During my fall semester of 2021, I took 2.009: Product Engineering Processes. In this class, students were placed into teams of about twenty and worked together to create a prototype and presentation for a novel product launch. My team created Aisle Assist: an aisle wheelchair that improves the boarding experience for wheelchair users on commercial flights by elminating the need to lift the user out the aisle wheelchair into the plane seat, which is an uncomfortable and dangerous procedure for both the lifters and user. You can see our final presentation and prototype in the video below at 01:55:00.
I worked with my team to brainstorm, model, and create lower fidelity prototypes of different ideas. For the Aisle Assist prototypes, I helped with all aspects of the design and build, but worked mainly on the seat panels, anti-tip mechanism, back rest, and rails. I have attached some photos from my design notebook, some prototypes for early designs, and the final back rest I thermoformed.
