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The development of the Autosip: A hygienic, self-operated, drinking device for people with minimal sucking ability and/or minimal arm strength
Abstract
Many simple daily living activities are impossible for disabled people who have minimal hand or arm movement, unless they have the help of another person. Such excessive dependence can be restricting and demoralising for both the person being cared for and the carer. The Brunel Institute for Bioengineering has investigated the expressed needs of many severely disabled people and their carers. One of their requirements was for a drinking device that would deliver liquid in a safe and controlled manner directly into the user's mouth. The device should handle both drinks and liquidised foods, and needed to be directly under the control of the disabled person. The Autosip has been designed to meet these requirements, and during its whole process of design and development there was frequent consultation with potential users. The Autosip can be controlled by a wide variety of commercially available single switch activators, and so almost anyone can use it. It can be selected to pump any of a range of pre-set quantities, or a continuous flow, into the user's mouth. The liquid is only in contact with an easily sterilised silicone rubber tube; thus hygienic conditions can be maintained all the way from the original container right into the user's mouth.
... Standardization and modularity are engineering conventions that enable adaptability and flexibility of functions. Using a standardized physical or electronic interface reduces costs and offers the maximum options within a product (Burkitt et al. 1995;Torrens et al. 1996). The same principles may be applied to a product service. ...
Why is it important for a designer to realize products and services for people who are elderly and/or disabled? The answer to this question may be provided by the author’s own decision to work in this field. As a young designer in the 1980s, he wanted to make a difference to the quality of life of those in his society. On review of areas within which one could work, it was clear that medical or rehabilitation technology/assistive technology (RT/AT) product design would make the greatest impact on the target user’s quality of life. Papanek (1974) advocated these areas as ones in which designers should aspire to work; he was many years ahead of the design establishment. From a societal viewpoint, using technology to enable people to be more independent and engage with society increases the potential help that finite resources can provide within a provision of care. It also facilitates the empowerment of an individual, enhancing their personal esteem, and supporting well-being. Over the last 20 years, the author has designed enabling products for people who are elderly and those who have some form of impairment.
... It also provided design methodologies appropriate to the design and development of a successful RT/AT product. This related to past experience of staff in the field of RT/AT product 8 development (Burkitt, Torrens, et al 1995, Torrens and O'Hare 1998. ...
This paper describes the introduction of a new module to an undergraduate degree programme for industrial designers in the Department of Design and Technology at Loughborough University. The implementation of the module and its subsequent outcomes will be related to the changing professional needs of graduating industrial designers.The aim of the module is to enable students to practise the use of data collection techniques that provide evidence for their design decision-making. It is also to emphasize the industrial designer's role in the development of the desirability of a product within a given social group, The objectives of the module are to: raise the awareness of industrial design students to the demographic shift towards older consumers and the needs of disabled people; introduce them to more rigorous methods of user assessment; gain an empathy with users outside their personal experience; and provide students with an opportunity to apply their skills and knowledge in the field of user assessment. A research task enabled students to achieve the set objectives in collaboration with local community groups and individual elderly and disabled volunteers.The issues raised within this paper are also of relevance to practising industrial designers who wish to work in the field of Rehabilitation Technology/Assistive Technology (RT/AT) product development, or enhance their knowledge of user-centred design. The paper provides the international industrial design community with an introduction to the support infrastructure in the United Kingdom for the social groups involved in this work.
... A few papers that highlighted this dedicated user engagement came from the lower risk devices and assistive technologies. [19][20][21][22][23][24][25] Alam 26 and Magnusson et al. 27 make the point that while the literature is rich with the descriptions and benefits of user involvement, research concerning the process of involving users in medical device development remains relatively under-developed and poorly defined. Even with the previously mentioned issue of the push towards user engagement initiatives, in many instances, they are passive participants in research. ...
User engagement has become a central tenet of health-care policy. This paper reports on a case study in progress that highlights user engagement in the research process in relation to medical device development.
To work with a specific group of medical device users to uncover unmet needs, translating these into design concepts, novel technologies and products. To validate a knowledge transfer model that may be replicated for a range of medical device applications and user groups.
In depth qualitative case study to elicit and analyse user needs. The focus is on identifying design concepts for medical device applications from unmet needs, and validating these in an iterative feedback loop to the users.
The case study has highlighted three interrelated challenges: ensuring unmet needs drive new design concepts and technology development; managing user expectations and managing the research process.
Despite the challenges, active participation of users is crucial to developing usable and clinically effective devices.
An estimated 518 students were taught the Loughborough User Centred Assistive Technology design process, LUCAT, since 2000. Graduates were contacted via a professional networking website to take part in a survey with four being interviewed. The purpose of the survey was to find out if: 1) Did they still use any parts of the process; and 2) Where they had applied them. The respondents ranged from returning placement undergraduates to senior managers in research and development within major companies. From the 105 respondents 23% stated they used parts of the LUCAT process every working day, a further 25% once a week and 27% once a month. The elements of the process used were predominantly semi-structured interviews, concept generation, codesign, design presentation and feedback. Respondents highlighted the benefits of using this process including gaining insights from users, being time efficient, saving money, developing a relationship with end users and making a difference to the lives of people with disability. It was suggested some industries had still not incorporated a User Centred Design approach within New Product Development. The use of the process was shown to be useful beyond AT product design into most areas of design activity.
This paper provides education-based researchers and practitioners with the preferred research and design methods used by Higher Education Institute (HEI) students and Key Stage 3 (KS3) pupils applied within a participatory approach to a design activity. The outcomes were that both pupils and students found informal (unstructured) interview to be effective in creating dialogue alongside meeting in person. Students commented on the friendly environment created by staff within which the pupils felt safe to express themselves. They found the co-design activity in some cases difficult due to communication issues. Recommendations are that the HEI students would benefit from a thorough literature review of the medical conditions associated with the pupils and their school activities; an initial informal meeting or group activity involving students and pupils would reduce shyness and perform an icebreaking role prior to the initial interview; the use of drawing templates or low resolution sketch models for pupils to draw on or handle and modify to help define a product specification; and, role playing alongside other visual prompts that enable the pupils to visualise the function of the student-proposed designs. Pupils benefited through seeing professional techniques of visual communication and design practices being applied during the collaboration.
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