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- Walker in its fully extended form
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- Walker hinges
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- Walker fully folded
This prototype idea looks at making a more easily collapsible walker. The solution aims to make it so that older adults can use their walker to enter a vehicle and easily store it near where they are sitting for easy use when they exit. It will mitigate the need to store a walker in a back seat or trunk which requires retrieval after exiting. In this prototype design the inspiration was a foldable baby stroller which has many joints that bend and allow them to fold up. To prototype this hinged joints on the legs were modeled so that the walker could fold up relatively small. The team is still exploring other ways to make a walker foldable such as with telescoping legs maybe.
Questions:
- How to make the design fold small (hinges, telescoping, folding, etc.)?
- Does the design fold up relatively small? How small?
- What ways can the prototype work with the limited dexterity of older adults?
- How can the walker be kept sturdy when in use but also collapsible when not in use?
- Can walker be collapsed while in a seated position of a car?