University disability project on gardening tools

GizGaz

Dear all,
I am a university student in the second year of my product design course.
In my last project of the year, I have been asked to look into gardening tools and ways of making them more user-friendly.
However, instead of just making something better just by looks, I would prefer to improve it in order for everyone to use them.
I have to design a gardening tool( such as a lawn mower), but am not aware of the different necessities to make this task easier.
My initial idea would be to make a mount in which wheelchairs could attach to the lawn mower.
Please give me your opinions or ideas.
Kind regards,
Really thankful.

janer1967

Hi and welcome 

I'm a wheelchair user and would find it impossible to operate a lawn mower 

How could you get it out of shed ? 

How could you control mower and propel chair at same time 

Wheelchairs if manual are no good on grass 

Just a few points 

chiarieds

Hi @GizGaz - & welcome to the community. This sounds like a great idea considering the needs of disabled people. As a keen gardener myself, I wish you well. Sorry, I don't know a thing about lawnmowers, as my garden is all raised beds & containers.

lisathomas50

@GizGaz when you say a mount for wheel chair users  what do you mean exactly I am realy interested how that would work 

GizGaz

@lisathomas50 By this I mean a knid of ramp integrated on the front partof the lawn mower thru which the wheel chair woulg go up and stabelize itself on top of the motor blade. the same motor tha powers the blade would power the wheels, and turning would be made by braking a wheel on the side correspondent to the turn.
Is there any idea or suggestion you might have that could prove more usefull or of easier access?

GizGaz

@janer1967Thank you for your reply.
To solve the mobility problem I would integrate  a knid of ramp on the front partof the lawn mower thru which the wheel chair woulg go up and stabelize itself on top of the motor blade. the same motor tha powers the blade would power the wheels, and turning would be made by braking a wheel on the side correspondent to the turn.
Therefore the wheelchair would become just a sitting object, not a moble one. The one mobile would be the lawn mower.
Is there any idea or suggestion you might have that could prove more usefull or of easier access?

GizGaz

chiarieds thank you for the wishes. Same goes to you:)

lisathomas50

@GizGaz I myself  am not a wheel chair users and I was going to tag @janer1967 into this but I see she has already answerd  it sounds good when you say how its going to work but it may need a bit of tweaking  nut the idea is good 

@janer1967 how do you think this idea could be tweaked to make it better so that it could possibly work 

GizGaz

@janer1967 Thank you for your reply.
To solve the mobility problem I would integrate  a knid of ramp on the front partof the lawn mower thru which the wheel chair woulg go up and stabelize itself on top of the motor blade. the same motor tha powers the blade would power the wheels, and turning would be made by braking a wheel on the side correspondent to the turn.
Therefore the wheelchair would become just a sitting object, not a moble one. The one mobile would be the lawn mower.
Is there any idea or suggestion you might have that could prove more usefull or of easier access?

janer1967

Hi again 

Ramps are not always useful dependant on gradient of ramp 

I have seen advertised like a robot mower which would be better rather than a wheelchair sitting mower 

Also like I said how would a person in wheelchair get thr mower into the garden from storage 

GizGaz

@janer1967 Thank you for raising such a good point. 
Since a lawnmower is really low to the ground, the gradient of the ramp would not have to be more than 5 degrees.
I am trying to sell the experience while at the same time selling a sollution which is cheaper than the robot lawnmowers, which become quite pricey due to all its technology, and rather small deposit.
Regarding the storege, this lawn mower would have to be easily accessible( not behind a lot of things), and due to its motor, it would be able to move freely around.

GizGaz

@lisathomas50 thank you for the help. All ideas are welcome:)

janer1967

I still have reservations personally in a wheelchair you cant get in a shed or move anything love to ground or lift it up from standing 

I'm not saying there isnt a workaround but it us very hard to do this sort of thing without assistance and if you have assistance they may as well cut the grass for you 

Try a wheelchair out and see the restrictions it has 

lisathomas50

@GizGaz I tagged @janer1967 as I know that she would be able to describe more of how things would be it sounds like a good idea but it would need to work in a good way 

As @janer1967 said there is then how would it be stored  if your a person in a wheel chair cant stand up

As I said I think its a good idea initially  needs a bit of tweaking ti get it right 

GizGaz

@janer1967 unffortunnently I do not have the possibility of trying a wheelchair. Would you be ok with sharing your difficulties, and ways you think would help solve them? Thank you

janer1967

Hi I would think your idea would work with a power chair but in my opinion not with a manual wheelchair 

I will give some more thought to it and let you know 

lisathomas50

@janer1967 I am glad your helping I think your a good person to help not just because your a wheel chair user you have a good mind aswel I think you could figure it out on balance its a good idea 😊 

GizGaz

@janer1967 thank you for the continuous help. I also did in fact contemplate a power chair as an option, but for the price of one, it would be cheaper to buy just a robot.
I intend to make it accessible to the whole market.

GizGaz

@lisathomas50 I completely agree.

janer1967

I meant a power chair user may be able to use it 

I would suggest the best research you can do is to put yourself in the position of the intended user