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T WORKSHOP Great Help for Elders Hui-Fen Mao
Engineering New Sensation HervĂŠ Capart
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Index Introduction Duel Teachers, Cross Departments, Breaking through the Learning Barriers
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Activity Report Fabricating Interdisciplinary Role Model
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Course Series 1 Great Help for the Elders (Prof. Hui-Fen Mao) 15 Course Series 2 Engineering New Sensation (Prof. Hervé Capart) 27 Learning Review A Never Before Learning Experience
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Achievements Challenges in Designing the Furniture for the Elders 35 Review of the Judges You’ve Done the Impossible
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Review of the Participants I Have Something to Say
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Introduction
Duel Teachers, Cross Departments, Breaking through the Learning Barriers
Presented by: Shih-Chung Kang, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, National Taiwan University Written by: Yi-Ting Lin
Duel
teachers system in the T Workshop is more than just ‘duel’ in the number of persons; it also represents the ‘duel’ in the field of knowledge. Two teachers work with each other: one guiding from the actual site, introducing the challenges faced by the elders in the aging society, while the other entering from measures aiming at the challenges in maneuvering the solutions. Through the collaboration, we create the innovative teaching patterns and stimulate the interdisciplinary thinking. Cross campus cross departments peers get together, adding the vitality to the T Workshop. The two day courses bringing each participants from mere strangers to brainstorming together, and even working together in creating a work piece. At the same time, they learn to work as teams, making interdisciplinary communications, handling different opinions, etc. Under the combination of different schools and different departments, these talents collide into spectacular sparkles. Through the combination of “duel teachers system” and “interdisciplinary peers”, we expect the participating students to open their minds and break through their past 2
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experiences, to be daring to try the things they normally would not dare, would not want, and will not want to do; to gain the experiences that are different from what they have learned from the regular courses. T Workshop“Great Help for Elders x Engineering New Sensation” invited Professor Hui-Fen Mao to cut in the subject as an expert in assistive technology, illustrating the different phases of the daily living of the elders as well as the current status that needs further improvement; and the Belgium origin Professor Hervé Capart fuses the design with actual constructions from the engineering point of view in assisting the completion of models of assistive devices. From observing the needs to designing the assistive devices, the small steps of the participants may well bring in the grand evolution to the aging society. This project began with the education system, hoping that the teachers from different schools and different areas to observe, share, and connect with each other. For that, we arranged all kinds of teaching workshops, expert forums, establishing mutual courses, and having partner schools communicate and promote the achievements. There are also digital teaching materials, audio and video sharing, e-paper and social networking set up in the virtual space. As the planning of the courses unfolded, we hope in addition to the professions, students could also combine the design thinking ability with observation by experience to become the innovative seeds of the society. The core of the T Workshop is caring for the elders, and it extends from the core into different subjects that become crossing campus, interdisciplinary course plans that are conducted by duel teachers. In each course, the teachers guide the students to find out the problems faced by the elders in daily lives through observation and experience. Teachers also provide the thinking measures in problem solving, making students communicate, share and collaborate with each other. We hope that through the unceasing interactive process among teachers, students and the object of service, we will be able to build up more creative and innovative bridges through the power of interdisciplinary, taking us all towards the aging society.
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T Workshop:
Great Help for Elders × Engineering New Sensation
Duel Teachers
Hui-Fen Mao / Assistant Professor School Of Occupational Therapy, National Taiwan University
Hervé Capart / Professor Department of Civil Engineering, National Taiwan University
When East units with West, and Occupational Therapy meets Civil Engineering, what kind of results and creativity will be generated? The theme this time is to solve the inconvenience in life for the elders. The measure is to produce a set of modified furniture or devices to make it easier and safer for the elders to use. The products will not be miniature models but real life size products that are with actual usage. Timing wise, the teaching will only take one day, and the discussion will last for a week and the final day will be utilized on the actual production. Within such a short period of time, how do students from different schools and departments accomplish this mission impossible? (Activity time: May 19th and 26th, 2012)
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T Workshop: Activity Report
Fabricating Interdisciplinary Role Model Written by: Shu-Ying Chen
What is Aging? “What are the things that you have to do daily?” asked by professor Hui-Fen Mao of the School of Occupational Therapy at the National Taiwan University. She also began her class with this question. Most of the professors in the workshop would reply: “I must have a cup of coffee in the morning;” and the students normally replied with “logging on to internet, listening to music.” How about the elders? Before considering all the possible replies, we must first define the concept of “aging”. Mao listed several situational questions to test the students. For example: “Grandfather gets up earlier and earlier, but he never gets enough sleep so he needs to take a nap during the day. Recently his elder brother was diagnosed with dementia. Since grandfather also tends to forget about things, does that mean he also might have dementia?” Another question was “The elders sleep less than the young people, correct?” Most students answered “yes” but the correct answer was “no”. Mao explained that “the elders change only the sleep status with slightly different brain wave patterns, but the total quantity of sleep does not necessarily decrease and therefore they need to take naps during the day.” 5
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Mao then asked “is aging a disease?”. She slowed down for the students to think. “Not necessarily!” She explained, “after 30 years old, organs and bodily functions begin to degenerate as time moves on; this is the common aging process.” Aging is not caused by illness, and illnesses are not caused by aging. Though the survey of Bureau of Health Promotion concluded that elders above 65 years old by average contracted more than 2 chronic diseases, it did not mean that every elder has chronic disease; actually some elders were very healthy. This means that aging does not equal to weakness in physical condition.
Experience Aging By discussing the definition of “aging” alone was still very difficult for the students in their 20s to understand how it felt. Mao brought the aging experience gears with her for the students to mimic the elders’ activities. After putting on the gears, students first sat on the low stool, then got up and moved to a higher stool to feel the difference. Afterwards, they would need to walk to the cabinet to find the medicine, and finally to try putting thread through a needle. They needed to experience if the elders could be as swift and easy as young people would when conducting these usual daily activities. After the experience was over, students were asked to share how they felt. One student asked “why are the lenses of the glasses in the experiencing gear in yellow color? They make reading words on the medicine jar difficult.” Mao explained that “many elders are normally with Agerelated Macular Degeneration (AMD) and cataract, and the world as they see is tinted with yellow color.” 6
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In order for the students to know better about the elders, Mao also described many aging conditions such as “the elders are unable to make out the high frequency sounds, so when you talk to them, you need to speak slow and clear. Also, the nerve transmitting speed of the elders is slower, when kicking on the uneven surface, young people can regain their balance immediately; whereas the elders cannot reflect so fast and tend to fall down. Their effective sleep time is also shortened and it’s hard for them to fall asleep; but they get waken up very easily.”
Finding the Needs Mao showed several videos of elders in their daily lives to guide the students for in-depth observation. Students observed from the videos to know that what type of chairs were more comfortable for elder ladies (grandmothers) to sit on; if they felt strenuous in finding shoes and putting on shoes, opening the pantry to fetch the plates and taking the glasses for water. Once the needs were found, what types of design should be adopted to satisfy the needs? Could such design enable the elders to take care of themselves even without caretaker to assist them? The suggestions proposed by Mao included “changing the environment, the way to do things and the design of the assistive device.”It was about individuality when concerning with the changing of the environment and the way how people dealt with things. In fact, it varied according to people. Assistive devices was able to help people move easier and more at ease, and its design was not restricted to those who have trouble moving. Mao said that “the general public also use assistive device quite often, for example, spectacles (eyeglasses). Many things that cannot be done and cannot be done well, can be done through assistive devices.” The intersection between assistive device and general merchandise is “universal design”. 7
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The Design Principle of Products for the Elders: universal design & human factors/ergonomics Universal design means the design is not made for any specific group of people but for everyone to use. Mao listed the principles of the universal design as the following: it allows anyone to use it fairly; it can be used in any ways; it is easy to use and understand;it provides comprehensive information for multiple sensory organs; it can prevent accident and allow errors; it reduces the burden to the body when in use; it considers the size in use and the relationship with the space. In addition, it also put into concern the durability, appearances and it’s harmless to human and the environment. Mao was in concern that the design of the students might not comply with ergonomics, so she emphasized that “in order for the user to use with ease and without stressing the body and causing harms, human factors such as physiology and psychology should also be considered. For example, keep the distance between the desk and chair that allows one person to work without bending over, the size has to be in the most manageable range, and the distance between the chair and the keyboard should allow the user’s elbow to bend in 90 degree angle and the eyes should be able to look at the screen at the horizontal level.” Mao also gave a diagram of a stretching human body sizes to mark the motion range as a reference for the students to design the furniture. 8
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Consider the Complete Flow of Motion, not Just When It’s in Use In order to help students with overall thinking during observation, Mao asked the students to imagine that “assume you were old people, think what kind of difficulties would you encounter when drinking tea?” Students replied “hands could not lift high enough and it is quite difficult to raise the head backwards” or “water tends to get into the trachea.” These were not enough, so Mao gave more hints “broaden your thinking scope to include the entire drinking process, not just the motions of drinking; and think what are the possible problems in every step?” Then students thought about the material of the cups might be too heavy, too slippery and not easy to grab. Water drinking was merely an example to guide the students to think for the living space of the elders more considerately. Such as taking a bath/shower, the facility in regular families was still very hazardous for the elders. Mao invited the students to put more thinking in the bathroom. Students were required to present a complete product design proposal in the coming week.
