Elderly Challenge - Observation 3

This week, I am going to narrow down the problems to those the elderly wheelchair users face. There are certain disadvantages the wheelchair users have that normal people take for granted, this also applies to those who use walking aids too as their injuries do not completely hinder them from walking like those who are wheelchair bound. Like the previous post I will be listing five problems and five solutions to match it, one problem and solution will be listed into three topics: Knee and leg pains(the main topic), Blurred eyesight and Weak hand and arms
Knee and leg pains
- A problem that most wheel chair bound people is that they will find it hard to move up steps as they are riding on wheels and they would have to lift their body weight and the wheelchair's weight in order for them to tilt the chair to move up just one step. If it is comparatively hard to move up just one step, it would be near impossible to go up one flight of stairs without assistance.
- The problem has been solved by a company, they made a product called the IBOT 4000. It has been approved by the FDA(the Food and Drug Administration). It is able to go up or down a flight of stairs whether with assistance or not. There are two sets of drive wheels that rotate up and over each other and help the user go up the stairs. It is an automatic wheelchair in a sense that it is controlled using robotics and not through pushing the wheels like those of a conventional wheelchair.

Blurred eyesight
-One problem that most wheelchair bound and partially blind people face is that they will find it hard to navigate, as a stick could not be used to sense what is around them when both hands are occupied rolling the chair, thus coupling both wheelchair and blindness is a bad combination.
-There are not that many solutions to this but the most obvious one would be having a helper to help guide the handicapped person around and have that person navigate the handicapped person around. This may not be the best solution as it will give the handicapped person a feeling that he or she has to depend on others to get by.
Weak hand and arms
-Another problem is that wheel chair bound people have a certain restriction on how high the person can reach. The limit is much lower than that of a normal person as the wheelchair bound people have to sit all the time.
-This problem can also be solved by the IBOT 400 as well. As mentioned before, the IBOT 400 has four wheels. It can change into a mode where two wheels are used to support the whole wheel chair while the other two are lifted so that the user can reach things that are higher than they can reach on conventional wheel chairs.

By Turning Point Productions. Title: Think! A wheelchair user's daily struggle

video url: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB0PI3lsYGk

Elderly Challenge - Observation 2

The elderly face many difficulties and problems in their daily life that most people don't take note of. In my house, I notice that the elderly face a few problems. Since my grandparent is in Hong Kong, I would use some input that came from my neighbour and his grandmother.
These are some of the problems faced by the elderly that I have noticed. I have categorized the problems according to the disadvantages that elderly normally have and introduce one problem and a solution each, such as knee and leg pain, blurred eyesight, weak hands and arms, bad hearing, and teeth problems.
Knee and leg pains
- As mentioned in the previous post, walking is one of the main problems for this area even with use of walking aids. Another problem I would want to address is falling especially on hard surfaces. This would be really painful for us when we have the same injuries, and for the elderly even worse. It may be a little unwise to suggest a soft surface like sand or something like that on every surface, so how can we tackle this problem?
-I have an idea for the solution but it is not perfect but it is all in the thinking process. Elderly who have injured legs would normally have a walking aid perhaps like the one seen below. So since it is slightly bigger than a walking stick, it is possible to add some padding of some sort to cushion the fall.

Source: http://www.asburymedical.com/catalog/walkers/6241-5F_400_A.jpg
Blurred eyesight
-For this category, one problem is that, due to the blurred eyesight, it is hard to see certain signs in shopping malls, mostly signs that tell you the direction to go to a certain place. These would affect the navigation for the elderly.
-This problem can be solved by having brighter colours and bigger signs so that those with blurred eyesight would be able to see the signs more clearly.
Weak hand and arms
- One problem is hanging laundry with the hangars on the poles for clothes hanging,(as seen in the picture, it shows the poles for hanging the clothes). The poles are stuck to the ceiling and thus using another pole to hang the clothes will be troublesome for the elderly as it will be straining to hang the clothes especially if the hands and arms are rather weak.

-The solution to counter the problem is using a clothes rack like the one shown in the picture below. As you can see in the picture, it is not placed in the ceiling like the ones in the problem is. As the main root of the problem is gravity, this solution eliminates the root as it is place on the ground so that laundry can be hung with ease. To make things easier, it is much more flexible than the one with the poles as it can be moved to various places.

source:http://www.chinatraderonline.com/Files/Household/Clothes-Hanger/Retractable-Clothes-and-Quilt-Rack-2309084070.jpg
Bad hearing
-A problem for bad hearing is an obvious one. When there is danger, even when someone is shouting the elderly with hearing problems would have a hard time hearing.
-The solution is also quite obvious. Hearing aids can be used to help the elderly to hear, perhaps the government could make hearing aids more affordable.
Teeth problems
-As the teeth is not functioning properly, some of the elderly cannot eat harder food and must resolve to softer food.
-The elderly could ask the person cooking the food to cook a little longer so that the food is easier to chew.

