Design at Open

Design an affordable means of assisting people who experience muscle strength and balance issues to safely and easily sit-down, and rise from, different types of seats in their own home, or whilst out and about.

 

My reason for exploring this subject area stems from observing an elderly relative (and others) in their residential care home who struggle with both sitting and rising from armchairs and dining chairs.

 

Existing assistive-seating options in the marketplace are limited; the main product on offer being heavy, bulky, non-portable riser-recliner armchairs.  These chairs are actively marketed towards elderly people at very high prices, which I feel exploits their vulnerability.

 

Through my research, I identified an opportunity for a new assistive-seating solution, one that encompasses ease-of-use, portability and low cost.

 

I chose to make my prototype 'life size' to allow me to evaluate/test my solution in a practical way and also communicate clearly how it could be used.

 

My prototype - the 'Inflata-riser' seating -assist cushion, meets all three of my design aims as it is simple to use via a hand-held controller, is lightweight and portable with a battery-powered mini air pump to inflate the cushion, can be used both indoors and outdoors, can be positioned under an existing chair/sofa cushion or directly on top of a chair or seat/bench, and could be manufactured at low cost using existing technologies.