Engineering New Sensations! The biggest challenge of this workshop was that the design product was not only a set of procedure flow chart or miniature model; students were required to actually produce a life size furniture. Professor Hervé Capart of the Department of Civil Engineering at National Taiwan University was in charge of this part of the workshop. Professor Capart was from Belgium, but he introduced the Sketch Up software with fluent Mandarin. By using this software, students would be able to simulate the situation of the space to create items that were suitable for the space. Philosopher in nature who was constantly in a pondering state of mind, Professor Capart turned into a hilarious comedian once he stepped on the stage. He said “we want to make things that are bigger than 50cm and nothing under 50cm, why? Because I am from the Department of Civil Engineering, and we make big things!” 9
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All students burst into laughter and the fun remark swept off the afternoon fatigue. Capart then asked the students “who made the five bridges that are in exhibition in the ground floor lobby? How much time did they take?” A student guessed “students from the Civil Engineering Department, and they took 3 days to finish.” Capart made a surprising expression which amused the students. Some students said that those bridges took 3 months or one semester. Finally the answer was given: those bridges took 5 weeks from design to finish. Capart explained the whole process, “first you must learn about the tools and materials to be used, then you set a goal for design, follow by group discussions and then produce several different models at 1:20 scale. Choose the best one from these models to produce a life size model; after review by experts, the construction is then commenced.” Watching the birth of a 5 meters long wooden bridge in the video, students were full of awe; however, the footage of moving the wooden bridge was even more exciting. The bridge tended to get caught at the corners, stairways or gates. Capart said that “when you construct, do pay attention to whether it could pass through the doors.” (Students once again burst into laughter with the comment.) “Remember to make something bigger than 50 cm but smaller than 80cm for it to pass through the doors; don’t make anything that does not go through and cannot come out.” Capart said “this course is a new attempt as an effort of the Civil Engineering Department at the National Taiwan University in breaking through the traditional teaching. Students in the departments of Civil Engineering and Architecture were united to learn and make judgments together. Because students in the civil Engineering Department tend to make things that are not pretty (laughter), we hope they could work with people that have some sense of beauty. And the students in the Department of Architecture are weaker in dynamics, they mostly guess and feel
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in making designs. Well, they don’t know that students in the Civil Engineering are the same (laughter). Students in the Department of Architecture thought that the students from the Department of Civil Engineering could calculate the magnitude. Actually they didn’t (because the students in the course were from sophomore).” Before students began learning to use the software, Capart invited everyone to try and guess that whether the girl in the video that climbed up to the high arch bridge was from Architecture Department or Civil Engineering Department. Students all guessed Architecture Department. Why? Was it because there were more girls in the Department of Architecture? Capart explained “Students from Civil Engineering knew something about dynamics, so they knew better not to climb up that bridge.” (Students laughed. Capart guaranteed that the bridge was very sturdy and was not dangerous.) Through this example, Capart reminded students that young people sought thrill and danger but the elders preferred safe and steady. He began with the courses in the Civil Engineering Department, giving students concept on the engineering design flow; his teaching style constantly triggered laughter which elevated the spirit for the following process in learning sketch up software.
Engineering Design, Hands on Right After Teaching! Due to the time constrained, Capart taught only the basic functions. When the idea was well drawn with the software, the file needed to be converted to the readable format for the Water Jet Cutting Machine (water cutter) in providing the shapes and routes for cutting. When the board was cut into pieces, the pieces could then be assembled into furniture. Each group was given 12 pieces of 60 by 90 cm EK board. Capart said “The EK board is a common material to the Architecture 11
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Department, and the metal rods, screws and screws hats are common to the Civil Engineering Department.” Even the materials were formulated for interdisciplinary collaborations. It was also due to the restriction of the materials, students must also considered feasibility when making designs; with the restrictions, they might be forced to change the original ideas. To prevent from finding in the last minute that the design would not work, both teachers joined the students in the morning sessions at the beginning of week 2 to listen to the design briefing of each group. The ideas of a few groups were ready to proceed with model design; while some groups needed to make drastic adjustments after discussions. Mao provided suggestions to products and modification to concepts. Capart helped with thinking for the problems with execution. Afterwards, students plunged into production works. These two teachers accompanied the students full time, listened to the discussions of each group and offered their suggestions as well as answered questions. By the time some students actually had their hands on producing, many students were still very green in using the software. Teaching assistants of the workshop included three from the Department of Occupational Therapy, three that were very familiar with the Sketch Up software, and three that were very skillful in operating the water cutter. Together they assisted the students in accomplishing this challenging task.
Super Mission, Every Second Counts! Students first discussed their ideas and made 3D drawing in the classroom on 4th floor; then they went up to the 6th floor to convert the file format; finally they brought the converted files to the 3rd floor water cutter room for cutting and assembling. Capart travelled up and down the entire civil engineering building to provide his guidance and his help with solving problems. As the clock ticked away, some 12
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groups were late for their water cutting session because their drawing files were found with new problems to solve. Many groups skipped their meals and kept on working hard in the company of the TAs. After delaying for nearly two hours, finally first group made it to the water cutting room. The water cutter, while making deafening motor sound and high pressure water beam, cut precisely on the EK boards. In order to prevent people’s fingers from being severed, there was a loud sign warning people to stay away when the machine is working, since the water cutter not only cut through the light EK board, wooden board, and glass; it could even cut through a 5 cm thick steel board. After the boards were cut, each group started to assemble in the tool room next door. The work of some groups needed to saw the iron rods and to sand down the iron components during the assembling, so these groups needed assistance. The two teachers, all the TAs and staff were all involved. As each group was still hammering and banging, and the water cutter was still cutting loudly, the judges began to arrive. They went to each group to observe the assembling process and visited the water cutting room. As the end of time approached, the “Shoe Wearing Chair” was just finished; the “Smart Toilet” was shaped; the “Easy Washing Basin” was nearly finished; the “Nice Bath Tub” was assembled half way through; and the “Hair Drying Chair” was under assembly. One group even still had the EK boards of the wardrobe design lying in the water cutting room, waiting to be cut. However, it was time for choosing the winner. The judges approached each work piece to listen to the description and to raise their questions. Finally they chose the winner of the day! The member of judges included General Manager of L’elan Enterprise, Mr. ChingKwang Chang; Professor Huey-Tzy Chen of Department of Nursing from Fu-Jen University; Assistant Professor Jin-Ling Lin of Department of Information Management from Shih-Hsin University; as well as the two teachers of the workshop. Though every work piece was still with much room for improvement, the judges were amazed at the fact that it took only eight days for students to present physical products from knowing nothing of the field. Both teachers also highly praised students’ spirit in learning.
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Conclusion Is there any group that did not make it in time to assemble their design? Actually no, every group all finished it. With strong passion in teaching, Capart worked together with those highly motivated students until they finished assembling the design. They worked until pass midnight to finally finish this workshop that had turned into a boot camp. The learning process was exhausting but the students gained so much! T Workshop not only cultivated the experience by observation and problem solving abilities for the students, it also worked as a bridge for the teachers, connecting two professional fields that seemed too diverse to have any possible co-relation. Whether the ones that were teaching or those that were taught, they made the attempt to break through the conventional teaching patterns and learning experience. This was truly a learning experience that both teachers and students were given the chance to grow.