Elderly Challenge - Observation 1

I have observed that the elderly with walking aids have problems such as climbing the stairs, which we do very easily. As the elderly is climbing the stairs with the walking aid, they have to take note of certain concepts, which are very hard to grasp unless given the patience. For example, given that the elderly has one bad leg, the concept up with the good and down with the bad. What the phrase means is that while walking with a walking aid, the good leg must be lifted and put forward first, then lifting the walking aid and putting all the pressure in the walking aid. As all the pressure is put on the aid, the elderly has to lift their bad leg.


In the photo, you can see that my friend Ilya has tried to walk a mile in their shoes, through simulation. He is having a lot of difficulty just walking with the walking aid and imagine doing this everyday.

We had to try walking with the walking aid ourselves, and it was no easy feat. To simulate the bad leg, we had to put a plastic bottle under our feet and must not put pressure to that leg at all, if the plastic bottle cracks one bit, we would be hurting our imaginary bad leg. Climbing the stairs will make this feat a whole lot harder.


In this photo, my grandpa can be seen playing air hockey, facing all the challenges an 80 year old man faces, he is still able to win the match with one hand in his pocket. Hopefully in the future, I want to be just as healthy as him. I hope that by identifying the problems and coming with suitable solutions, I can make life better for my grandpa.

NEWater reflection

3 takeaways:
I have learnt the importance of water conservation, Singapore does not have a lot of water after all.
I have learnt about the 4 national taps, local water catchment,NEWater,desalinated water and imported water from Johor.
I have learnt about how NEWater came about. Goh Chok Tong drinking the water and NDP 2002 having NEWater distributed.

2 concepts:
I have learnt the complicated and enlightening process of turning dirty water to NEWater.
I have learnt how well NEWater filters the water, keeping the bacteria out by using a smart process.

1 interesting thing:
I like how Singapore has came out with various ways to overcome water shortage.

Personal reflection (ADMT lesson)

I have learnt quite a lot during today's ADMT lesson, I have learnt about the different proposed solutions that each group did, some of them were just plain genius(exaggeration) while others, not so much.
Q1.What are the 3 key takeaways from today’s lesson?

A : I have learnt quite a few values on team work. Each group must have the work spread out as evenly as possible, so that it will not be all on one person's shoulders to bear. I have learnt about procrastination as well, we should not delay things until the last minute, we will be likely not to produce a piece of quality work as we are rushed and tend to leave details out. I have learnt about the things that need to be prepared beforehand like the questions for the survey,etc.

Q2. Name 2 concepts that you have learnt today pertaining to design and describe why is it important in design?

A:I have learnt that one of the key to design is to make sure we had a clear goal in mind and set ambitious goals. " If we aim for the moon and not reach it, we will end up in the stars." That quote is quite true, if we set goals ambitiously we will work harder and achieve better results. The other key to design is to keep the target audience in mind, that way we can workaround the problem so that it can appeal better to the audience.

Q3. What is the 1 interesting thing that you have learnt today?

A: I have learnt that we must give necessary comments that actually make sense so that we can make the idea even better than it originally was. Giving unnecessary is just a waste of time, after all time is money.

photos

Story : First photo : Everyone is having taking pictures with their cameras when they were given the photography task.
Second photo : The cheeky lion dancers decided to have some fun with the SST students.
Third photo : The lion dancers group start their parade of song and dance in the car park of SST.
Fourth photo : Mr Koh, hands full when carrying the oranges, looks like he has just come back from a fierce shopping spree in Orchard Road.
Fifth photo : Ilya decided to have some fun hiding half of his arm inside his sleeves, funny but insulting.

Photography

There are many different types of photography:
Advertising Photography.
Commercial photography.
Digital photography.
Cityscape photography
Black and white photography
Family photography
Wildlife photography
Night photography
Nature photography
Landscape photography
source: http://www.shotaddict.com/wordpress/2006/10/18/1382.html

These are some photography equipment that are needed like camcorder and digital camera for use on the go.There is also a traditional camera but it is not as portable.

Aperture is a device that controls the amount of light passing through an opening. The size of the aperture is measured in F-stop.
source:http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/A/aperture.html

Focusing is a feature in most cameras that allows it to make the image clearer. Inexpensive cameras have a fixed focus which is around 3 meters to infinity.
source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera#Focus

Shutter speed is the amount of time the shutter is open, normally shutter speed is in 1/60 of a second, anything slower would have to be put on a tripod or some other sort of image stabilization.
source:http://digital-photography-school.com/shutter-speed

ISO speed affects the shutter speed/ aperture combinations you can use to obtain correct exposure .
source : http://www.photoxels.com/tutorial_iso.html

Metering is a process which has the camera take a light level reading and this determines a suitable aperture and shutter speed for the right exposure.There are various metering modes in cameras for the user to choose.
source:http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Beginners-Guide-to-Photography--Metering-6351

White balance is needed to get the colours in the image to be as accurate as possible. There are different types of cameras with different types of types of white balance options . Exp:Tungsten, cloudy, auto and flash.
source:http://digital-photography-school.com/introduction-to-white-balance

There are many photography techniques that help get our white balance right,etc. Exp : High speed photography to get a really cool slow motion picture or video.