Collaborators bring a unique design challenge to DI Crew members with an important focus: accessibility.
Ryan Davis, Exercise Physiology graduate student, and his student approached two DI Crew members, Nick Cindrich and Julian Leff, with a disability issue regarding a classroom tool. The issue was that his student was not able to fully use skinfold calipers for his class to measure how much fat is on the body because the calipers were too difficult to use with his specific dexterity disability. Even multiple staff commented on how difficult it was to use the skinfold calipers.
Over a span of two months, Nick and Julian met with Ryan and his student several times to work on the research and development of a modified skinfold caliper, one that would be able to be used by students with dexterity disabilities. First, they identified the main accessibility issue as the caliper's hard-to-use trigger mechanism and realized that making it longer it would allow the student to have more mechanical advantage over the trigger and make it an easier grip to hold. Then they focused on how the original grip could be changed to close the distance between the new trigger mechanism and the grip.
Focusing on those two design changes, they started by adding a large thumb groove to the caliper that did not affect the rest of the grip. After adding the thumb groove and extended trigger mechanism, they decided to make the device more "grippy" and comfortable to hold. After applying a rubber adhesive that was meant for re-gripping tools, the project was complete. All of these changes happened over the span of 3-4 consultation meetings with Ryan and his student.
"This project has been extremely rewarding for Nick and I to work on," says Julian. "It allowed us to fully test out our abilities in project development and human-centered design, as well as some more technical abilities in CAD, 3-D printing and the use of electric tools."
Have a project you need help with? Join our network of fearless collaborators and book a project consultation with one of our staff members today!