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T Workshop : Course Series 1
Great Help for The Elders Conducted by: Assistant Professor Hui-Feng Mao School of Occupational Therapy, National Taiwan University Written by: Hsu-Ying Chen Foreword：WHO defined people with age above 65 as “senior”. When the aging population reaches 7% in a country, it is defined as an “aging society”; reaching 14% and it is an “aged society”; when the population reaches 21%, the society is called “super aged society”. Senior population in Taiwan currently reaches around 11% so Taiwan is already in the “aged society” group. According to the estimation forecast made by the Department of Manpower Planning of the Council of Economic Planning and Development of the Executive Yuan, by the year 2056, the senior population in Taiwan shall reach 38%. This means there will be one senior citizen in every 3 persons. What would the society then be like? Have we designed for the future society?
What is “Aging”? “What is the most important occupation for you in a day?” In order to break the ice for people to get to know each other, professor Hui-Feng Mao of the School of Occupational Therapy at National Taiwan University used this topic to allure all to start talking. “What is that one thing you have to do everyday?” Many professors replied with “a cup of coffee in the morning!”. When students answered, different answers such as “internet”, “music”, or “internet and music” kept popping up. Mao used this light hearted introduction to bring in a concept that “each age group has its own work and activity that are important to them; as well as culture and subculture; these are very important points of considerations of product design.”
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The mainframe of this Type T Workshop was to improve the domestic devices making them easier to use and operate for the elders. Prior to design, Mao first clarified the concept of “senior”; getting everyone to know what was “aging” in order to design better and most suitable products for the elders. Mao first allowed the students to examine how they perceive the elders. Students replied with “slow in motion, tend to remember the old days, stubborn, love to chat with people, prone to chronic illness, fading memories, etc.”; but two groups of students also brought up that “the elders are wiser, kinder, and caring for the younger generations.” Mao introduced all to the “What’s your aging IQ” website from the USA; there were many questions that could help to test our aging IQ. For example, “Grandfather Lee who is 80 years old has been smoking for 60 years. Many of his family members died from lung cancer. His children hope that he could quit smoking as soon as possible. Grandfather Lee thinks he’s too old to make a difference ,and he refuses to go through cancer screening test.” Question 1: No matter how old you are, quit smoking always helps. Students replied: yes. Question 2: Being confirmed to have cancer in the old age does not help much, the curing rate is not as optimistic as that of the younger people. Students replied: no. Question 3: The number one cause of death in the US is cardio vascular diseases; and malignant tumor in Taiwan. Students replied: yes. Students got the above questions right! Next was that, “Grandmother Wang is 75 years old, she has always been very keen 16
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and capable. Lately, though, she finds that she has problem controlling her bladder and constantly cannot make it on time to the toilet. Last month as she was hurrying into the toilet, she stumbled on the damp mat and fell. She broke her thighbone and was hospitalized. Question 4: Bladder control is a common symptom that troubles the elders, there’s no need to worry too much about it. Students replied: no. Question 5: Falling is inevitable for the elders. Students replied: no. Mao said, “how to enhance the senses of happiness and security for the elders is what we also need to consider.”. The last question was, “73 years old grandfather gets up earlier and earlier every day, but he doesn’t feel getting enough sleep and thus needs naps during the day time. His elder brother is recently diagnosed with Dementia. Since grandfather also tends to forget about things and his mind gets empty all of a sudden sometimes, does he also have dementia?” Question 6: The elders sleep less than the young people. Students replied: yes; but the correct answer was no. All the students had this one wrong. Mao explained, “the elders only have their sleeping status changed with variations on the brainwave patterns, but their needs for sleep does not decrease, and thus they need to take naps during the day time.” Question 7: It is quite common for the elders to forget about things, so grandfather does not need to worry too much about it. Students replied: no. Mao added, “when there are members in the family that suffer from Dementia, he (grandfather) is also in the high risk group and needs early screening test.”
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Aging and Illness Mao then asked the students to think whether “aging is an illness?” Mao said, “aging refers to the bodily functions that degenerate as the time moves on (begins at age of 30), this is the common aging process. Actually, based on genetic extrapolation, human should be able to live up to 100 years of age; then why is the average life span at 70, 80 years of age? The process of aging will be influenced by environment, life style, illness, abandonment, and genetic inheritance.” She then asked, “does illness cause aging?” Not necessarily. She explained, “many illnesses are results of life style and diet habit. Of course aging may come with illness. According to the Bureau of Health Promotion, many elders above 65 years old tend to contract more than 2 chronic diseases. However, not everyone has chronic diseases; some elders remain healthy and strong.” In short, “aging is a progressing process, it cannot be treated; it is an irreversible degeneration.”
Experiencing Aging In order for the students to experience the obstructions in motion caused by aging, Mao brought three sets of gears for aging experience with her and arranged three living situations to invite the students to think while experience, “what are the difficulties in doing these activities? What are the causes? What types of bodily and mentally functions that change in the elders? What kind of influence does aging bring to daily lives?” TAs helped students to put on the gears, each group set out to try on the low Capart chair (made by professor Capart) and see if it was easy to get up from the chair. Then they moved on to the taller chair to feel the difference. Afterwards, they moved to the table to put thread through the needle; then went to the drawers to find the assigned medicine bottle for medication. Everyone was busy playing elders in the designed situation, trying to feel what it was like to conduct the regular activities when body and perception were both under constraint. 18
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Some students mentioned that “yellow color lenses blur the vision, make it hard to identify colors and focus; these lenses make putting thread through needle very difficult.”. Some also said that “the ear mufflers make it difficult to listen to the instructions from the TA and we constantly need the TA to repeat the instructions.” In terms of the fine motion of the hands, students felt that, “it is very difficult to find the medicine in the disorganized drawer, and it is even more difficult to pick the medicine up one piece after another. The gloves make the touch numb and the movements of the fingers become restricted.” Students also said that, “any motion is not as easy, and consumes more physical energy. Walking is very hard that we want to find a place to sit. It would have been great if we had walking canes.”
Physical Strength Change in Aging Why did you ask the students to experience aging through simulation? Mao said, “when students experience the changes which aging has on bones, visions, hearings, touch of skin and nervous system, they would know that elders have trouble making out the high frequency sounds in hearing, so when talking to elders, they will need to speak slowly and with a clear voice. The vision of elders turns to yellow and blurry, printed characters that are smaller in font size or less clear in contrast would be hard for the elders to read clearly. The muscle and bones of the elders are changing; their backs bend and they cannot straighten their knees. These problems slow them down and it is strenuous for them to walk up and down the stairs. The nerve transmission speed becomes slow for the elders that they need more time to respond. When a young person kicks on the uneven ground, he/ she can regain balance in no time; however, the elders are slower in responding to that kind of situation and would easily fall down. This is because their muscle fibers decrease that they are unable to perform swift and explosive motions. Their sleeping condition changes with less effective sleep time. They are very difficult to fall asleep but are easily aroused from their sleep.”
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In addition to the parts that could be observed from daily lives, there are also things that need an expert’s explanation so the students could understand them. For example, “joints of elders are not so flexible like those of the young people. The elders cannot raise their hands high, therefore they are unable to wash their back. Their feelings are not sharp. Young people can take something out of their pockets simply by touching the pockets. Elders need to depend on their eyes to look, and their hands to touch before they could take things out of the pockets. They also need to see in order to stand firm.”
Illness That Comes With Aging Cataract is common in the elders. The aging crystalline lenses in the eyes turn hard and murky that light cannot penetrate through. Image that falls on the retina becomes blurry, and the eyes become photophobia. Mao added that “the pupil muscle contraction of the elders is weak, its adaption to the light is not as good. If the light and dark contrast in a space is very distinctive, the space is very dangerous to the elders. A young person is able to capture motions from their peripheral vision while watching straight ahead; the elders are unable to. Thus it is very dangerous for the elders to drive a car or ride a motorcycle because their visions are restricted. And because the crystalline lenses turn yellow, it is easy to distinguish red and yellow but it is difficult to make out the blue and green. The aged related macular degeneration (AMD) would make the center dark with spot or shadow when looking at an object; the object would look distorted. Also in hearing, the ossicle in the ear changed and the cranium nerve cells lost. These cause the lost of hearing and the elders are unable to distinguish sounds of different frequencies.”
