A team of four students collaborated with Mr. Dave Stubitsch of the Sertoma Centre. The Sertoma Centre location in Orland Park, Illinois, USA, provides supportive housing for people with disabilities. Our project involves Jen, a wheelchair user who resides at the Sertoma Centre, who wants to independently dispose of her household waste in a large communal dumpster. Currently, she finds the process difficult due to her need to physically elevate herself on her wheelchair to open the large lid while also lifting the trash container.
Conducted secondary, web-based research and seperate primary research interviews with Mr. Dave Stubitsch and with Jen. Through these, we developed three main design constraints:
Held a team brainstorming session, where the goal was to generate as many ideas as possible. Created initial mockups of 5 diverse designs and tested these accordingly. The one that worked best was a rope-and-pulley system which was permanently affixed to the enclusure that the dumpster was located in, but not the dumpster itself. After this design was finalized, I made many sketches in order to specify dimensions and components of the system.
My team and I presented our rope-and-pulley system idea to our peers and professors during a design review, where we presented, defended, and recieved feedback on our design. Based on this feedback, we enhanced our design by making the design more weatherproof (use an insulated cable, enclose the winch, etc.).
Due to the need to assemble our design on the Sertoma Centre premises, our final deliverable was a prototype of the design, the components of which could be dissassembled and used directly for the final design if desired. We purchased all materials online, and then assembled them together, using plywoood as a mockup of the enclosure and dumpster lid. Finally, my team and I created a final report and presentation, and presented our findings to the client.
Because of our ability to work together and organize effectively, my team and I delivered our solution to the client on time and in budget. I gained a lot of experience in formal presentation of ideas, using sketching as a mechanism to convey thoughts, and how to collaborate with a group of individuals in order to accomplish a goal.