Alternative design and development on adaptive walking assistive device for people with disabilities “rollator walker”

This report is a component of the ES 810 course, independent study. Regarding my senior project in the bachelor’s degree, health-related product, the alternative design of rollator walker was made for supporting senior adult walking. It is an innovation which will facilitate the shopping life as a trolley with an ergonomic design at seat, backrest, and handle. The project is under the idea of customer perception versus engineering design on a health-related product. The purpose of continuation work is to improve the original work and to optimize the durability of the product. Health-related products are any product that is designed, developed, and marketed to increase or maintain the efficiency of human health. This product type consists of medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and dietary supplements to exercise equipment, body care products and health-related mobile applications. The purposed design will facilitate easy-to-access style for shopping as applying assistive device with an ergonomic design where seat, backrest, and handle are considered as the key components. The ergonomic design uses the theory of human factor engineering by emphasizing the basic knowledge of the anatomy and the movement of the human to create equipment. The prototype was established on the final senior project presentation day of the bachelor’s degree (2023). The product achieved the goals of ergonomic design, foldable, and movable. However, there are some limitations and problems found during the process. To create a new walking assistive device that meets customer needs, it is important to consider the product's dimensions, shape, and materials for the manufacturing process. These factors are closely related to the weight of the product. To determine the most appropriate materials for a walking assistive device, this study utilized Finite Element Analysis (FEA) techniques. The house of quality (HOQ) is needed to evaluate the device compared to existing products in the market. While the results of this study can serve as a useful guideline for manufacturers and customers seeking to select the proper design and materials for a walking assistive device with a multitasking and portable design concept, they are not intended to be definitive or prescriptive.