Other Aging Signs What is dysfunction? Dysfunction refers to bodily function that requires care and support. With the degenerating physical functions, dysfunction is very common among the elders. If we could follow the example of Finland in promoting dysfunction prevention, we would not only elevate the living quality of the elders but reduce the burden of the caretakers. 20
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Besides, aging in perceptions such as hearing and vision, Mao said that “it is very important to prevent the elders from falling down because the consequences tend to be quite critical. The elders may thus need to be in bed for a long time that eventually will expedite the regression of the body. As for other difficulties in daily life, according to the statistics on elders above 75 years old, 70% of the elders have difficulty running for a short distance; 45% find it hard to walk up 2 to 3 stories of stairs; 60% feel not easy in conducting household chores such as cleaning; and over 40% elders need assistance in using public transportation by themselves. To the elders, the daily activity with the highest risk is taking bath (shower); 17% find taking a bath difficult. As the age moves on, the difficulty of these daily activities elevates.” Mao remembered some students mentioned that using canes would be wonderful. She said, “statistics show that 7.9% of the elders above 65 years old use walking canes; and 26.4% of the elders over 75 years old feel more comfortable using walking canes to go out.”
Successful Aging Aging is not necessarily the synonym of old and weak. Mao said that “in facing a society with growing numbers of elders, we hope that the elders could live healthy and happy. How do we define successful aging? There are many observations and analysis have be done internationally, and three principles are summarized in defining successful aging: 1) Aging without illness and/or dysfunction; 2) Good maintenance in bodily and cognitive condition; and 3) Actively participating social functions, being active.” Aging is inevitable, but being old does not mean being sick; the elders can still be active in participating social activities.
Finding Design from Demand Mao showed a few videos on the daily lives of the elders. She guided the students to observe carefully if there were inconveniences in the daily lives of the elders. For example, if the elder suffered from arthritis on the elbow that made the elders difficult to open the drawers for clothing; in addition, hands needed a place for support to open the cupboard for plates and bowls, and could not squat down to reach for the plates inside the cupboard; and needed to hang on to something while walking inside of 21
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the house. Mao said “we need to think more about how to make the daily lives of the elders easier?” What do the elders need? Mao listed three scopes for students’ reference. First is the “Basic Activities of Daily Living (BADL)” such as eating, putting on cloth, going to the toilet, grooming, walking, taking a shower/bath, etc. “Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL)” such as household chores, laundry, cooking, going out, shopping, medical management, financial management, etc. “Advanced Activities of Daily Living (AADL)” such as field trips/travel, religious activities, learning activities, club activities, social activities, recreational activities, etc. Mao reminded that “if we don’t take care of the person’s mobility in time, the person will gradually rely on the assistance of others to live; and when this person is forced to execute certain movement, it may cause harm to such a person. Therefore, it is very important to develop assistive devices. Assistive devices simplify the environment, making the environment supportive. People under regular circumstances also use assistive devices such as spectacles (eye glasses). By making use of the assistive devices, we can do things that we cannot do or cannot do well.”
Principle of Designing Products for Elders: Universal Design What is universal design? Mao asked the students to think from their daily lives, “What are the things that are natural to hold in your hands and that you can use instinctively? Or do you need to study it before using?” This question points out the
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concept of the universal design. Universal design comes from “observation”, and the creativity comes from finding out the problems with the product. Universal design does not aim at any target group, it makes things convenient and comfortable to use by everyone. Mao listed 7 principles of universal design for reference: 1. Anyone can use fairly. To consider the differences between users and provide all kinds of choices so everyone can use fairly. 2. Allow use in any way. To use easily whether using right hand or left hand. 3. Comprehensive, easy and simple to use. Structure of the product is not too complicated but easy to understand. The product can be used instinctively and it also has clear and specific operation instructions. 4. Provides comprehensive information for multiple sensory organs. Provide different types of measures in delivery information. For example, using lights to accompany the ringer of the telephone so that the user can see the lights even if he/she cannot hear the ring tone. 5. Prevents accidents and allows errors. To be able to restore original settings in case of errors. Take the gate of the MRT for example, if the door closes while a passenger while a passenger is passing through, the door will open automatically. It’s like the restore function of the computer, a considerate design that allows errors.
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6. Reduces the physical burden when in use. In order to reduce the burden imposed on the body, it can be used with the most natural posture. And to eliminate meaningless movements so that the user do not feel exhausted when using in a long time. For example, the automatic retracting function of the measuring ruler can save time when wiring it back. 7. Ensure the size and space that are easy to use. Concerning easy usage and adaption to different body figures of the users, it’s important to pay attention to the size of the space. Making the device easy to carry and store away; such as a chair with adjustable height. Besides the above principles, Mao also reminded that the elders were more careful with money spending, they would pay attention to the economical consideration. They preferred durable products but it did not mean that they could accept bad design and production; they still did care about quality and appearance. Also, the product must be safe (friendly) to human body and environment.
Principles of Designing Products for Elders: Ergonomics Mao worried that the products designed by the students did not conform to ergonomics so she made a special note to remind students to consider physical and mental factors while making designs. The use of the products should be in most natural and harmless way For example, if the distance between a table and a chair required bending back to operate, then it would not be a good design. Also, when chopping with the regular knife, the nerves of the wrist would be pressured because the wrist needed to impose forces to the use of the knife; if the knife was modified into an L shape and the chopping motion became sawing motions, the burden on the wrist would be reduced. If we could put the objects in the most suitable position/location, we could reduce laborious postures such as bending down, getting up, and tipping toes. The range for easy operation is within 80cm of extending both arms; so when designing furniture, it is very important to refer to the most comfortable range and height in stretching. 24
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Assistive Technology Products Adapted by the Elders Mao mentioned that she once read in an article that interviewed a group of elders, asking them what kind of products they would use. The result showed that the elders were intimidated by the technology products. They preferred the products with the following features, such as low technology, low price, easy to operate, sturdy and durable, with specific instructions and warm appearances. They also favored the products that take the privacy in consideration and emphasize the importance of interaction rather than replace the relationship in care. Mao used her own experience to explain, “I tried to teach my mother-in-law to use mobile phone for decades, she still could not find the telephone number from the address book and dial out. We have to help her make the setting so she only needs to do one step.” The elders value their personal privacy very much, so they don’t like to wear tracking devices. In facing the distant medical care, they are afraid to reveal their personal information, and aren’t willing to let others know where they are and what they are doing. They are also afraid that with technology products, their children would rely on visual interaction and not come to visit them in person. They don’t want to just buy a product, they want the service to come with the product. Last but not least, the elders also do not like to use products with bad looking.
Observe the Flow of Motion, Not Just the Action Mao then asked the students to think that, “assume you are the elders, when you drink, what problems would you encounter?” Students thought about this question. Someone replied, “hand cannot raise high enough, head has difficulty to raise backwards, the water might flow into the trachea.” This observation was not enough, so Mao hinted that “you need to expand your thinking to include the entire drinking process and not just the action of drinking water. What are the problems that come with each step?” Some students noted that the materials of the cup might be too heavy to grab, and the cup might be too hot, too slippery or not easy to grab. Mao then enlarged the focus of her questions to invite the students to further think about what were the difficulties of the elders in taking a shower/bath. Students replied, “cannot wash their backs, cannot !
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reach to their feet, not having enough strength to stand, ground being slippery that makes it easy to fall, and water temperature device control becomes difficult, etc.” Professor Huey-Tzy Chen of the Department of Nursing at the Fu-Jen University added that “it is better to have constant temperature to control the water temperature; also, 80 years old elders cannot sustain the force of water beam, they would be afraid of it.” Besides, Mao asked the students to carefully think about the problems that might be encountered while going in and out of the bathroom. What were the hazardous situations and how to solve the situation. This was also the assignment for the coming week. In the assignment, students needed to list the following issues: The objective activities, subjects, steps and execution of the activities, problems to be solved, the solutions and the product design proposal. Mao reminded students of the “anti-skidding mat”. She said that “Though assistive devices for elders were developed and released into the markets in different countries, for example, open bathtub in other countries; and in Japan there were head washing machines and bathing machines, there are still no design that satisfy the need of the elders in the domestic market.” The most important part was the feeling of the users. At the end, Mao urged that “while we are developing the suitable assistive devices for the elders, we must always keep the feelings and needs of the elders in mind.”
