We decided to use cardboard to model the prototype, instead of going straight to a CAD model, because we felt that we would have more freedom to try new designs at any phase of our brainstorming session. CAD models limit the amount of change we can do to our design. The first change we made was to replace the bolt …

Leveraging the brainstorm session that we did with the different types of elements that we can potentially include in the device and our analysis of the free wheelchair, we used this week to think about how we want to implement these elements into a design. As mentioned in one of the blogs above, the wheelchair spooks are flimsy, there is …

This week, we began to brainstorm our solution with possible device elements. We came up with the following: one way rotating element, a brake, clutch (de-coupler) – direction change, height adjustment, and spring return. For the one-way ratchet, the pros of this device are that it expands the patient population and is simple to integrate into the design. The cons …

This week, we picked up and assembled the wheelchair from the Free Wheelchair Mission (FWM). We decided to use this wheelchair as our model for MPOWRD because of the organizations impact in serving over 91 countries around the world. First, we noticed the spooks of the tire were very flimsy. Furthermore, the center of the wheel had no attachment point …