Make Life Accessible Item Elevator Intro

Well instead of beating around the bush about what I am creating for this challenge; I will be going over a very brief overview of my design idea.

Very Brief Overview:

For this challenge I am designing a system to mount on a cabinet (cupboard) that will allow elderly, handicap, and even just vertically challenged persons get items off those "out-of-reach" shelves. Be it you are handicap, elderly, or even just short this device will allow them to feel better because they will not have to ask for someone to help them.

Now that the overview is out of the way I will move onto the background of this design.

Background:

Stepping back looking at my family and the years that I have grown up it seemed to me that everyone was either elderly, handicap, or just plain short. I found myself constantly being asked if I could get this and that down from the shelves or put something on a shelf because someone could not reach it or did not have the ability (too weak or too short) to put it where they wanted it. While I did not have a problem helping them, I could sense disappointment when they had to ask because they did not want to always bother someone to help them and they wish they would be able to do it on their own. Living alone or with your soul mate you sometimes can not reach something like you used to. Either you have to wait for someone to come help you or you have to struggle and try to reach it yourself. Which if the later of the two is the decision chosen, it could likely end with injury of yourself or dropping and possibly breaking the object you were reaching for. One weekend I went to my great grandmothers, who was 96 years of age,and when I walked in there she was standing on a chair and kneeling on the counter trying to get some glass bowls out of the cupboard.

Problems be Addressed:

While there are not many problems being addressed with this design they are serious problems. First problem I would like to address is falling. While many elderly or handicap persons probably do not act as my great grandmother did there are likely some that do and if you are living by yourself, try to get something, and then fall you could be in a lot of trouble. Falling from a chair or from a countertop could be life threatening depending how you land but when you are up there in age then you are more likely to break something if you were to fall. If one were to fall then they would have to rely on people more than they did before because they could break something and not be able to do everyday tasks. Second, if you are reaching for something on your tippy toes or just really stretching to grab something you likely will not have a good grip on the object. If you are getting a can of food or some glass dishes and lose grip the glasses or food can come crashing to the floor or even hitting the person on the way down causing damage. With the glass hitting the floor or countertop it will likely shatter causing glass shards cutting them or then they have to clean it up. Even though there are only two main problems being addressed here they are of high importance being as they deal with a persons well being.

Solution One:

One of the solutions that I have come up with to solve the above mentioned problems is a device that mounts to a cupboard. This device will have a small monitor with stored locations in the memory. The locations are related to a spot on a carousel that is mounted to a stepper motor on a shelf with the items sitting on it. When the user selects a location the carousel spins to the location, an arm pushes the object onto an arm which then uses the motor provided in the kit to bring the part down to the user.

Solution Two:

The second solution I have come up with is very similar to the first in the methods but different in operation (if that makes sense). For this solution the motor provided in the kit (if powerful enough) will move an arm along the cupboard shelves once the user inputs which shelf they would like rather than the item they want. The arm will be able to slide in below the shelves and pull the entire shelf out and down to the user. The user can then pick what object they want and then send the shelf back up into the cupboard.

Of the two solutions I feel that the second option would be the easiest, but my original design was to bring individual objects down to the user. The second option would involve building new inset shelves to allow the arm to clip onto it. The first option would involve trying to mounts possibly two motors on the shelf and then another motor to bring the object down. I will attempt to go with the first option at the start and see how that goes then possibly have to switch to the second solution. The later of the two solutions offers more shelf space because the arm will grab the edge of the shelf rather than having to put a carousel into the shelf taking up a lot of room.

General Benefits:

The main benefits of both solutions are that they will provide a safe, reliable method for getting items out of cupboards. Also they allow elderly and handicap persons to not rely on others and let them feel better because they do not have to bother people to help them constantly.

Solution One Benefits:

The first solution has the main benefit that the design will allow individual items to be handed down rather than them having to search for the item if the whole shelf was brought down.

Solution Two Benefits:

The second solution has the main benefit that the design will allow for more items to placed on one shelf and take up less space. As well the whole design should take less resources to build and the interface should be simpler. The simplicity factor weights a lot into the design because the older generation of people usually are not up on their technology skills so the simpler the better I feel in this case.

Pictures/Models:

I do not have any pictures or models of either design yet. Check second blog for the models and a description of what will be happening in that model.

Next Steps:

Like mentioned just above this section I will be working on getting a 3D model created of both designs.

Once that is completed, I will start making a mock up cupboard to then be able to get the rest of the mechanical parts made up based on those dimensions either in wood or 3D print.

Also, the next blog will hopefully be an unboxing video of the received sponsored kit if received before any more progress is made.