Pictures of our prototypes
Approximately 5.4 million people in the United States are reported to be living with a form of paralysis (Cleveland Clinic, n.d.). Most of these paralyzed patients have limited ability to manipulate their lower limbs, which can prevent them from driving a vehicle effectively (Abdullah et al., 2010). Driving is linked to decreased rates of depression and social isolation, making it an important aspect of life to be provided for people with lower limb disabilities (de Freitas et al., 2019). Although driving can still be done by using hand controls, typically in the form of a lever, this form of driving requires much more effort for paraplegic drivers, which can lead to less usage of cars (Mansor et al., 2020). Due to the necessity of driving in daily life, work to get more people with paraplegia on the road needs to be done to allow for success in all aspects of life.
For our design, we found it important to prioritize functionality before making the design look pretty. As you can see in our images, it took time for the system to be made more sleek, but before this, we ensured the system worked at the level we desired.
Below are pictures of our prototypes. These are in chronological order, with the first being a design of our handle itself. This was most important, as it was the part the user would be interacting with. We then began to design our system to work on Logitech gaming pedals. This was to simulate actual pedals in a car without working with a vehicle that could cause harm. This system also allowed us to test with BeamnNG.drive, a physics based realistic driving simulator.