Project: Wheelchair One
Client: Disrupt Disability
Wheelchairs need to be customised to the body, lifestyle and environment of their user but their needs are continuously changing. How can a wheelchair be continuously customised? What about customisation for style?
Year
2017
Sector
Assistive technology
Discipline
Parametric design
Technology research
Product design
Industrial design
Fashion
Design for manufacture
Ethos
Biomimetism
Lightweight
Affordable
Aesthetic
“Taking inspiration from body anatomy.”
The 3D printed seat takes inspiration from shape in nature and forms of the body. Postural support and balance can be adapted to every user, responding to ergonomy needs.
The frame was manufactured using bicycle fabrication technology, allowing for the creation and assembly of bespoke frames. An
elegant and minimal design made to the dimensions of the users, at accessible costs.
“Disrupt Disability
were named as one of
Nesta’s New Radicals
in 2018.”
Aesthetic decisions were strongly linked to the wheelchair’s functionality, following functional requirements, defined by both the user and fabricators.
The project journey encompassed a wide and dynamic research process that included hackathons with wheelchair users, manufacturers, digital fabrication specialists and engineers.
Following on from our development of Wheelchair One, Cellule were commissioned to develop a motorised version using the modular system.
Disrupt Disability were named as one of Nesta’s New Radicals in 2018.
Project: Power Up
Client: Disrupt Disability
People who use motorised wheelchairs face daily challenges linked to the technology they use to get around. From batteries that don’t last a full working day, to low lying motors that prevent maneuverability and a universal failure of existing designs to adapt to changing lifestyles and environments over time.
Mobility for client Disrupt Disability set us a brief to imagine a better future for motorised wheelchair users, underpinned by research that could inform a strategy to get us there.
Year
2017
Sector
Assistive technology
Transport design
Discipline
Parametric design
Technology research
Product design
Industrial design
Circular manufacture
Ethos
Empowerement
Affordable
Aesthetic
Functionality
“Imagine a better
system for motorised
wheelchair users.”
User-engagement in design is at the core of Disrupt Disability’s ethos. As part of the brief, we were commissioned to run a workshop with wheelchair users. Our team used design strategy to facilitate the development of user scenarios with the participants, and quick prototypes to explain the various functions.
Our design research explored emerging technologies in the automotive industry and wearable tech. Combined with growing
trends for distributed manufacturing and increased levels of customisation for consumers, we developed the concept of a modular and upgradeable powered frame.
“The hub is the
“brain’ of the system”
A streamlined standard fabrication with a decentralized assembly network allow for dimensions, components and features to be selected by both the occupational therapist and the user. Our Hub is the ‘brain’, containing computer and processing components.
Impact, position and environmental sensors on nodules allow for continual assessment of performance and adaptability of the hardware.
This project was presented as part of the
2018 Mobility Unlimited Challenge from Toyota.
Body Technology
Inclusive Design
3D Printing
By ‘body technology’, we encompass two notions: embodied computing and cognitive science, which have been interlacing in our projects.
Body centered technologies point to hybrid bodies and blurr boundaries between human, computer and artificial platforms. Such technologies promise to reconfigure the relationship between bodies and their environment, enabling new kinds of physiological interfacing. The latter is the science of cognition: how the human brain thinks, learns, organises itself. It seeks to understand the principles of intelligence and behaviour, individually and collectively.
Computer/human collaboration is an emerging trend in science as well as artistic disciplines (dance, music, performance).
In our design practice, we aim to design for the uniqueness and diversity of each individual, keeping in mind everybody’s different abilities, needs and desires. We keep our design processes close to the end users and involve them in the decisions we make. We try to understand people’s differences to create better products, services and environments for everyone. We believe that learning from diversity enhances our creativity, and improves our work as designers and people.
Inclusive design means that a product, service or environment is designed with the knowledge and expertise of users who are ‘experts’ of their situations and can prioritize needs. A collaborative design process allows to mobilise a wider range of information, ideas and insights to address a broader social challenge and prevents major errors that could occur from a design-engineer centric approach.
3D printing makes use of the power of Computer Aided Design (CAD) to transform 3D digital objects into reality. The most popular technique is plastic extrusion: a plastic filament is heated to its melting point and extruded through a nozzle layer by layer to create a 3D shape, other techniques such as SLS are fusing particles together with heat, layer by layer. Applications for 3D printing are explored across a variety of fields from prototyping to medical devices, to architecture.
Additive manufacturing is contributing to a paradigm shift towards a circular economy and local manufacturing, where parts can be personalised and created on demand, avoiding unnecessary waste, turning production from a globalised to a local distribution.
Body Technology
By ‘body technology’, we encompass two notions: embodied computing and cognitive science, which have been interlacing in our projects.
Body centered technologies point to hybrid bodies and blurr boundaries between human, computer and artificial platforms. Such technologies promise to reconfigure the relationship between bodies and their environment, enabling new kinds of physiological interfacing. The latter is the science of cognition: how the human brain thinks, learns, organises itself. It seeks to understand the principles of intelligence and behaviour, individually and collectively.
Computer/human collaboration is an emerging trend in science as well as artistic disciplines (dance, music, performance).
Inclusive Design
In our design practice, we aim to design for the uniqueness and diversity of each individual, keeping in mind everybody’s different abilities, needs and desires. We keep our design processes close to the end users and involve them in the decisions we make. We try to understand people’s differences to create better products, services and environments for everyone. We believe that learning from diversity enhances our creativity, and improves our work as designers and people.
Inclusive design means that a product, service or environment is designed with the knowledge and expertise of users who are ‘experts’ of their situations and can prioritize needs. A collaborative design process allows to mobilise a wider range of information, ideas and insights to address a broader social challenge and prevents major errors that could occur from a design-engineer centric approach.
3D Printing
3D printing makes use of the power of Computer Aided Design (CAD) to transform 3D digital objects into reality. The most popular technique is plastic extrusion: a plastic filament is heated to its melting point and extruded through a nozzle layer by layer to create a 3D shape, other techniques such as SLS are fusing particles together with heat, layer by layer. Applications for 3D printing are explored across a variety of fields from prototyping to medical devices, to architecture.
Additive manufacturing is contributing to a paradigm shift towards a circular economy and local manufacturing, where parts can be personalised and created on demand, avoiding unnecessary waste, turning production from a globalised to a local distribution.
