Arthritis Assistive Technology

The objective of this project is to search for innovation in everyday objects to facilitate their use for people with disabilities.

Much of what we know as disability is due to the lack of facilities provided by the environment in which people with disabilities develop. The use of assistive technology is a great support for those users who, due to some physiological deficiency, cannot adapt to the environment to which most of the population is used to.

In this project we demonstrate the design and manufacturing process of five different products that work as assitance technology for people with arthritis.

BambuLab X1 Carbon CF printer

ABS Filament

TPU 85A Filament

Creality Ender 3S1 printer

Using SolidWorks 2024 and based on measures from objects related to each of our products (cutlery, cooking utensils and soda cans), we created assistive technology products to facilitate the grasp of cutlery and another one to change the opening of soda cans to a rotational movement using a thread.

For the soda can opener first we measured the standard shape of a soda can so that the device can be perfectly adjusted to the lid. Then we created the outer circumference with a diameter that makes it easy for our final user to grab it and rotate it. For the inner thread of the device, we measured the clip of the can so it can easily slide through the thread in our device. Finally, we added the star-like shape so that our final user can have a better grasp of our device their fingers.

For the cutlery and cooking utensils grabbing device, first, we measured a series of different utensils so that we could get average standard measures for the length and width for the later addition of the cavity in which they are inserted. Then, we added half spheres inside the cavity to maintain the utensils fixed in a position. Finally, we added a mechanism in the opposite end to be able to open the device in case of needing to reach the other end.

The device designed to open soda cans with a thread and a rotational movement is 3D printed in BambuLab ABS using the BambuLab X1 Carbon CF printer.

The devices designed for a better and more comfortable grasp of cutlery end kitchen utensils are 3D printed using TPU 85A in a Creality Ender 3S1 printer.