Summary
The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) needed a workstation for stroke patients that had stiffness in their fingers. We were tasked with creating a product that would allow them to exercise five grips but also keep them interested in their rehabilitation.
Process
First, our team of four brainstormed on how to allow rehabilitation of the required hand grips but also keep it interesting for the users. I came up with the idea to place a controller from an RC car inside of a housing made by us. The housing was to have extensions that hooked onto the joysticks of the controller and allow different grip attachments to be used to control the car. The preliminary sketches and designs are shown below:
We then created prototypes and mockups of our design and had students as well as actual users test it out. We recorded the feedback and implemented changes and added improvements until It both fulfilled the requirements of the client and also emphasized the creativity of the product.
Result
We successfully manufactured the box and the five grip attachments and fixed the remote control inside. We made a racing track for the users to be able to drive the car around on while rehabilitating their spasticity. This design went on to win the 2012 Segal Design Institute Award.
Umer Zakaria 