Design Proposal for the Walk-O-Natator

Introduction to this Project

This project is about helping the elders get from a wheelchair to a walker easily and support them once they try to stand up. The motivation of the Project is to help elders to move around independently from the care giver. There have been some products that have come close like the Rollators Walker which works as a walker but also doubles as a seat/chair for the user. Although the Rollators Walkers came close to this project but not exactly due to it also doubling as a wheelchair instead of a chair. The people who are going to be using this product are elderly and/or people with minimum movement within their leg/body. The project would be in a wheelchair form and then be able to transform into a walker in stable and controlled matter for the user to switch from wheelchair to walker and vice versa. The braking system for the project would be the same as the one in the Rollators Walker and similar to the wheelchair. The controller for the wheelchair aspect of the project will be connected to the motor on the wheels. To prepare for this project we would need to know about wood carving and cutting for the structure and circuit wiring. Due to the preparation for this project it would need effort to learn these skills to make this function to the best it can.

Objectives

The goal for this project is to help elderly and people with minimum movement within their legs. This project would operate as a wheelchair, walker and stay stable when transforming from one stage to another. The features of this concept included motorized wheels and a braking system for the wheels. The intended time is two or three weeks for gathering material, construction and testing of the concept. The testing would test the amount of weight that the project can take before collapsing or/and breaking. The thing that gives problems to this idea is the requirements to learn about the wiring and wielding but also the mechanism that makes it transform. The plan is that this concept would cost around $60-$80 for this idea of the prototype. This project would be able to sustain the weight of about 100-200pounds and the wheels should navigate the environment. The structure of the project would need to be built first then the components for the motors of the wheels. The idea of safety is in the brake system and the structure of the prototype. The impact of this concept to society is that elderly people would be able to walk by themself. 

The Design Strategy

The design of this concept would fold into a walker form from wheelchair form. During the transformation the wheels are at an angle so that it would not tip over when pressure and weight is applied to the idea. The mechanism for the folding aspect would have locks that would slap and be easily able to come off whenever needed. The idea is to simulate the functionality of the project when it transitions back and forth. The user would have control when it’s in the wheelchair form to move it around with the joystick controller. As well as the braking system for the walker functionality. The only thing that would be risky for this concept is that the braking system malfunctioning and the mechanism to transform it back and forth.

Plan of Action

• Needs to fold into a Wheelchair to Walker back and forth(smoothly)

• The Brakes should slow down the walker and wheelchair but not at an abrupt stop

• The motor will be able to move normally with additional weight

• The Structure of the prototype should be able to hold great pressure and weight on it

Verification

For this project to become something great it would first need to pass these verification checks to show that this idea works. The folding motion shouldn’t jam or catch loose clothing easily. Motors turning on and off and giving the user complete control over the wheelchair form. This motor also needs to move and carry weight at a constant speed when operating. Looking at the brake system functionality it needs to give all the control to the user as well as the right sensitivity for the user to use. Finally the project needs to be able to hold all of these things within the structure which needs to stand the weight of the components necessary to the concept but also the weight of the user.

The Cost and Schedule

The cost of the materials such as the wood for my concept being $1.77 per lb and the idea is that we use or get 30 lb of wood which would be $53.10. The tools for curving wood( like carving knife, chisel and ect.) and polishing it cost around $60. The components such as the circuit of the concept would be $20 and jumping wires being $15. The two motors that the prototype would need and have is $10. The cost over all would be $148.10 with people working on this being paid $15/hour. The amount of hours put into this project would be 10 days,10am-6pm which leads to $1200 to pay them.

The schedule for this concept will have one week to learn the skills needed to make this idea. The time to get the materials for the project is 1-3 days. The assembly of the project would be 10 days though two weekdays. Then having a week to test the idea and one or two days to verify and go through to double check. In the end it would take two months maximum. 

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