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.
Due to my prior sewing experience, I led the manufacturing process of the final prototype:
Finally, my team and I collaborated to synthesize our design choices and findings into a Final Report. The then team professionally presented our design and findings to our client and the professors and delivered the prototype and Final Report.
Due to our collaboration and organization, my team and I were able to deliver a solution to our client on time and on budget. Gained extensive experience in rapid prototyping and iteration of designs with continuous testing, manufacturing physical components of a solution, and working with a team in a semi-professional setting.