SHOPFREE
Project Overview
For parents with disabled children, grocery shopping can be difficult. Imagine trying to push both a wheelchair and a shopping cart—it’s not the simplest “Tuesday-night-after-a-long-day-at-work” task. Our team aimed to find a solution to this problem.
We discovered a solution that is adaptable to every wheel chair type, and portable for parents.
Skills Developed:
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Need Finding
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Lo-Fi Prototyping
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Storytelling
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Video Production
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Presentation skills
CURRENT SOLUTION: CAROLINE'S CART
ISSUES WITH CURRENT DESIGN
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Requires stores to purchase these carts for a small population of consumers
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Including a chair in the cart results in less space for groceries
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Requires children to be lifted from their wheelchair to the cart
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Only accessible to children able to support their upper body weight
IMPORTANT STAKEHOLDERS
DESIGN RESEARCH
Spoke with parents and children with disabilities as well as professional experts to identify user needs and requirements, including:
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Limitations of children, ability to support their upper body weight, neck, etc
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Variation and diversity in wheelchairs: shapes, sizes, needs during operation
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Federal regulations on devices intended to support the disabled
Discovered:
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Parents need our device to be transportable through a minivan
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Device needs to be easy to set up and use
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Device needs to make sharp turns around shopping isles
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Device should be an attachment for already existing wheelchair (many kids can't leave their chairs easily)
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Additionally, wheelchairs are ALL different shapes, sizes, needs
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Needs to be low cost
INITIAL PROTOTYPE
FUTURE STEPS
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Implement a precise steering module
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Automatic controls
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Detect changes in atmosphere and automatically correct/adjust direction and speed
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Test in real life with our end users
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Point out flaws
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Pin-point error
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Get feedback from parents, children, stores
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