This study reports on experiences with a user centered design approach for the development of a customized mechanical transradial prosthesis for a patient who were unable to adapt to a standard prosthesis. The development process explored the needs, preferences and expectations of the user, as well as physical and functional aspects. The production process was based on 3D printing technologies, with emphasis on originality and customization. During the design process, the user participated in the design and evaluation phases through practical handling tests. The results indicated that the participation of the user in the design process using a user-centered design approach lead to a customized product that matched the user's preferences. This acceptance and satisfaction with the product help minimize the risk of product abandonment.
Prototyping has become a widely embraced technique in different design fields to facilitate early user involvement to ensure that the end-product meets the users' needs. Each design field has its tools and traditions for working with prototypes. This paper documents experiences with smartphone app prototyping from a product design student's perspective. Three prototyping tools with different fidelity levels were explored. Based on these experiences we reflect upon the prototyping tool characteristics and their suitability for non-computer scientist. We envisage that our experiences may be useful for other product designers who want to develop smartphone apps.
Headphones and earbuds are seemingly more popular than ever with the wide availability of smartphones and music streaming services. Such personal audio systems are also essential for many blind and visually impaired computer users that relies on text-to-speech. Few published studies address the users' perceptions of such personal audio output devices. However, past research shows that negative perceptions may lead to device abandonment. General-purpose equipment may therefore be more successful than special purpose assistive technologies for marginalized groups. We therefore set out to gain insight into how users generally perceive headphones and earbuds, and we wanted to base our study in two different cultural contexts. A questionnaire built on a Kahoot quiz was developed involving 12 questions related to headphones and earbuds. A total of 100 participants were recruited in Norway and Brazil. The results show that intuitiveness is the most valued feature of these devices and cost was not. Brazilians expressed skepticism regarding the use of headphones while walking and when travelling on public transport, while Norwegians expressed that headphones were safe to use in such situations. Our experiences showed that Kahoot is a promising platform for conducting such experiments, as it may appear more engaging than regular questionnaires. Moreover, they are relatively easy to set up and allow response times to be measured.
Avaliação de usabilidade e percepção de esforço/desconforto durante a operação de artefato de uso doméstico: a influência do design do produto Usability evaluation and effort/discomfort perception during the operation of household product: the influence of product design
3D printing has revolutionized the product development process in several areas including the healthcare field. In the context of assistive technologies, one of the main contributions includes personalizing the design of devices such as prostheses and orthotics. Assistive devices with personalized design may benefit users' acceptance and engagement to use, thus contributing to reducing product abandonment. Many studies have reported on the application of 3D printing (mainly FFF technology) in the design of prosthetics and orthotics, with a wide variation of filament materials and printing parameters. Understanding how these influence the mechanical resistance of the printed piece is therefore important as it may support the decision regarding the most appropriate printing parameters. This study was aimed at evaluating the mechanical properties of different types of filament and printing parameters applied in the manufacturing of 3D printed upper limb prosthesis. For this purpose, specimens were 3D printed in accordance with the international ASTM standards in six different conditions, varying the filament material (ABS, PLA and PETG) and number of layers (3 and 5). The specimens were subjected to mechanical tests to evaluate the flexural resistance and tensile strength. The results indicate that the mechanical performance of the parts was influenced by both the type of material and the number of layers, and PLA demonstrated higher mechanical properties compared to PETG and ABS. This study contributes to the design of 3D printed prosthetics by providing information that may support decision about filament type and printing parameters.
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