Executive Summary
Problem
Our user, Elsa, is an 8 yearold girl with arthrogryposis who uses a powered wheelchair. She is
unable to independently put on and take off upper body clothing. Our client, Meghan O’Donnell,
asked us to design a way to allow Elsa to put on and take off a shirt by herself every day.
Purpose and Requirements
The objective of the design is to develop a device to assist Elsa in
changing her shirt quickly and with minimal assistance. The design
must be timely (the entire process of taking off and putting on a shirt
must be completed in under 5 minutes) and safe. Furthermore, Elsa
must be able to complete the process independently after initial setup
without any pain. The design must also fit within a $100 budget.
Methodology
We interviewed our client, Meghan O’Donnell, an occupational
therapist at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC), during the
early stages of our project. We conducted user observation,
performance testing, and user testing over the course of the project.
These interactions allowed us to learn about Elsa’s capabilities, the best
materials for our design, and the feasibility of our initial mockups
respectively. Using the information gained from observation and testing, we were able to build
our final design for putting on a shirt (the Shirt Horn). The undressing device was never
constructed in order to focus on the Shirt Horn (Figure 1).
Design
The Shirt Horn features three key components: the door assembly, the claw, and the pulley
system. The benefits of these three components are included in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Components of the Shirt Horn and corresponding benefits
Components
Benefits
Door assembly
Mounted to the door, making the Shirt Horn
stable and accessible
The claws
Holds the tshirt wide open, making it easier
for Elsa to slip in
Pulley system
Allows for a quick, “one tug” process to
release the shirt from the claws
1