AISLE ASSIST
ADVENTURE BEGINS WITH PEACE OF MIND - FLY WITH AISLE ASSIST
Mechanical Design
Interaction Design
Product Management
Health Technology
Transferring from aisle wheelchairs to airplane seats can be uncomfortable and potentially dangerous. Aisle Assist is an aisle wheelchair that transfers travelers to their airplane seats safely and comfortably without an attendant handling their full body weight. Check out the final demonstration here.
In addition to contributing to the mechanical design, my role on this 18-person team included being Story Officer and Interaction Design (ID) Lead. As a team lead, I aimed to develop my skills in translating creative potential from multiple people into a cohesive product identity.
Point A to Point B
User Scenario storyboard to real-life prototype
How do you move a full-grown adult from the aisle to a chair without touching them? This question was at the center of the mechanical and design challenges that we had. Answers began emerging as we broke the process down into discrete movements. These movements guides how we selected materials, decided on the balance of assistance and autonomy, and considered the dynamic forces of the device structure.
Designing Functional Casing
“The casing looked really good and changed Aisle Assist from a weird toilet to a nice looking product that an airline might buy. ”
Aisle Assist before casing design
Concept sketches for handholds and transforming casing
A persistent challenge was to develop the interface of Aisle Assist to make it more approachable to operate and sit on. Our initial mockups of Aisle Assist showed technical promise but revealed anxieties caused by its appearance for users. Our first round of testers described our device as “intimidating [with] a lot of hard edges…” and “a bit like a portable toilet.”
I took on the challenge of designing and building casing that would have both an aesthetic purpose and the functional purpose of being a handle to deploy the transfer seats of Aisle Assist. I conceived a casing that created a strong profile for the chair giving it a modern look and blending the many moving components into one unified image.
Render made in Blender of Aisle Assist in a typical airplane
Photos of final prototype with casing
Want to read more about my mechanical engineering projects?
Check out this injection molded part design project for Norbert Health
