The project was an opportunity to work in a group to redesign a garden tool, in our case, the wheelbarrow.
The focus will be placed on developing methods and practices related to usability testing in order to work with products, identifying problems in their usage, conducting experiments and documenting our conclusions. The project also takes into consideration the usage needs the general population and also the ageing populations, such as Boomers in 2017.
Research
We explored the variations in and effectiveness of existing wheelbarrow designs to generate initial conclusions.
Muscle Groups Affected:
Vastus Lateralis
Rectus Femoris
Gastrocnemius Lateral Head
Deltoids
Brachioradials
Dorsal Interossecum
Palmaris Brevis
Adbuctor Pollicis Brevis
Latissimus Dorsi
Common Injuries
Muscular soreness
Pulled muscle
Contusion
Pulling out a tendon
Strain
Sprain
Initial Results
Balance
The balance of the wheelbarrows is terrible and makes turning, dumping and inclines difficult.
Grip
The grips are too small, hard and difficult to use when pushing, dumping and holding on downhill.
Strains
The legs get tired from lifting the wheelbarrow. Back strain occurs from carrying the weight over time.
Ideation
Field Testing
We iterated 5 different potential designs that addressed the issues we had preciously identified in our research.
