Colloquia

Summary

People in wheelchairs lead a sedentary life. This causes health disadvantages, both physically and mentally. Standing wheelchairs tackle both these problems. By being able to stand up, the user’s blood flow is stimulated, and sores, caused by sitting constantly, are reduced. Besides that, being able to stand up, enables the user to have eye-to-eye conversations again, and they need less assistance.

Standing wheelchairs are a relatively new market with limited options available. Mechanical standing wheelchairs cannot move in the standing position, and electrical standing wheelchairs are expensive. This resulted in the following research question: How can safety, comfort, usability and ergonomics come together in the design for a standing wheelchair in such a way that it can become one’s primary wheelchair?

To gain insights in what it means for a person to use a standing wheelchair, a user test with J58’s current model, the Ezer, was done. This user test resulted in the insights that the steel model of the Ezer had potential, but was not at the point of being usable as a primary wheelchair.

The final product of this project is a life-size prototype of an object holder. This prototype was used to do tests with a wheelchair user at their work place, and a wheelchair user in the context of J58. It was tested how the product fits on the wheelchair and how the user adapts to the product being present and how they would use it.

Looking back at the research question, the Ezer is evolving towards a primary wheelchair. At this point, it is not ready to be implemented as such yet, but considering the steps that have been taken in the period of this project, there is a lot of progression. J58 is getting closer to delivering a standing wheelchair that is fitting to be implemented as a primary wheelchair.