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T Workshop : Course Series 2
Engineering New Sensation
Conducted by: Professor Hervé Capart Department of Civil Engineering, National Taiwan University Written by: Yi-Zhen Chen Foreword: In this workshop, professor Capart mainly taught students how to use Sketch Up, a 3D graphic software constantly used by the engineers and architects. He used the software to help students simulate the space and to materialize the design concepts. After learning the basic operation skills, students began their design by aiming at the needs of the elders and carefully producing precise drawing files to be read by the water cutter in cutting the mold boards; and finally to assembling the boards into the work piece.
Experience Learned from Others Capart began his course by introducing the joint course between the Department of Civil Engineering at National Taiwan University and Department of Architecture at Cheng Kung University. The features of the joint course were team work crossed schools and departments, the combination of mechanics and esthetics, as well as using Sketch Up in design. Through the training from the joint course, students finished building giant wooden bridge models which were able to support the weight of many people. This was a new experience and teaching method in design. It was not an easy process in constructing this giant model. First the team was formed and the students began to learn about the tools and materials. They then established the design goal and the expected results; followed by the definition of work content and group discussions. Afterwards, they developed multiple solutions in consideration of the different possible developments and produced a 1:20 scale physical model. The model 27
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was presented for the experts and professors for evaluation and opinions. Finally the students chose a suitable site for the actual construction. In all, the project took five weeks to complete. Professor Capart said that though the time in the T workshop was short, the flow of the joint course could still be referred to and followed. However, Capart also reminded the students of the T workshop that don’t forget the purpose of this workshop: were these models. Understanding the “users” required more work and study. Capart used the design of MRT (Metro Rapid Transport) toilet as an example. The space and size of the toilets for men and women were the same, but it did not stand for true gender equality. We constantly saw a long line outside of the women toilet in the MRT stations. This was why we needed to further understand the behavior differences of our subject of service. For that, Capart stressed the work pieces of this workshop must be very particular about the sensitivity of the needs of the elders. The physical appearance could be simple, without paying too much attention to the design on special angles or appearance. The key would be on whether it fit the needs of the elders in terms of practicality of functions or not.
Sketch Up Software and Model Production When introducing the Sketch Up software used in the design of civil engineering, Capart 28
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said, “this software originally was designed for children, but its simple interface gradually won the hearts of the engineers and thus became a very important assistive software in executing the engineering design.” Sketch Up provided spatial simulation function. Capart used the example as raised by professor Mao, that the houses in Finland were normally one story with large size since there was spacious, the problems with the location of stairs were minimum. Taiwan on the other hand is very crowded, the design of steps are not elder-friendly and even becomes one of the potential hazard factors. “Height” is a point that normally is not emphasized in the design drawing. Capart used a layout design as an example, and marked the heights in the layout to combine with the concept of heights as brought up by Mao. Based on the numbers marked on the layout, Capart asked the students to make the drawings again by using Sketch Up, and then to translate the layout into 3D digital models. Capart began by setting up the 3D design environment, using millimeter (mm) as the unit, drew a simple rectangular and calibrated the size. Every line and angle of the object could be adjusted and it could also be moved and rotated freely in the design environment. Next, Capart demonstrated to draw the advanced shape, such as the skills of cutting a round corner on the rectangular, giving an arch to the rectangular, and adding a handle to the object. He also introduced the most important part, punching holes. The holes on each mold board have to be in line so that when actually cutting with the water cutter, the boards could be connected with steel rods and fastened with wooden planks and screws to form a model with sturdy structure.
Design and Construct – Let the Game Begin! After guiding through the basic functions of Sketch Up, Capart suggested students to spend more time thinking 29
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about their concepts from the process of coming up with the ideas to make the drawings by using Sketch Up. They could first hand draw the design on their notebooks while proceed with multiple solutions and designs, then choose one idea that would be suitable for further development and follow up by using Sketch Up for more precise and deeper design. Before sending the files to the water cutter, they needed to check the structure of the model again, making sure that the holes were aligned. They should also make good use of the 90 cm long and 60 cm wide high density forming boards (EK boards) which was provided by the workshop, and proceed with the most suitable and least wasting cutting design. After the 3D model drawings were produced, students needed to “communicate” with the water cutter by providing cutting shapes, marking the cutting routes, controlling the water cutter squirt head moving path – for example, to make a turn after how many centimeters ahead. In the process of cutting, the inner of the EK boards should be cut before the outer boards so that the boards would not be affected by the strong beams of the water cutter squirt head during the cutting process, which would cause instability and loosing aim in the next cutting step. After the assembly boards were cut, students could use steel rods, screws and tenons which were designed for assembling the boards into the large scale work piece. Capart said that once the work piece was assembled, students could then truly feel if the work piece fit the need of people, even the need of the elders. They sought discussion and consulting from both Capart and Mao for workable solutions before stepped into the duel concepts of design and engineering.
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T Workshop: Learning Review
A Never Before Learning Experience Interviewed and Compiled by: Yi-Chen Chen Foreword: Backgrounds of the students from the T Workhsop were very diversified. Through close team works, these students needed to turn their ideas into real 3D models in just one week. They started from understanding about the universal design principles, followed by learning how to operate the graphic software. Next they moved on to discuss the design concepts and the need of the elders; afterward, they actually operated the water cutter to make models. Whether a toilet seat, a shoe wearing chair, a bathtub with sliding door; each piece was presented in the real size that fit for everyone to use. This was a mission impossible but they did it! Every creative work amazed the guests and the judges.
Starting from Zero: “TA please don’t leave us!” Half of the time during the T workshop, the students were required to work with Sketch Up software. Capart instructed the software in the humorous style; afterwards, students needed to use the basic knowledge to elaborate on their own. Most students found Capart’s teaching humorous and funny, moreover he covered all the details Since Sketch Up was easy to learn, even though it was a software students never used before, they were able to catch up with the progress.
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Wen-Bin Lee from the Institute of Information Management at Shih Hsin University said, “we learned the basics in the first class; later on I used it quite often in my own designs. This software can do everything, we just need to take time working with it and see how things come out. It has many functions, but we were not very familiar with them at first, and it took lots of time for us to work on a simple design. ” Yu-Yo Chen with Industrial Design background said that “Sketch Up emphasized on 3D formation, for those with good concept on measurements, they would be able to work on it faster; and if the measurements could be handled properly, it would help with the actual calculation for the products as well as the assessment of the product.” Shang-Ming Wu from Department of Electrical Engineering at National Taiwan Ocean University said, “the software is easy to learn. I am very much interested in it. It even allows a total strangers to work on it easily. I lacked art concept so it took me a long time to adjust the angles.” Hong-Zhi Chen from the College of Management at National Taiwan University mentioned that “the software is easy to use, the difficulty lies in calculating the locations of the tenons and holes precisely in order for our work to be assembled correctly. This is not the problem with the software; it requires the accumulation of experiences to do it right at one time.” In the process of exploring, besides using software to make sketches, students also needed to consider the size of the actual product and modify their drawings before sending the files to the water cutter for cutting. A hero was always born on the 11th hour; and the hero to these students were the devoted TAs. Hong-Zhi Chen said “refined adjustments are needed before sending to water cutter. For example, there was a rotating design in our work, and originally we had it fit perfectly. However it then could not rotate well, so we needed to adjust it.” YuZheng Hu of the Institute of Information Management at Shih-Hsin University said, “we kept a TA for ourselves and wouldn’t let him leave us. A TA often took care of two to three people, and they did a lot for us.” “We spent a long time modifying our drawings, such as converting the measurement unit. The water cutter uses
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millimeter (mm) but the software setting uses inch; without conversion, we would be in big trouble. Also, the high density forming boards we used in our design required leaving margins on the edges.” “We sought the assistance of the TA, and they also showed us many tips to help us to solve problems quickly.” Mong-Tien Wu of the Department of Physical Therapy at National Taiwan University who was the teammate of Yu-Zheng Hu also said that “we were not very familiar with the software interface and were unable to do it properly; but with the help of the TAs, everything would be OK.” Yu-Yo Chen of the Department of Industrial Design found the water cutter used in this workshop as guided by Capart to be a great experience, “comparing to other materials and the methods of cutting, the curves and models cut by the water cutter were so different!” To the students, this workshop was not only about learning the new software technique but also the special hands-on experience.
