Engineering Design Project

Easy Open

Brief

Design and engineer a battery powered hand-tool for home, garden or educational use, that not only appeals to the mass market, but also meets the needs of a specific underserved user group, using the principles of inclusive design.

Role & Skills Used

In this group project, my role was on the casing design and development, using:

Inclusive Design
Human Factors
Design for Manufacture
Rapid Prototyping
Rendering

Problem

Through human centred design research, we identified that on a boat it is find difficult to open screw caps when performing light maintenance or when cooking using jar preserved foods within the kitchen. Our chosen product opportunity is a device that aids users opening these various screw cap types.

Inclusive Design

Disability is not a personal health condition, it is where there is a mismatch in the interactions between the user and the product they are trying to use. Exclusion can be for a number reasons this could be due to an environment, a temporary disability such as carrying some-thing or a broken arm, or a permanent disability such as as blindness.

The essence of inclusive design is not to design one thing for one person, it is about creating things that are appropriate for every-one, to be as inclusive of diversity as possible.

Development

Technical Teardown

Understanding the product requirements through a teardown of a similar product. Simple lo-fi power testing, to validate the torque required from the product.