walking Aids is that they only cater for a certain level of mobility. This may restrict people who have fluctuating levels of mobility and could impact of the users level of independence. I have designed a product which offers different levels of support for the user all in one product, with a detachable walking stick, rollator and seat to offer flexibility.

The Brief

Design a walking aid that can offer different levels of support, helping users that experience variable mobility throughout the day or a week.

The Problem

My client Mrs Jones came in to the hairdressers where I worked, using a 3 wheeled walking aid to enter the salon, but would carry a walking stick in her handbag to use when she was walking to her chair. It was clear to me that she didn't always need the rollator's level of support, but holding her walking stick in her bag was inconvenient. Current walking aids only provide support for one level of need, when many patient's need of support may vary throughout the day and overtime, perhaps needing only a walking stick in the morning but need extra support as they tire throughout the day. They also can’t be folded easily or disassembled to fit in the car and are not aesthetically pleasing.

The User / Demographic

My product is aimed at individuals with limited mobility, aged 55 and above, for example my client Mrs Jones who cannot walk outdoors without her rollator due to problems with her balance. My target market are those individuals who wish to remain independent: valuing cost, functionality, storage, transferability and safety from their walking aid. They might suffer from conditions such as Osteoarthritis, Parkinsons or Multiple Sclerosis and rely on the walking aid in everyday life.

Research

I conducted intensive research into my target market’s health conditions and interviewed health professionals and users of walking aids to gain a more personal understanding. I also analysed existing products to pinpoint components I wanted to keep and anthropometric data to ensure the walking aid caters to the correct measurements of my user.

Design

I began my design process with simple ideas of how I could incorporate a collapsible walking stick into a 3 wheeled walker, gaining inspiration from Marcel Breuer's "Wassily Chair" with an angular design. I wanted to include a foldable chair, which I eventually developed into a bag with the fabric for the 'lid' of the bag acting like a seat- similar to the seat in Breuer's chair. This developed into a 4-in-1 concept which will help my user as they will have less things to carry. I kept the theme of the C shapes or 'half hexagons" throughout my design. I used an iterative approach, continuing to change my designs as I modelled, developing my approach with each modification. For example, after I realised I needed extra support to stabilise the prototype, I found a way to stabilise the structure by sketching different ideas. I finally came up with a way to secure the product and use this as the way to make the product adjustable and collapsible. My final design gave me clear intentions of how I wanted my prototype to look and helped inform my manufacturing plan.

Prototype

I mapped out the sides of the walking aid to the correct anthropometric data on paper. From this I made a halving joint, but after fixing all of the joints together I decided to use a router to round the joints and use knock down fittings to mimic human knees bending and make the sides adjustable. However by doing this, the sides become less stable, so I had to adapt my design, adding a recycled crutch and designing a fixture at the top that enabled the support to slide as the user adjusted the walking aid to their preferred height.

Once the sides were both singularly secure, I used the CAD software Solidworks to create clips that I drilled into the pine sides. The copper tubes clipped into them, making a supportive hexagon shape. I then used the same CAD designs to attach the walking stick at the top of the walker (making it easily accessible) changing the radius of the clips to fit the stick. To finish off the project I made wheels on a lathe and modelled some ergonomic handles out of polymorph. I then spray painted the whole prototype in a neutral black.

Evaluation

To evaluate, I considered the strengths and weaknesses: the prototype met most aspects of the brief, providing different levels of support, collapsing easily and being the right height for the user. However, a lot of the feedback consisted of criticism of the aesthetics and overall the walker was not very lightweight. I also considered how the product might be commercially viable and mass produced as well as receiving client feedback and analysing the final prototype against my specification.