07-05-2023

3Cs wheelchair presentation.

Click the image to enlarge.

We were asked to act as a sort of focus group for a small wheelchair company in Waterlooville whose mission is to improve the lives and prospects of profoundly disabled people.

The number of such people is very small. It’s estimated that about 2% of the UK population are wheelchair users (up from 1.47% in 1996) but only a tiny percentage of that cohort require the sophisticated and comprehensive support provided by the company. Therefore, from a potential need of approximately 1.36m wheelchair users there may be less than 3,000 users in their category.

As a result, the usual formula, of volume reducing costs, is no longer appropriate and the company has to explore ways to contain costs by other means. Fortunately, the emergence of digital techniques such as 3D printing and low-cost CNC machinery provides opportunities to harness their design creativity at competitive rates

The company’s approach to the physical and neurological impairment of their clients is to optimise function and independence to improve the quality of life for both the wheelchair users and those who support and care for them. In this respect they expand the traditional clinical remit to include all aspects that contribute to quality of life for their clients

Underpinning their approach is the belief in the plasticity of the brain and its ability to learn despite neurological damage. One clear example is in communication where the expression of choice and preferences is crucial to quality of life. Selecting TV channels, entertainment, change of position or environment are just a few examples where denial can impact negatively on quality of life.

I have been helping them by designing and 3D printing various items to address some of the perceived problems and also to accelerate development. Typically, a new requirement would have taken two to three months but with modern fast production techniques they are cutting that to weeks.

The company is exploring the world of binary communications for those clients who are unable to speak. In this project, I have been able to demonstrate the opportunities for developing custom-made switching devices using 3D printing as an effective way of producing unique, durable, and effective solutions at a reasonable cost.

In other projects, development prototyping has been accelerated by using laser cutting to produce trial components in the development process

With John Camfield's welcome hand on his laser cutter and mine on the 3D printing side of things they are certainly seeing the improvements in development time that they are hoping for

The company is reaching out to new digital skills and other expertise to add to their skill base so they can continue to offer cutting-edge solutions to clients, their families and carers. This was the first time that they had attempted a joint presentation to explain their mission and needs to a receptive audience and we certainly provided that. The presentation lasted just over an hour, and it is my belief that everybody came away with a much deeper understanding and respect for the profoundly disabled

John Rawlinson stepped up to the plate by offering his services on software development; the general idea is to add little things to their clients’ abilities but this must be in ultra-low volume and hence a very inexpensive method so possibly using Arduinos or Raspberry PIs to add that extra bit of magic to what must be a very simple operation for clients enabling them to perform so many operations which we, the able bodied, take for granted

To flesh out the range of facilities available, I arranged a visit to the Cookham Common Shed so that Paul and Rod, from 3C, whose analogue skills need to be augmented by new, digital techniques and skills, could see what these relatively new technologies can offer.

Many, many thanks to Allan and his crew for the time and interest shown in the problem. The visit really blew our socks off. You just wouldn’t believe what their shed is like in the short time that they have been in operation - oh if only we could get our council to take a lesson from theirs and help us in similar ways

Author: Chris Nixon