ACTIVE WheelDrive
Client: Sunrise Medical
Type: student group project
Year: 2023
Type: student group project
Year: 2023
EMPULSE WheelDrive, produced by Sunrise Medical, is a set of semi-electric snap-on wheels which can fit on different wheelchairs. These wheels are designed to allow users with fluctuating or decreasing strength to stay active by receiving a personalized level of assistance that allows them to keep turning the wheels rims. During this project we assessed the usability of these wheels and redesigned them to improve the user experience.
EMPULSE WheelDrive
We started this project with an extensive research phase that aimed at mapping out the composition of the product and understanding how it works, we did this by inspecting and testing the product ourselves, and interviewing a company representative and three wheelchair users.
Problems
We also carried out some user tests aimed at finding strengths and limitations of the product. We ordered the limitations based on their level priority.
PRIMARY PROBLEM:
The assist rim is too hard, thus only the drive rim is used, defeating the wheels' main goal of keeping users active
SECONDARY PROBLEM:
Buttons are hard to reach and use for people with reduced upper body mobility and their feedback isn’t effective
TERTIARY PROBLEM:
The wheels are too heavy to (dis)mount for people with reduced upper body mobility and the (dis)mounting process is unclear
Design process
After identifying the three problem spaces, we carried out multiple brainstorming sessions aimed at finding solutions to the different limitations. We then combined the different ideas and created three different concepts aimed at providing three different driving and (dis)mounting experiences. We tested them through the use of some lo-fi prototypes and designed a final concept according to the test results.
ACTIVE WheelDrive
The final concept addresses all the three problem spaces:
Primary problem: thanks to multiple strategies, the assist handle is now perceived as the default mode, making it more likely that the user chooses it over the drive mode.
Secondary problem: buttons are now easy to spot and press for people with reduced hand mobility. They now have haptic feedback instead of sound feedback.
Tertiary problem: the (dis)mounting mechanism is now a “pop-out” system (already existing for other wheelchairs). Additionally, the (dis)mounting button is hidden behind the battery, requiring the user to remove weight from the wheel before (dis)mounting. The (dis)mounting process is made clearer and easier thanks to instructions and a pair of handles.
Prototyping
Low and high fidelity prototyping was essential during this project as minimal changes in the shapes, sizes, and colours had a strong impact on the experience users had of the product. Before reaching the final form of the final concept we went through multiple prototyping iterations each more refined than the previous.
