Executive Summary

Project Problem Statement:

One of Mr. Walter Guminiak’s patients from the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab is Marc Tinsley, a man who was born with cerebral palsy which left him with decreased mobility in his left arm and leg. Following a surgery in 2016, Marc regained some function in his left leg but his right leg’s mobility was severely impaired as a result. In order to prevent Marc from falling out of his bed, Walter asked for a design that would support Marc at the edge of his bed and prevent him from falling or slipping out of bed.

Methodology:

In order to gain a better understanding of Marc’s mobility and the circumstances which cause him to fall, a user observation session was conducted in which Marc demonstrated his physical abilities. While observing Marc and the circumstances which cause him to fall, Marc detailed how he sits on the edge of his bed because of difficulties in getting his legs off of the floor and into bed. This caused the team’s focus to shift from a restraint to an assistive device to aid Marc in lifting his legs. Additionally, a user testing session was eventually held in which Marc was able to try the team’s three mock-ups and give verbal feedback on how difficult it was to use each device as well as suggestions for ways to improve the device. Based on the user’s preferences and suggestions, performance testing by team members was conducted to ensure the design’s integrity and functionality.

Design and Benefits:

Our design has five essential requirements:

• Optimize the Process of Watching TV

  • Instead of having to sit in a precarious position on the side of his bed, the eLEGvate allows the user to retain a much more comfortable and safe position.

• Prevent Falling off Bed

  • The proper utilization of the strap will allow the user to get into the preferred position laying down on the bed, completely eliminating the issue of slipping or falling out of the bed as described above.

• Must be Sturdy

  • The eLEGvate is constructed from a strong nylon along with high-quality vinyl plastic handles to ensure that the user is able to exert the necessary force without the worry of tearing or breaking any of the components.

• Easy and Efficient to Use

  • The eLEGvate is designed to cater to the user’s restricted mobility; it only requires one arm to operate. After gripping the handles, the user has to loop the bottom pad around the foot and pull upwards in a simple motion.

• Easy to Store

  • Due to the restricted nature of our user’s room, the solution to the problem could not be anything obstructing his movement in the room, such as a large pulley system. The eLEGvate is a maximum length of eight feet long, but can easily be folded up to fit any smaller compartment.

Future Steps/Recommendations:

The eLEGvate could heavily be optimized and improved in the future through developments in each of its three components. Increased adjustability would allow the device to be used more easily by individuals other than the target user. Changes in materials could lead to increased comfort while the device is in use as well as increased strength of the design itself. Finally, further performance testing could lead to a change in attachment method from the adhesive currently used. This would increase the design's expected lifetime, thus improving durability.