This week, Fixperts Resident Maya Alvarado spends more time with Heidi, a pupil at local special needs school The Castle, and meets Mum, Fiona – and then heads back to British furniture manufacturer Benchmark to work on fixes that will help Heidi use cooking utensils, join the family at the dinner table and play cards in the evenings.
06:45: I wake up, take a shower and eat breakfast.
08:00: I take the train to Newbury to visit The Castle Post 16. Today I will test the spoon with Heidi and meet her mother Fiona to hear if there are other areas for fixes. On the way I see a frosty spider’s web, the level of engineering and detail is incredible. It is a useful visual when thinking about the scope of Fixperts projects: one problem that affects many people starts in the centre, and as bespoke solutions develop they take off in different directions, branching off to people in many different locations and scenarios. The open source nature of the projects enables this sharing web to grow. I hope to spread the solutions I make on the residency as far as possible and to as many people living with the same issues.
09:00: I meet Heidi’s mother to hear about her ideas for the Fixperts project. It is wonderful how enthusiastic she is about the project. We watch the Fixperts ‘Helping Hand’ film. Mia, the Fixpartner, was born with a handicap and cannot hold cutlery in her left hand. The Fixperts Julia, Mario and Dennis created a printed part that holds a piece of cutlery and is strapped to Mia’s wrist through a Velcro band. This solution means that Mia can now comfortable use cutlery with both hands to cut food. Fiona loves the film too and it gives a great introduction to what Fixperts is all about.
We discuss the cooking utensils; Heidi also loves to cook at home but does not have access to a large work surface. If a cooking tray could be attached to her wheelchair, Heidi would be able to spread out all the necessary equipment for cooking. This could also double up to accommodate Heidi’s love of painting. The compartments to hold cutlery and utensils could also house brushes and tubes of paint. A groove to hold a chopping board could also support a sketchpad.
09:30: I test the spoon with Heidi. The rounded handle works, but it is still a little bit too wide. It would also be useful for the handle to be extended up the stem of the spoon, so that it is easier to grip and to get closer to the point of pressure.
09:45: Fiona discusses the issue of dining at home. Heidi’s chair is too tall to go underneath their table. The top, legs and underside of the table block the tray, arms and feet of the chair, and this is also true of the canteen and classroom tables at The Castle. Heidi does have a low padded chair at college that can get underneath, but Fiona explains that this does not fully support the top of her back and is difficult for long sittings. Fiona would love for Heidi to have an adjustable dining chair designed bespoke for her, with supportive elements and with the focus of being free to move underneath the table. This would bring Heidi directly into the family meal and remove any physical separation that the existing chair brings.
10:30: I measure the tables that Heidi uses at college for the possible chair design. It is a big project and must be very secure for Heidi to support herself on when sitting down and standing up. There will be an incredible breadth of knowledge at Benchmark about chairs, and it will be useful to develop the chair with them to ensure that it is as robust as possible.
11:00: I watch Heidi complete the desserts for lunch and think about some new forms for the utensils. I notice that she grasps the handles front on rather than side on, so a curved loop handle that Heidi can hold in her palm could work. The spatulas tend to lift up easily as they are light, so I will need to embed some extra weight at the top of each tool to keep it safely in the pan.
13:00: When I return to Benchmark I spend some time mocking up a few of these new ideas. I will test these with Heidi and work to select the best form for her.
14:00: I asked Fiona about Heidi’s other hobbies and every evening they play card games. Heidi currently owns a transparent card tray that allows sneaky players to spot some of her cards. If a game requires a larger hand, say fourteen cards, the tray cannot hold them all at the same time, so I get thinking about a longer tray with a method of concealing cards and also grouping sets together.
16:00: Heidi also owns the ‘Sucker’ cup holder that prevents drinks from slipping off her tray. It would be great to have a bowl holder to enable Heidi to put pressure on the side of the bowl when mixing or scraping ingredients. This could hold a number of different sizes of containers. I search for suction cups and come across the devices for holding moving glass. These are very strong and lock into place by two arms coming together. The arms would need adapting to create the surface where the bowl or container can be held.
18:30: When I get home I monitor the way in which I grip containers and apply pressure while cooking my own dinner. The tasks in the baking session this morning require a lot of effort as you try to bind and transform ingredients into an entirely different consistency. Frying requires less force as you just move ingredients gently from side to side. It might be that different tools need different shapes for the point where pressure is applied.
Further reading for the especially geeky:
- interview :: made by michael
- interview :: nordvink
- interview :: james molkenthin
- interview :: richard hardy