Experts Running Against the Time with Us “Professor Mao helped us understanding the needs of the elders, she pointed out what were the things and designs for the elders that required special attention. Professor Capart on the other hand gave us suggestions on the perspective of ergonomics.” As shared by Yu-Yo Chen of the industrial design background, the workshop provided a very different experience and ways of working together. She also thought that the one week deadline was really exciting and the amazing achievement was a result of the devoted TAs and teammates. A student studied of the industrial design department at the Chang Gung University also said that “it’s a pity that we did not have enough time. If the workshop could continue or could extend the time, the work we did would probably be even better.” From these responses we could tell that students could not get enough of what they have done in the workshop; that they wanted to do better to achieve perfection. After the end of the workshop, some teams even stayed behind to enhance their work pieces to turn their creative ideas into real products. Their spirits are truly admirable. 33
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Teamwork to Accomplish the Mission Impossible It was very achieving to come up with a large scale product from nothing, as said by WenBin Lee, “our group spent three hours in discussion and 5 hours in making the drawings in one week.” From knowing nothing at all, and he spent hours working on Sketch Up for a simple design, Lee became so familiar with the software that his teammate called him “master”. He hope he would have more opportunities to work on Sketch Up for his design, and he believed that this software could make the things he wanted happen. Hong-Zhi Chen who was the teammate of Wen-Bin said with confidence that “if we can commercialize our products, I would love to try and sell them!” It’s truly amazing to come up with all these products. In addition to the outstanding learning ability of the students, the most important element was their team spirits. Yu-Zheng Hu highly appraised his teammates of different backgrounds, “it was so great to have excellent teammates!” Mong-Tien Wu also thought the workshop experience was a worthwhiling process. They spent the whole week thinking about the needs of the elders and the concept of their work piece but they could not make Sketch Up drawings until the day of exhibition. She said, “although I am not a student of this department, I could still feel the charm of Sketch Up software. To be able to create the model was really, well, amazing!” She said happily, “all in all, welcome to the T Workshop!”
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T Workshop: Achievements
Challenges in Designing the Furniture for the Elders Written by: Yi-Ting Lin
Foreword：Observe the needs, make design drawings, produce models; these are the training courses for two semesters but are accomplished by the T Workshop students in just two days. Participating students went from being total strangers to each other, to brainstorming and communicate with each other, and finally working together to finish products. Under the combination of different departments from different schools, these missions impossible were completed. Observation stimulates design concepts and collaboration brings in the power of making things happen. If this pattern continues to develop, then we shall not be so clueless in facing the aging society; and the elders shall be happier!
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Subject: Shoe Wearing Chair Demand Wearing shoes seems like an easy activity for young people but it is quite painstaking for the elders. Knees of the elders degenerate, making their feet powerless. Wearing shoes standing makes it imbalance; but bending down to tight the shoe laces and adjust the tightness are even more burdensome for the elders. If they loose balance, they might even fall down. When the elders wear shoes and sit down on the low, short traditional shoe wearing chairs without handles. It’s not easy to sit, and getting up afterwards is even more strenuous.
Design First is to adjust the height of the chair to 44 cm. This height makes the bending angle of the knees bigger than 90 degree and is easier for the elders to sit down and get up. Seating is in camber surface, leaving room underneath to make it easier for the elders to get up. The handle is the key design feature, allowing hands to place naturally and also serves as support when rising from the chair. On the right of the chair is a platform for placing shoes, which is worn the oftenest can be placed here within an easy reach of the right hand. In addition, a footrest is also installed to be adjusted according to the body of the elders so that tying of the shoe lace would not burden the lower back. The functions and appearance are both improving. The gapping in the seat adds a special touch to the Shoes Wearing Chair.
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Review To us, the height of a chair only means different style and nothing special; but for the elders, it is the vital point to their sitting down and getting up. Students noticed their subtle yet vital needs of the elders, this is the most important step in designing a product. Once they found the problem, they used ergonomics as their base to adjust the height of the chair and the distance of the back of the chair. This was a very professional attempt. The platform for shoes and footrest were exceptional designs that indeed making the shoes finding and wearing more easier. However, due to the constraint of the materials, students were unable to elevate the height of the back of the chair; but this could be further improved in the future to make the elders sit more comfortably. On the whole, “Shoes Wearing Chair” was both practical in use and beautiful in design; it is a mature piece of work. However, the incentive as provided by the suppliers requires further considerations in order to achieve a long term operation.
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Subject: Smart Toilet Demand Normal toilet has different heights, but none of them can be adjusted to fit the body feature and height. Inappropriate height of toilet makes it very inconvenient for the elders. Sitting on the toilet without handles for protection makes the elders feel insecure. They might even bend forward when in trance, and accident might happen from it. Also, the toilet paper is often placed at the back of the toilet seat that the elders need to turn and reach for it. This motion not only creates burden to their body but also might induce accident.
Design “Smart Toilet” combined the existing technology; it was a sanitation device that emphasized on humanity. The toilet added an adjustable function of the car seat and allowed moving back and forth, left and right, high and low according to individual needs. It also provided handles which are like the handles in the theme park rides, when the elder sat on the seat, the handle would come down from either sides to surround the elder and take away the safety concerns. Toilet paper can be placed in the hollow of the handle so that the elder can reach for it easily. In addition, there was also heating cushion; when an elder sat down on the seat, hot water would automatically fill in the cushion, making the seat nice and warm. After the first use, the personal favorite settings would be recorded, making it even more safe, convenient, and enjoyable. 38
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Review It’s very amazing that the team could finish such a “Smart Toilet” in just one week! This design combined the existing technology and the interdisciplinary collaboration: the adjustable height, handle, heated cushion; these elevated the value of the traditional toilets seats. Such an innovation that even the judges would like to place orders for! Although there are technical obstacles such as how to adapt to a family with multiple members, to nursing homes, or how to allocate of pipes, that this design could not yet be commercialized. Ideas are the mother of engineering. Through the expressions of language and graphics, the impossible would become possible when the technology is available in the future. As long as the thinking matches the needs, it is meaningful. We do look forward to the production of this “Smart Toilet”.
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Subject: Easy Wash Basin Demand The elders are used to sitting next to the washing boards and wash clothing by hand. They scoop up water from the basin to flush the soap away. They think this is the only way to wash cloth. Even though there is a washing machine at home, they think it is waste of water and electricity to wash a few clothing with the machine; that they still prefer to wash by hand. The habit cannot be changed in a short period of time but this way of washing cloth creates a big problem, which is that when sitting on a low stool for too long, the bended knees would feel numb, the lower back would ache and the hands would feel powerless. These are all huge burdens to the elders.
Design Do not attempt to change the habit of the elders but trying to make their habitual behaviors become easy and convenient. “Easy Wash Basin” is created from this concept by combing the wash board with the basin, which allows to do the scrubbing and flushing at the same time. The elders can adjust the tilting angle of the wash board based on personal habit to decrease the burden to the shoulders and arms. The design of fixing the basin on the wall allows the elders to adjust the height according to their needs and choose suitable chairs. They no longer need to
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sit on the low stool and bending their backs to scrub the clothing. A simple closing motion could store the basin away without taking up space.
Review The team learned to understand the elders’ insisting on using the washing board from mental level, and followed the existing habit to make the design without trying to change the ways of elders wash their clothing. On the physical level, the team observed and found the problems when the elders wash their clothing and tried to solve the problems through the design of the product. However, there are a few points that may need further thinking. First is the stability issue. By installing the “Easy Wash Basin” on the wall, how would the basin support the weight of the water when washing clothing and remained fastened on the wall. Making the wash basin lighter would be a good direction for development. Next is the water draining issue, whether the water would be drained by connecting to the drain pipes or by pouring out of the basin. To find the problems from different angles is the key to improvement in the future.
