Research On Home-use Mobile Assistive Product Design For Severely Disabled Elderly

As Chinese population ages,the number of elderly people with disabilities is increasing.Due to the aging of the body,the effects of illness and accidents,the degree of disability gradually deepens.And the elderly with severe disability can hardly move independently,their daily living needs to rely on family caregivers for high-frequency and difficult movements.It is extremely difficult to rely on one caregiver alone,which ultimately leads to a decline in the quality of life of both.This research starts with disabled families and focuses on the elderly with severe disabilities and family caregivers.In the literature research stage,it studies the physical and psychological characteristics of the elderly with severe disability;in the product research stage,the auxiliary devices available to the elderly with severe disability are limited.Existing shifting machines have problems such as excessive volume,complicated operation,and heavy movement,which are not suitable for home use.Therefore the shifting machine is selected for constructive analysis;in the user research stage,methods of user interviews,one-day tracking and behavior observation research for the disabled elderly and caregivers are used to study the life care and movements of both caregivers and elderly to discover user needs;in the product design stage,a design plan for the target product is made based on the user needsThe author has designed an auxiliary shifting vehicle for severely disabled families to solve the mobility problem of elderly people with severe disabilities in living space,and to meet the use of multiple scenarios such as moving,toileting and bathing.Based on the user requirements from the analysis and research of the devices in the early stage,four functional modules of movement,carrying,lifting,and control were constructed,and the disabled elderly were safely fixed by the rotation-opening method.The control the lifting is suitable for different heights.With ergonomic factors in product design in consideration,the size of each module of the product is set up and the perform structural design and scheme rendering is made.Functions,safety,practicality,and emotion of the auxiliary shifting vehicle are also analyzed.The innovative point of the design scheme is that the author combines the device’s functions of fixation,lifting and moving into the scheme,and the product’s size and design meets the needs of home use,with easy-learning accessibility.The design of locks,seat belts,brakes and other details ensure the safety of the product.Compared with the existing products,the auxiliary shifting vehicle reduces the user’s cost and psychological burden;compared with the caregiver’s movements,it not only effectively avoids the muscle damage of the disabled elderly during the daily shift.It also greatly reduces the physical burden of family caregivers during displacement,increases the possibility of recreational activities for the disabled elderly,and further improve the life quality of disabled families.