Image Credit : Team Lio
Project Overview
Lio is a modern walker device informed first-hand by walker-users, physical therapists and caregivers. The result is a sleek and functional design unique to the current market.
Organisation
Team
Design team: Sky Coppenrath, Margaux Reynolds, Alberto Esses, and Jikke Van Giffen
Project Context
Lio aims to re-imagine the walker as a mobility device with superior function and user experience that enables and promotes freedom.
Project Innovation
The Lio prototype puts a focus on functionality, performance, portability, and, importantly, aesthetics.
Lio’s wheels are larger than traditional wheel sizes, and the front wheels are larger than the back wheels, making the device easier to traverse rogue surfaces, go up and down curves, and navigate corners. The design also features a 3D-printed suspension system which exists to reduce rattling and absorb the shock of outside travel on rough terrains.
Lio also features an electrically assisted braking system controlled by the push of one button, eliminated issues of jolty brakes and gripping the brake tight enough for it to be effective.
The product places a large emphasis on portability, and as such has a double-folding system, making the walker’s folded size a quarter of the unfolded size.
Finally, Lio is unique in the sense that it boasts a modern, sleek and customisable design. The walker is a modular system, meaning many of its parts can be made in a range of colours and styles
Design Challenge
Traditionally, walkers run on small, rickety wheels which can rattle and cause pain for people suffering from bone or joint pain. They often do not fold up neatly, making them cumbersome and difficult objects to transport. Many walkers also lack user-friendly brakes, leading to the device rolling away and causing injury. Additionally, walkers rarely take on aesthetic considerations which can bring about surface stigma towards their users.
The Lio prototype addresses all of these issues in detail, with a sleek and functional design informed first-hand by walker-users, physical therapists and caregivers.
Concept - Object
Conceptual Design celebrates the projects that are yet to be realised. They are may be creative ideas, imagined future states or thought pieces intended to start a conversation. This category rewards the blue sky thinking that is needed to drive design forward.
The object category celebrates creative and innovative design for an object or product. Consideration is given according to the design context and need, design innovation and the application of human centred design principles.
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