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11. Implications and applications: Upward Mobility

This week I worked on the implications and applications of potential project ideas

Ideas and Inspiration

So many ideas so little time.

The art of the possible.

I've always had more ideas than time in the day.

Here are a few...

  1. Create comfortable and beautiful lingerie
  2. Create resusable beautiful adult diapers
  3. Create fashionable and stylish wheelchairs
  4. Create fashionable walkers, canes, and other durable medical equipment
  5. Create stylish prosthetics
  6. Create interactive clothing and costumes: fingernail dress
  7. Create a stylish inflatable personal air bag for fall prevention
  8. Create on demand 3d printed or easy to assemble 2D cut lingerie
  9. Create interactive food packaging for kids (e.g., silly lunchbox, funny mustard bottle that tells jokes, smackers jelly jar that smacks you when you open it, etc.)
  10. Create interactive children's books
  11. Create interactive toys and forts for children
  12. Create beautiful interactive lighting and home furnishings
  13. Create stylish casts, orthotics and braces
  14. Create a wireless fetal heart monitor
  15. Create self folding clothing
  16. Create FabLab in a Box, One self replicating low cost machine that can do all of the work for fabricademy and fabacademy in the comfort of your own home
  17. Create stylish customizable bubbles so people can go about their daily lives without the risk of infection
  18. Fablab delivery- fab lab subscription service, each month you're delivered teh machines and supplies you need to complete the needed projects

The concept: Rethinking the wheelchair

What if you could swap out your wheelchair like you swapped out your clothing? Durable medical equipment meets haute coutre high fashion. Allowing your equipment not only to transport you from place to place but to transform you into the person you knoqw you are deep down.

So strap on your ballgown and slippers and be prepared to travel to destinations unknown- where only adventure awaits.

"Don't let this fool you this is not the body I was meant to be in. A year ago I had breasts, I had legs and toes. I had teeth! And look the medical community is trying to cure me. God help us all" -- Susana Wahl

Introducing the god/goddess chair. A wheelchair that supports you and elevates you to the god/goddess you are meant to be.

Research and References

Build a bike from scratch

Ultra-personalized product service systems

  • Inflatable wheelchair
  • Think stitch fix for Mobility
  • think wheelchair kits formal, sexy, all terrain, playful, halloween, seasonal
  • crocs for wheelchairs
  • a new seat arrives every week
  • add on accesories
  • wings
  • skis
  • snowshoes
  • all terrain tires
  • drawers
  • cupholders
  • music attachment
  • bookholder
  • elevated hole with 1 leg option
  • seat inserts that inflate, vibrate, heat and ligfht up to minimize bedsores
  • Tri level wheels to go up and down stairs
  • Something that leads to greater accessibility and freedom for user
  • Stylish Attachments for medical equipment

Map the potential Stakeholders

  • Wheelchair owners
  • Caregivers
  • Insurance companies
  • Hospitals
  • Family members
  • Schools
  • Community places, churches,
  • Manufacturers
  • the textile industry
  • waste magement

Explore Personalisation at all the different levels

  • sound, add music-lights, add lighting and displays
  • heat and inflatables
  • vibration
  • colors
  • fabrics and materials
  • how long does it last? ephemeral wheelchair
  • usage, biking, on a slide, up steps, adjustable height, adjustable width
  • Phantom pain mirror box attachment
  • different back handles, grips

Interview Potential users/target group, quantifty results

  • Oscar suggested getting users involved early on as their feedback can change teh design completely. This was wise as my idea of stylish is different from someone elses.
  • I interviewed caretakers of wheelchair users and procured a wheelchair to start deconstructing and adding items
  • Alexa has a desire for a Sesame Street themed wheelchair

Fabricademy Skills used

  • week 1: document project and create a website
  • week 2: 3d scan a body and create a chair that is molded perfectly to the user's dimensions
  • week 3: modular seat design
  • week 4 & 6: laser or vinyl cut wheel covers made of biologically dyed and created material
  • week 5 & 10: thermochromic ink accents on chair accesories
  • week 7: optional add on parametric design safety straps
  • week 8: hand crank to raise and lower your chair or option to add knitting machine to chair to knit while you walk
  • week 9: vacuum formed soft comfort leather handles
  • week 12: inflatable seat cushions or airbag for extra safety and comfort
  • week 13: hair extensions or hat that controls chair lighting

Mock Up Prototype

Coming Soon

Presentation Files

Older version of my presentation, the new version is too large to upload

The Assignment

Document the concept, sketches, references also to artistic and scientific publications
Create an Ultra-personalised product service systems (UPPSS) for your final project
Map the potential stakeholders
Explore personalisation at all the different levels
EXTRA POINT : Interview your potential users/ target group about your concept, quantify results
Last update: December 22, 2020