Sit to Stand Assistance | Nirmeet Pathak

STS

SIT TO STAND ASSISTANCE (Aging in place)

Reconceptualizing priority sitting

"Ever heard of a recliner on the train or a bus?" - I was working on this project as I found out that most of the people who are 50 yrs or older face many difficulties while getting up from a seat/chair and require someone's help or standing assistance, consuming much physical strength if performing the task independently. This situation often occurs while traveling on a bus, train, etc., or having seated for a longer duration outside waiting areas in hospitals, subways, bus stands.

"Aging In Place"- projected begun as a collaboration between Graduate students from Industrial Design and Architecture students of Thomas Jefferson University where each of us was asked to re-design for Israel's biggest medical center 'SHEBA' utilizing their designing skills from the respective field and to bring better design solution/opportunities for people visiting Sheba Medical center.

Research

To give a kick start we were introduced to Sheba Medical Center's infrastructure, project plans, medical facilities, upcoming projects, future renovation plans, daily statistics of the population visiting medical center, what age groups, etc. to understand the figure out areas of opportunity, problems faced currently by people working at the center, transportation issues and coming up with better solutions for thee same.

Figuring out various upcoming transportation projects at SHEBA, I decided to focus on public transportation and looking up for opportunities in this sector as a number of people are utilizing this service.

Studying and Analysing Current Priority seating inside Public Transportation

User relying on bar extrusion to sit and stand

Interior_of_a_Buffalo_Metro_Rail_LRV_(20

No support handles, a user relying on personal assistance

Other areas of opportunity

waiting areas ( hospitals, restaurants, etc.)

bus-stands/ subways

airport

Identifying User-Centric Issues

The elderly have different needs from the rest of the population. They often suffer from diseases, weak muscles, poor spine structure, stiff joints poor cognitive ability.

Product Ideation

STATISTICS

Osteoarthritis

Symptoms

Knee pain
Joint stiffness
Low back pain

10% men and 13% in women aged 60 years or older.

Arthritis

Intermittent pain
Decreased range of motion
Joint stiffness

18.1% men and 23.5% in women aged 60 years or older.

Motion Study of Elderly

Upon studying the ingress & egress motion of semi-ambulatory elderly persons, it was noted that regular chairs with armrests-imposed strain on their stiff knee & elbow joints. The egress motion proved difficult for elderly users; whose frail limbs have limited capacity to exert force.

Sit-to-Stand motion analysis

Design Ideation

Lumbar & Thoracic Region

The design focuses on accommodating the contours of an elderly user’s back. Supports and inclusions provided at the lumbar and thoracic.

Anthropometry Data of varying age group

Working along with Mike and Sarah who are professional occupational therapists guided me to decide upon the angle of inclination and require to lift a person to a phase 3 position that takes off the load on human knees and reduces the effort to approximately 70-75% required to stand from sitting position.

Initial Mockup

Prototyping (motion analysis) and Validation

Used an office chair gas-cylinder to get the desired lift and angle of inclination of the pivot seat.
Video validates that the movement of the gas cylinder is at controlled speed hence does not push off the user from the chair.
The handle of the seat is set to create the desired lift hence helping the user reach an intermediate position between sitting and stand, ultimately reducing the effort.
No sliding movement at this angle when uplifted removes the fear of falling from the seat, hence generating a natural motion.