Reflections

What have you learnt?
I have learnt that it takes a lot of innovation and work to create a perfect product. A lot of thoughts have to be put into the design to make sure it is successful, and that it can work. I also realise that it is only possible to innovate like entrepreneurs when there is an opportunity, but opportunities are hard to come by. I have also learnt that brainstorming is very useful as it helps me to generate creative ideas, albeit impractical.

What difficulties have you encountered?
One of the difficulties have encountered is to decide on what to make. I have tried to research for suitable products but it seems very strange to construct some of those designs in the Internet. Another difficulty will be finding suitable materials to design, or should I say construct, my walking stick prototype.

How do you overcome the difficulties encountered?
I decided to get ideas from my friends after explaining to them the challenge I had adopted. I also tried to ask them to decide which of my ideas were more viable, and which idea would be much more creative. By getting suggestions from others, I chose to work on a walking stick, thus I was able to get the idea of creating a simple walking stick with a compartment for storing an umbrella.

As for my other difficulty, I tried to look back at my design considerations, as well as Ergonomics & Anthropometry. I chose materials based on whether they were safe to use, or effective when it was used. With that, I crafted out my idea on my ADMT journal, before deciding on the specific materials I would be using. This would help solve my major problem in finding materials to construct my prototype.



Reflection-Prototype

During the process, I encountered several difficulties in finding ways to document the evidence. We keep racking our brains to try to show how comfortable the product is, with simple but in-depth explanations. Therefore, we have to discuss for a long period of time before getting our answers.

We overcome the difficulties encountered by trying to get everyone to voice out their views and then try to compare our answers.

My key takeaways from the product is that we must try to find out how we can measure the key component of our design considerations, like comfort, ease of use, etc. It can be qualitative or quantitative, depending on whether it can be defined numerically.

We must also ask for people's opinion and make use of the user's body language to determine whether a certain component is being fulfilled. This is usually quantitative, as it can be measured and defined numerically.

Ergonomics (Product Description and Idea Trigger)

This product is a corkscrew that can be used to open caps of wine bottles. It is as big as my palm and it is red and silver in colour. It is made up of gears covered by the movable red portion. There are two handles at the side. Pushing the tip downwards will anchor it in the cap. The tip can be turned to slowly remove the bottle caps. The end is shaped like a drill and it is very sharp.

What must be taken into consideration? The product must be compact so it is easy to use. It must also be attractive so the aesthetics is important in this case. The end of the corkscrew should be sharp; however, it must not hurt the user. Therefore, a red portion is inserted to keep the device in place as well as a sort of protection from the sharp end of the product.

The elderly will not face any difficulty using this simple machine. However, they may injure themselves if they are not careful enough. Therefore, there should be more protection on the sharp end of the product. Furthermore, the two metal handles are capable of potentially injuring the user too.


This is an improved version of the corkscrew. There is a small cap attached to the movable red portion to cover the sharp end of the corkscrew to prevent the elderly from being cut or injured potentially. There are pads that acts like cushion on the two metal handles. If someone accidentally places their finger between the red portion and handle, and supposedly the metal handle were to fall and hit the finger, the pads will act as a soft protective cushion that will reduce the risk of a severed or bruised finger. There will also be a piece of plastic. It covers the sharp teeth of gears so the elderly will not cut themselves in the process of using the corkscrew. This new design will minimize any possibilities of injury and thus become safer for usage.

Ergonomics II

Ergonomics, as explained in the previous blog posts, is a workplace design that is designed to provide optimum comfort and avoid stress or injury. There are 5 aspects of Ergonomics; they are safety, comfort, ease of use, productivity(or performance) and aesthetics. I shall give some examples to elaborate on my points.

For safety, it can be a product like a walking stick, crutches or any sort of support that can prevent the elderly from falling and injuring themselves.
For comfort, it can be something that the elderly use when they are resting or even sleeping. In this case, it can be a seat, sofa or bed-practically anything as long it is viable.




