Design of wheelchair motor-assisted backpack mount
Problem statement
Cerebral Palsy is a disorder of movement, muscle tone or posture that causes damage that occurs to the immature developing brain (Cerebral, 2018). This disorder affects about 1 in every 323 children, as well as roughly 750,000 people living in the USA (Guidance, 2018). Our client Adam was born with Cerebral Palsy, which has caused him to require wheelchair assistance in his daily life. Currently, Adam has no great way of personally accessing the belongings he carries with him in a backpack attached to the back of his chair. Having the ability to take care of yourself with your belongings is both necessary for feelings of personal independence and self-sustainability. At this time, there is no specific design on the market that allows the personal retrieval of a backpack from the back of a wheelchair by a user with limited mobility. We intend to give our client the ability to maintain his personal independence and access his belongings from behind him located in his backpack. Although our assisting solution could be viewed as a way of stripping personal achievement from our user, it is our intention to empower our client to his fullest potential in order for him to gain independence. Ultimately, our solution will allow Adam and other future potential clients the ability to utilize a motor-assisted arm for easy retrieval of a backpack-mounted on the back of their chair.
Team members
Eric Voisin – leader
Sam Smogard – communicator
Dan Steiner – accountant
Raghu Yadala – admin
Isaac Swan
Client
Adam Voisin
Consultant
Prof. Sangkee Min