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Subject: Nice Bath Tub Demand A shower or a bath releases the exhaustion of a day; there is no better enjoyment than that. However, such an enjoyment becomes straining with aging and the degeneration of bodily functions. Each movement can be very hazardous, for example, the legs of the elders are powerless that make them loose balance easily. It is quite risky as they climb into the bath tub. Although in the market there are bath tubs with doors; the elders can only turn on the water in the tub after entering it. Waiting for the water to fill raises the risk of catching cold.
Design “Nice Bath Tub” combines the bath tub door with a chair. By sliding open the bath tub door, the elders can sit on the chair for shower/bath. They can enter the bath tub for bath by closing the doors, and this decreases the risk of standing shower or climbing into the bath tub. In addition, the warm water gate/ faucet design takes away the worries of water being too hot or catching cold. This ingenious design allows the elders to turn on water in advance and to test the water temperature. They could open/turn on the warm water gate/faucet and enjoy the bath in no time.
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Review The design of the “Nice Bath Tub” comes from observing the tiny little details in life. However, there are still technical details to overcome, like the pushing forward of the chair whether manual or electrical and the water draining issue after the bath; however, the problems would be found by careful observations – which is also the first step in design. In addition, the judges stressed that the target subject of the product should be more specific. For patients with serious illness, moving their bodies could be dangerous and thus they are not suitable for this design. However, “Nice Bath Tub” is suitable for elders in general, allowing them to enjoy their bath safely and conveniently.
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Subject: Easy Reach Wardrobe Demand Many elders have arthritis problems that they are unable to use their strength to open drawers or to reach in deep or high for the clothing. This makes it inconvenient and even restricted the fun of the elders in dressing up. How to enable elders to reach for the clothing is the direction of design. Design “Easy Reach Wardrobe” has three major design principles: no standing on toes, no bending backs, and one look to see it all. The design begins with lowering the height of the wardrobe to 160 cm, a height that is more suitable for the Asians. Next is the three doors design so the drawers could be pulled out from the front, left and right, which would be easier for the elders to look for clothing. Diving into the closet for clothing would no longer be necessary. Finally there is a chair design. Once the elders find the clothing, they could sit on the chair to put on clothing. The easy and convenient wardrobe design makes dressing up for fashion no longer exclusive to the young people.
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Review In the class, Professor Hui-Fen Mao described the difficulty of the elders in reaching for their clothing. “Easy Reach Wardrobe” based on this and the actual observation and experience to come up with the designing concept, which was very creative. The team also kept the condition of the elders in mind to design the product empathetically. For example, the joints were too powerless to use the strength and the physical heights of the elders in Taiwan were generally shorter. Although the product was not completed by the time of review, the judges all look forward to this product; Mao even wanted to purchase it directly. The team stayed after the end of the workshop and finished the product until midnight. Such persistency in learning is very remarkable and admirable.
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Subject: Hair Drying Chair Demand Hair drying is a common movement that take about five minutes for young people; but it is quite a burden to the elders. The main reason is that their physical bodily function degenerates. Some elders even end up giving up on drying their hair because they suffer from frozen shoulders (Adhesive Capsulitis) that they could not raise both arms high enough. But not drying hair after washing makes a person easy to catch cold and contract flu. How to overcome the difficulties in drying hair is the point for opportunity of the product design.
Design How does a chair connect to “hair drying”? The concept of the design is to add holes on the back of the chair with soft tubes and a head cover to elevate the value of the chair. Under normal circumstances, this “Hair Drying Chair” is a regular chair for people to sit on and rest. When the elders need to dry their hair, the function changes. Put the hair dryers in the holes and the wind is vented by the soft tube that connects to the head cover to focus the wind. Every few ten seconds, the soft tube can be moved to change the direction of the wind. Hands only need to move the tube when changing the direction, this reduces the burden of raising arms.
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Review Through the design of this group, we realized that there were many inconvenience in the process of drying hair for the elders indeed. These students had done a great job to make subtle observations on the elders which was exactly the first step in designing products for the elders. In addition, many products in the market were designed based on the body features of Japanese, Europeans or the Americans; they were not suitable for the Taiwanese people. In the design of this team, they based on actual figures and tailored a chair with suitable height of seat back for the Taiwanese elders. This was an idea worthy of praise. We hope this light of the team could lit up the product design for elders in Taiwan. Actually, drying hair also includes a serious of motions. For instance, flap the hair to avoid the hot wind being too focused so that the hair will dry faster. This is the part that the hair drying chair has not yet included, so there is room for further improvement. However, it’s still a product that we look forward to.
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T Workshop: Review of the Judges
You’ve Done the Impossible Written by: Yi-Ting Lin
Hervé Capart / Professor Department of Civil Engineering, National Taiwan University What you learned today was actually two semester courses of the Department of Civil Engineering: graphic simulation in the 1st semester, practicum design and assembly in the 2nd semester. And you finished the course series in just two short days! You have the ability in observation and imagination which are the most important parts in product design, and materialization is a tool. In the process of cutting and assembling, you found the gap between actual product and imagination so you came up with new ideas to improve it. You even made others understand your concept in a short time, that they were able to provide you with concrete suggestion for the future development. The goal of the two day courses is to show you that you don’t need to be an engineer to materialize your ideas. As long as you have the basic skills to convert your ideas into digital graphics, you can have the factories to finish the cutting and assembling. It’s not a problem in Taiwan because there are full of factories with well developed technology. Not only will you be satisfied by using products in the market, but you also share the enjoyment with others. Moreover you can improve your design through the feedbacks from the sharing. In the near future, you shall be confident of yourself and your design! 48
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Hui-Fen Mao / Assistant Professor School of Occupational Therapy, National Taiwan University From being terrified at the beginning to being proud with the completed work; this workshop has made possible out of the impossibility: “Easy Wash Basin” is a concept generated from observing the series of movements in washing cloth. It not only combines the wash boards and basin but elevates its height to make clothing washing easy and comfortable. This is a wonderful design concept. In the future, the product can be developed towards light weight product, making it even more practical in use. “Nice Bath Tub” is an improved design after finding out the problems with the existing product. However, is the design for elders in general or for dysfunctional people? The target subject should be more specific so that the product positioning and the chance of opportunity can be better elaborated. “Smart Toilet” amazes us! The creativity is exceptional and the presentation is outstanding. You are full of vibes and make us feel like you can turn every impossible thing to possible. The designing spirit of yours is a good role model. “Shoes Wearing Chair” not only takes hold of the shoes wearing needs of the elders but is also practical in use. The chair design is beautiful and the model finishing efficiency is on top of the class. This is a matured piece of work. “Easy Reach Wardrobe” makes the drawers easy to pull and the clothing easy to reach, and it puts things in plain sight. User can even sit comfortably on the chair to put on clothing. Even I want one for myself! “Hair Drying Chair” observes the subtle yet vital demand, that it is difficult for the elders to raise their arms hence making the hair drying a difficult task. If the team can enhance the “hair drying” design detail, this will be a product worth waiting for. In the class we delivered the experience in teaching and in practicum. Students started from these experiences to create the infinite possibilities and accomplished 49
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the task in such a short time; we were all so impressed. I think the achievements we reached have a lot to do with gathering people from different expertise with different thinking in one place. I do look forward to the continuing development of such type of spirit with team work pattern in creating a new opportunity for the aging society and making the elders even more happier.
Ching-Kwan Chang / General Manager, L’elan Enterprise I notice a few things after running the L’elan Enterprise: 1) There are not many people in Taiwan that are in the field of product design for elders; 2) Most of the products for elders in the market are made for the elders in Japan, Europe or America that they are not suitable for the elders in Taiwan. However in this T Workshop, I saw a group of students from different fields that started from observing the needs of the elders to proceed with product design and put together actual working models. The process of thinking and making things happen are truly remarkable. I hope they could keep up the spirit, and bringing the energy for the industry of products for elders in Taiwan.
