Tag Archives: elderly

The humble vacuum cleaner gets an inclusive makeover

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Over 10 million adults in the UK alone are affected by arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions making it extremely difficult to even do basic household activities as they get older. Regular home appliances are not always designed keeping in mind the independence of our aging generations and cleaning is a tedious task for those who are in pain with the slightest movement. Vacuuming causes wrist ache, back pain and is heavy to push around – Vivo aims to solve this problem with a concept vacuum cleaner built on the ethos of inclusive design.

Its ergonomic build reduces load and strain on the user. The two handles were specifically put in to reduce the force required when pushing the vacuum – it enables the person to use hands, arms, and even their body weight as they will be standing right behind the machine. It includes two brushes, the forward brush dislodges the dirt and the rear brush sweeps it, effectively reducing the “push-pull” into just one push for cleaning.

The Vivo Vac will automatically charge when put back on the dock. It also solves the issue of taking the debris out – once docked, the dust hole on the dock aligns itself with the dust deposit hole on the vacuum and the dust from the device is sucked into a bag inside the dock. The dust bag container is up high on the device so there is no need for bending and it works for several sessions before needing a replacement. I am truly hoping this concept vacuum cleaner is a real product soon because inclusive design has the power to gift independence.

Designer: Alex Worthington

Gillette’s latest razor was built for allowing caretakers to shave the elderly

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Gillette is synonymous with two things. A. Shaving, and B. Slick Masculinity. It’s difficult to find brands that have the kind of reach Gillette does, in the shaving industry. It quite literally has no serious competition, which one can only ask for as a brand, but its the latter reference that one could say is a narrow-sighted problem. Gillette has and does cater to women too, with its gentle Venus series that runs smoothly against the skin, removing unwanted body hair, but a major part of Gillette’s portfolio caters to the young man who believes beards are for hipsters, and wants to have an immaculately shaved jawline with no cuts or bruises, in record time. In maintaining that vision, Gillette forgot a significant part of their market. People who want to, but are unable to shave.

A masterpiece of inclusive design, the Treo enables assisted shaving, allowing helpers and caretakers shave the beards of men who are unable to. Using a straight-razor was out of the question, since these helpers/caretakers weren’t professionals, and using regular razors is challenging enough on your own face, so shaving someone else can be nothing short of an ergonomic nightmare.

Gillette began its work on the Treo as early as 2017, analyzing pain points, areas of failure, and coming up with solutions to the wide range of problems. Studying assisted shaving scenarios revealed that men were shaved sitting down, or in a bed, which meant that the angle on the blade and handle had to reflect that arrangement, rather than one where one shaves oneself. Since the subjects weren’t being shaved/groomed in the bathroom, there was also the challenge of shaving cream becoming a messy ordeal, given that you didn’t have a constant flow of water to periodically wash the razor. All this research culminated in the Treo, the world’s first assisted-shaving razor.

Designed with a reoriented blade angle, the Treo can be held like a brush or a pencil, making it easier to maneuver across a jawline than conventional razors. A special razor guard allows the blade to work all sorts of facial hair, thick or thin, resulting in a clean shave with lesser water. The handle of the Treo also doubles up as a tube of shaving gel, allowing the Treo to be practically a shaving kit in itself, and armed with enough gel to last for exactly one shave (so that the blade is disposed of when the gel is used up, ensuring a single blade isn’t used twice). The Treo uses a proprietary water-based gel too, which doesn’t create a mess like foam does, and doesn’t need washing off too. The water-based gel hydrates the skin too, working as an after-shave as well!

It’s great to see the company build a product keeping inclusivity in mind. The Treo not only helps caretakers groom and shave the people they take care of, it also allows the men being shaved to feel clean, comfortable, and even young again!

Designer: Gillette

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AI detects movement through walls using wireless signals

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You don't need exotic radar, infrared or elaborate mesh networks to spot people through walls -- all you need are some easily detectable wireless signals and a dash of AI. Researchers at MIT CSAIL have developed a system (RF-Pose) that uses a neural...

Helite Hip’Air: Airbags for the Elderly

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At first, I thought this was a joke. Then I checked the calendar and it wasn’t April yet. Turns out, this is very real and even though it seems a bit silly to be talking about airbags for the elderly, I suppose this is a really good idea. When the elderly fall, they break things way easier than we do. It’s especially bad when they live alone and can’t get help after a fall.

At CES 2018, Helite turned up with a set of waist-wearable airbags called the Hip’Air, which will help protect the wearer from a fall, especially the hip area, which older folks are prone to breaking. Helite has actually been selling similar wearable airbags for some time now, but they have been geared toward sports. Helite says that Hip’Air can detect a wearer falling within 200 milliseconds, and then deploy in an additional 80 milliseconds. This could be a lifesaver for older folks, and certainly could prevent broken bones, which often lead to further health degeneration.

The airbags have a built-in battery that will last a week. We can expect it in Europe this spring and in the US this fall. No pun intended.

[via Ubergizmo]

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The pitfalls of the Anti-Falling shoe

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To make up for the slowing of reflexes with old-age, the B-Shoe corrects the balance of elderly people by bringing their center of gravity back between their feet, keeping them stable. Everyone’s heard or experienced the story of their old grandmother or grandfather falling and breaking their hip at home. Most of these accidents happen as their CG shifts backwards (usually while walking), causing them to fall on their back or even their side, with no support from the arms or the knees to break the fall. The B-Shoe, an inconspicuous little piece of innovation, corrects the imbalance while also allowing the elderly to retain their respect and not rely on walkers or other aids.

The B-Shoe started as a crowdfunding campaign, with little success. As noble as the cause may be (it was invented by Dr. Yonatan Manor after his father had a fall with no-one to catch him), the B-Shoe presented limited visuals and data that raised more questions than it answered. For starters, we’re working under the principle that the shoe only moves backwards (as shown in the video). This may not really work on a flight of stairs. The B-Shoe would come with a rechargeable battery and knowing how easily the elderly forget, this would probably pose another problem. The image below shows traction belts in the soles of the shoe. The mind immediately asks how they would fare against bumpy roads or coarse gravel, where one can’t simply slide one’s foot back. Not to mention that stepping in mud or a puddle (which may accelerate chances of slipping) may just render the shoe useless, since most of the electronics are exposed and on the underside of the shoe.

The B-Shoe therefore (from what we see here) works only under a specific set of scenarios… which is still a good start though. It’s still a battle won if it can prevent a fraction of injuries and deaths, even though the shoe has a long way to go. The B-Shoe team is working on new iterations and prototypes and hopes to target mass production in 2019.

Designer: B-Shoe Technologies

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A Bus Bell for all!

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While buses are very convenient as a conveyance system, they’re not really easy to board and de-board. Couple that with passenger impatience, and you really have quite a pathetic experience for elderly, disabled, or pregnant people. Now creating a new and improved experience for these people involves changing the passenger mindset at first, but the Universal Bus Bell is also a nice starting point. The bell’s design contains two buttons. A larger one for special passengers, and a smaller regular button. On pressing the bell, the driver is made aware of the nature of the passenger disembarking. If it happens to be a special passenger, the bus driver can make certain arrangements to ensure a smooth de-boarding experience. This could be anything from slowing the bus down before braking, to even stopping beside a staircase/ramp. The regular button would indicate that the person getting off the bus is a regular commuter.

The system would work on passenger reliability more than anything else (knowing that the passenger will press the correct button), but the clever bit is that most regular passengers wouldn’t abuse this facility because the disembarking procedure for regular commuters is much faster than for special commuters. Way to hack into human laziness to solve problems!

Designer: Jinwon Heo

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