Progress Report Draft
We started out with a mission for this project; to create a device that will make reduced mobility easier to deal with in all situations. Not just to create a system that will enable, but a system that will adapt, to the environment and to the user. By creating a customizable, flexible system we make the transition from difficulty to ease more seamless, and allow more freedom for possibility in both the use and development of the project.
As a group we conferred on the definition of 'mobility' and the framework to which the device would be applied. We decided that two main categories of mobility had to be considered:
Personal mobility
The ability for the user to move and orient themselves in their environment.
Mobility of possessions
The ability to carry possessions in a way to make the stored items as small a burden as possible.
We focussed on the first category and thought up a type of cane (diagram 1.1), which can adapt to personal need. This attachment would be strapped to the user's arm, and would feature a retractable cane for optional support, as well as a gripped hook to hold onto railings
Since we wanted to include both of these types of mobility, our choice of mechanisms became smaller, and we got a better idea of what we needed to create. We needed something with substantial storage, requiring space, but at the same time, something flexible, customizable and portable that could be applied to a variety of situations.
For example, to make something with substantial storage mobile, we needed to employ a wheel-based design to handle the load.
For this purpose we design a possible enhancement on our previous design. We designed an attachment to allow the user to easily latch onto a luggage bag for rolling storage (Diagram 2). The attachment has a specially designed hook to attach to the luggage bag and make pulling the bag easier. There is a major flaw in this design, however, as the retractable cane can't deploy while the person is carrying the luggage bag, these systems have a serious incompatibility. We knew that another approach was required.
To create a device that could store a wide variety of objects but could also act as a device to support the user in a wide variety of environments.
Our solution to this problem was to incorporate both aspects, mobility of the person, and of possessions, to create a device that would be highly dynamic and be able to store a large quantity, but also a variety of different objects. To achieve this end, we designed a system to create a single point of structural integrity, one single pivot on which the entire system would fold out on, as seen in figure 3.2.
This is our final design and takes into account use in many situations.