For ease of use, it will be some complex devices which are invented such that they are simple enough to accommodate to the need of the elderly. It can range from phones to remote controls, which often appear in our daily lives. They must have huge buttons due to the failing eyesight of the elderly so the elderly can see them clearly with ease.


For productivity, I will probably use furniture as an example. If the house has the appropriate furniture to match the design of the house, the elderly will certainly appreciate it and thus stay at home without any worries, some of which will be related to safety. Perhaps, the furniture is too old and thus looks quite weird in the interior of the house. However, when it is replaced with a better furniture, the mood of the place will change and the elderly will naturally feel more comfortable and relaxed.


Aesthetics is a set of principles concerned with the nature and appreciation with beauty. For aesthetics, it must be a versatile item that also looks good in appearance, even though the good appearance will be unnecessary. We can have a chair with armrest. It looks good and it is also comfortable, making it ideal for the elderly and even people of other age groups.

(This is done with reference to this website and I have also taken some photos from Google.)

Ergonomics I-Question 3

What are the considerations that should be taken into account when designing a workplace that is suitable for the user?

The working environment must provide optimum comfort, so the place should be very simple and plain. The background of the office must not be colours like pink or purple but rather colours like white and black, although too much black is not very appropriate. The seats must be comfortable so the person will not worry too much such that it will hinder one's work rate. The table must have the things necessary, with redundant things being excluded as they will occupy too much space on the desk. Having little things or simple ones will naturally make the place more stress-free. The computer screen must be at a certain distance from the person so that the words can be seen more clearly, thus carrying work out easily. The lighting should also be good, but no too intense such that it will affect the person's eyesight.

Ergonomics I

Compare the 2 different workplace, state your observations.

Ergonomic is a workplace design that is designed to provide optimum comfort and avoid stress or injury. Hence, I will prefer the second design compared to the first design. This is because the second design is much more comfortable and thus provides a stress-free environment. Furthermore, the working environment is not as cluttered compared to the first design. It has the important items that is really needed and does not have redundant stuffs. Furthermore, the person in the first design has problems sitting on the chair as he is fidgeting, obviously that will distract him from the work he is engaged in and thus make his work efficiency lower. He does not have proper lighting too, thus hindering the rate of efficiency too.

Elderly Friendly Room

My focus for the elderly friendly room is the bedroom, the place where the elderly sleep. The room I have designed is not really perfected yet, since the proportions, unnecessary lines and miscellaneous issues are still present(for that, I will like to apologise for this mediocre submission of work).

There is a bed, as you can see, tucked at the corner of the room. Beside it, we have a sort of cuboid seat that is versatile in many ways; it can save as a cushion when the elderly get down from their bed, a sturdy support when the elderly wants to climb on it to take things from a greater height or even, like a bedside table, to put things like their spectacles there before they fall asleep.

There is a shelf on top, as you can see. It is placed high enough such that the elderly will have no chance, absolutely none, of getting their heads hit by the shelf by accident, if not on purpose. There is a camera-like sensor attached to it, but it is not open all the time. It is a rotating camera and it just takes a picture every hour. After that, it will be sent into the respective e-mails of the elderly's relatives, thus reducing the risk of sustaining injury in the room.

There is a cupboard and at the far end, we can see a door leading to the plain background, or the supposed living room. There are large knobs just in case for easy handling but it does not protrude so much; otherwise, the elderly will have bumped into it. The red part is like a support for the elderly, should they have any difficulties moving around the room.

There is also a small television set, assuming there is a larger one in the living room, and a cushion in front of it. It is purely for entertainment and the makeshift seat is comfortable. There is also an extendable backrest for the elderly to lean on, which explains why the cushion is double-layered.

The room is not drawn to scale, but by right, it is not that cramped so the elderly can move around with ease and no worries. There will be much more space, and somewhere behind the television, there will be a toilet, which can be found in every master bedroom. I believe that this house is ideal for the elderly as it is very safe and there is no hidden dangers.