Designing a Portable Desk for Abby’s Wheelchair

In my assistive technology class, my team and I were tasked with a designing a device for Abby. Abby is an older adult who relies on a powered wheelchair for her mobility and her service dog, Nathan, to help her with daily tasks. Abby is often on-the-go and away from her office desk, but may still require access to her MacBook Pro or iPad. Our team worked on a compact, intuitive, cool lap tray for Abby to work away from home with comfort and ease. In the process of designing a successful device for Abby, we visited her house twice to better understand her challenges. After our first visit, we created a list of design criteria and brainstormed various different designs. We then ranked them using a PUGH chart and presented them to Abby. Her feedback helped us hone in on two final designs: the “Foldable Lap Tray” and the “Cross over between the legs”. We built prototypes for each of the two ideas and returned to Abby’s house to show her. As a result of our discussion with Abby, we chose the “Cross over between the legs” design and fabricated a functional prototype.

“ A successful device must be able to support the weight of her MacBook, have enough space for her to use her laptop and mouse, be compact enough to fit in her backpack, be easily assembled to her chair, and overall, improve the ergonomics of using her mobile devices while on her power chair.”

Recap of Design Process

As a result of our need-finding and brainstorming, we narrowed down our ideas into two main solutions which we created prototypes for. The slide-show below highlights our process and the design we chose.

  • Key Components

  • All components fit inside her backpack

  • Abby still has access to her controls

  • "Crossover Between the Legs"

Final Prototype