Jin-Ling Lin / Assistant Professor Department of Information Management, Shih-Hsin University Six products come from six different creativities. Although there are difficulties for some designs become real products due to the technical constraint, “thinking” is still the mother of the invention. Thinking is always the first step to arouse the development and make impossible possible. The willingness of these students in considering the needs of an aging society before they enter the job markets makes this activity very meaningful.
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Huey-Tzy Chen ／ Professor Department of Nursing, Fu-Jen University The first step in entering the industry of products for elders is to observe the needs of the elders around us at all time. These six groups of students did it! After the ideas were generated, students of different fields and backgrounds discussed with each other, stirring up thinking of different ways and solving problems. This is a very precious process. In addition to that, what’s lovable and admirable about these students are that they are brave enough to express through words on the part the technology is unable to achieve. I hope you all can keep up this spirit, and be confident of yourselves to keep moving forward.
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I Have Something to Say
T Workshop: Review of the Participants
Mong-Tien Wu Department of Physical Therapy National Taiwan University
In the past, our product design remained as ideas, I never thought that we could actually make it through mold boards. That was also the most exciting part of this workshop. We did not have much time in learning, which in turn made us impressed about the accessibility and applicability of this subject. People from other fields could also make use of these assistive software to help them to manifest their ideas and develop the product model. By constructing the actual model, we had the chance to examine that whether the design fitted for the use of the elders to make their lives more convenient. This was a great process for me to be able to sit in the bath tub that we designed and thought about how the elders would feel when taking a bath in this tub. When we experienced the touch of the actual product and witnessed our ideas to become reality, it brought us sense of achievement, and it felt really great. The lesson was short that we quickly ran through the operation of Sketch Up. Some of the function keys were not constantly in use and were easy to forget. I hope we will be given handouts with clear instructions guiding the keys and functions. It would make the operation easier.
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I Have Something to Say
T Workshop: Review of the Participants
Tsu-Chia Liang School of Nutrition and Health Sciences Taipei Medical University
Sketch Up is a super software, because it allows us to create, change and add new things to our ideas; it makes us feel like we’re creating a world of our own. We were all trapped in a frenzy of work, but we finally finished with the plan layout and it made us feel good. Sketch Up file is the previous step of the water cutter graphic file. It was such a pity that we were not able to actually operate on it due to job allocation and timing. The theme we discussed in the first week was found with some obstacles after testing at home, so we had to find the solution with other teammates on Facebook and decided to use pulley. When we returned to the workshop in the morning on second Saturday, we found out that there was no pulley that we could use. In addition, other teammates decided to change the original plan, so we were late comparing to other teams. The timing turned to be very tight so we distributed works, I was in charge of making power points, revise the original design drawings, making photo records and looking for the drawer handles; while others drew new concept design drawings and used computer software to cut the materials. We did not make it in time to finish the product before the final judging; we only presented orally with power points. However, we still wanted to produce the actual product. After teachers’ approval, he led us with the enthusiastic TAs to work until pass 11 pm to finally produce the product. Since we revised the design drawings, for catching up with the time, we did not calculate the positions of the holes precisely and that made us need to drill all the keyways again with electric drill. Also, because we did not notice the deviation on the left and right of the drawers, that the drawers could not fit into the wardrobe. We needed to cut again for the suitable length but we miscalculated the height of the tenon. Therefore, when the cutting was done, we still could not get it to work and had to declare failure. We asked the teachers that it looked so simple but why was it with so many twists and turns? 53
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Teachers told us that because the wardrobe which we made was a 3D structure and it was twice bigger than the materials. The chair that the other group made was with 2D structure, using similar boards in 2D to combine. When the main structure of the chair was shaped, the group only needed to add other elements to fasten it and added up the height and thickness. On the other hand, we needed to consider at the same time all x-y-z three dimensions; if one dimension did not match, the other two would be affected and could not be tightly jointed. When we were making the design, we also did not think of the steel nails that were not in the same height. As a consequence, the drawers; despite the size fitted; still could not be put into the wardrobe. When changing the design subject, we must think about it carefully. It would be better to do some tests and to think about the details and solutions before actually working on it; otherwise it would end up like what we did this time. When putting the materials together, as the length of each steel nail was different, we needed to place the washer and to tighten the screws with patience. We often had washers that were too big to fit the tilted holes, or had the screws too short for the screw hat (nut) – too tight would also deform the board. The back of our wardrobe was not wind tight. When we aligned the top, the bottom was lifted; when we aligned the left, the right side became loose. Here we understood clearly the reminder from teachers: “to look both sides”. We struggled for a long time, and we still had the cutting and drilling waiting for us. We had to give up on the part that did not fit due to a series of small mistakes in the design. We kept on fighting till the end with sweat and persistence. Our work piece did not look pretty, but learning from mistakes was also a step for growing. We will be better prepared for our next work.
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I Have Something to Say
T Workshop: Review of the Participants
Chun-Yun Chan Department of Chemical Engineering National Taiwan University
This was the first time that I participated the T Workshop. Everything was novel to me: whether it was professor Mao explaining the daily activities of the elders, or professor Capart’s funny way of explaining about the structures. After observing the elders in the class, I found that there were reasons for their being slow, having difficulties in moving, and could not see clearly. It was because our environment was not friendly to the elders. In the course introduction we learned the concept of universal design, which was not for particular groups of users but with broader consideration to include all users. This was not only a challenge to the engineers, but we could also see the thoughtfulness towards the general public in the society. I’ve never learned anything that was taught in the workshop, including experiencing the lifes of the elders, making design drawings, using Sketch Up, understanding the structure of furniture, and assembling our own designs. These were all far more difficult than at the beginning of the project. When our design was finished, we then realized how ideal our design concept was and that’s why we needed to modify it from the beginning. In NTU, in addition to learning the knowledge of my major, I also learned about team work and the ability to think. These enabled me to fit into the workshop that I was able to based on my professional knowledge and the spirit of team work to enhance my ability by learning new knowledge. Each type of new knowledge was able to broaden my vision and my mind. We designed, we thought and we tried. When we finally created our dream wardrobe, the drawers matched too well with the cabinet but we forgot the height of 55
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screw. We were all very depressed when the sticking out of the screw made it impossible for the drawers to slide in. It was a five hours of hard work for nothing. Professor Capart said to us, “People in the civil engineering field though knew how to calculate precisely and leaving sufficient margin, they also often ended in the awkward situation when the actual product did not match with the design. This is fine. You would find other ways of using this finished product.” And with his ingenious modification, the wardrobe became useful in another way. This experience made me feel deeply that, whenever we learned a new thing, even though we knew it was all right to make mistakes, we still wanted to at least achieve certain level; that even if we could not reach 100% perfection, there should at least be 80%. With this kind of state of mind, we might never see another method of assembly and achieve another kind of satisfaction. We might even see it as failure and never bring it up again until 20 years later to finally be able to laugh at the stubbornness of youth. For that, we greatly appreciated the guidance of professor Capart, for he helped us realized that stubbornness could only feed our pride and ego and that could not bring any benefit. After participating in the workshop, I have learned that learning new things or exploring new visions were able to broaden the thinking scope. I think this is a quality that people in any subject should possess. Therefore when trying to solve problems, we would be able to put different opinions and needs into consideration to try our best in generating a result that fits everyone.
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I Have Something to Say
T Workshop: Review of the Participants Shan-Ming Wu Department of Electrical Engineering National Taiwan Ocean University What I gained the most was the learning of the Sketch Up software. During the entire process, I was mostly impressed when we began to revise our work made from Sketch Up, Professor Capart reminded us to be hurry with the board cutting design instead of keeping revising the prototype. I remembered well what he told us, “If an art work was still under revising before it was published, even if it is a good piece of work, the designer to me is not a good designer.” As a result, we rushed out to cut the board (beating everyone to the punch), though we still needed modification later on.
We went through many changes from conceptual design to finishing a product. I could not accept the changes made after we finished cutting the boards that turned the assembling process into the creation process of a handy craft. However, the finished work indeed was much appealing. I was very grateful for all the teachers and students that came to our aid. Without all of you, when the judges came in, the work would only be a semi-finished product. But I would like to thank our teammate the most, we finished a piece of work!!
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