This document provides details of an engineering design project to develop a mobility aid for senior citizens. It outlines the problem statement of assisting the elderly with mobility and climbing stairs. Major objectives are ease of mobility and climbing stairs, while minor objectives are low cost and compatibility. Literature on existing products is reviewed, including manually operated wheelchairs, stairlifts, and electric wheelchairs for stairs. Motivation is provided citing India's growing elderly population. Personas of target users are described. Pain points and areas of pain for seniors are identified through questionnaires, interviews, observations and a Delphi method. An overview of the design process is given covering discovery, definition, ideation, prototyping, testing and iteration.

1. Engineering
DesignProject
Working title of the project
Lathi.SeniorCitizen
MobilityAid
Aashish Gupta
Abhishek Dongshanwar
Apoorv Gupta
Ayushi Anshu
Prakhar Sambhar

2. PROBLEM
STATEMENT(Objective)
Senior citizens usually have weak joints, and commonly sufffer from
pain when walking on unfavourable terrains and climbing stairs.
How might we develop a tangible product that aids the elderly with
their mobility in daily lives?
Major | Ease in mobility, Ease in climbing stairs
Minor | Low cost, Compatibility with existing systems
________________________________________________OBJECTIVES

3. LITERATURE
BRIEF
1. DW ST00 3A:
Manually controlled wheelchair for climbing stairs.
Cost- Rs. 80,000
2. Stairlift:
Mechanical device for lifting people up and down stairs,
for sufficiently wide stairs. A rail is mounted to the treads
of stairs.
Cost- Rs. 1.94-3.24 lacs
3. Top Chair - S
Electric wheel chair equipped with tracks that can climb
straight staircases.
Cost- Rs. 9,64,000

4. MOTIVATION
& FACTS 1. According to Population Census 2011 there are nearly 104 million elderly
persons (aged 60 years or above) in India; 53 million females and 51 million
males.
2. Both the share and size of elderly population is increasing over time. From 5.6%
in 1961 the proportion has increased to 8.6% in 2011. For males it was
marginally lower at 8.2%, while for females it was 9.0%. As regards rural and
urban areas, 71% of elderly population resides in rural areas while 29 % is in
urban areas.
3.The old-age dependency ratio climbed from 10.9% in 1961 to 14.2% in 2011 for
India as a whole. For females and males, the value of the ratio was 14.9% and
13.6% in 2011.
Source : Central Statistics Office
Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India
TENDINITIS | SPRAIN & STRAINS | BAD POSTURE
OBESITY | HEIGHT-WEIGHT | ARTHIRITIS | STRESS

5. Methodology
QUESTIONNAIRES INTERVIEWS

6. DIRECT OBSERVATION/SHADOWING PAIN-LEVEL MATRIX

7. PERSONAS - LEAD USER
Goals/Needs
o Fitness
o Independency
o Recreation
Design direction
o Portability
o Off-road terrain aid
Pain-points
o Stairs
o Obstruction
under feet
65 years old
Retired Army official
Ishaan
Bamra
Goals/Needs
o Chores
o Evening walk
o Convenience
Design direction
o Lightweight
o Easy to use
o Address mental model
Pain-points
o Getting on/off
the bed
o Stairs
o Indian Toilets
74 years old
Stays at home
Indra
Devi

8. DELPHI FINDINGS
Area Of Pain :
I) Knee
II) Lumbar and Sacral Vertebrae
III) Ankle and Heel
IV) Calf Muscles
I) Knee pain can also be divided into subparts according to the origin of the pain.
These include :
1) Pain below knee cap - Pateller Tendonitis
2) Pain above knee cap - Quadriceps Tendonitis
II) Joint pain is felt in the low back and buttocks. The pain is caused by damage
or injury to the joint between the spine and the hip.
III) The pain caused under the heel(Plantar Fasciitis) or just behind it
(Achilles Tendinitis). The pain is caused after long periods of rest.
Often caused by having a flat foot.
IV) It occurs when part of the muscles of the lower leg are stretched
beyond their ability to withstand the tension.
It occurs mostly in gastrocenemius muscle.
*The stress placed on a foot when walking may be 1.25 times our
body weight, and 2.75 times when running.

10. o Brainstorming for Ideation
o Divergence of conceptualization
o Defining data into quantitative
o Deciding engineering
specifications (QFD, etc)
Macro-perspective
of the complete process
DISCOVER DEFINE
IDEATE/
DESIGN
PROTOTYPE
TESTING/
FEEDBACK
ITERATE/
COMPLETE
FURTHER PLAN
OF ACTION

11. DHANYAWAD
SORRY FOR THE LONG PRESENTATION
HERE’S A SENIOR POTATO