Uplift

A desk-style podium for educators who utilize a wheelchair.

Project Overview

For my senior thesis at Thomas Jefferson University, I decided to design a desk-style podium for educators who utilize a wheelchair.

Currently, there are a limited number of teaching podiums for wheelchair users on the market that meet user’s needs.

From surveying a few educators, some needs include adequate surface space, storage for teaching materials, must fit seamlessly into the classroom environment, and must convey a sense of importance and equality on the user.

The image to the left is a typical user scenario where the educator can not speak eye-to-eye with the student which can be a great barrier in communication.

ADA Rules and regulations

The first step in this project was researching the rules and regulations for wheelchair products.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act(ADA), any building and any object designed for wheelchair users needs to meet specific measurements and specifications.

Some of these specifications include a surface height minimum of 26 in and maximum of 34, along with a knee clearance of 30 inches for the surface of a table.

User and Market Research

For my research, I looked at existing products on the market, professor/teacher’s needs, ADA requirements, and did on-site research at a university classroom with an educator who utilizes a wheelchair.

The main observations I saw while researching was the lack of storage with the user’s current podium, and how students would not be able to see the educator from the back of the classroom.

The circle in the middle photo is where the educator I was observing was sitting and the view from the back of the classroom.

Along with the need to be seen in the classroom, the products on the right do not fit the needs of educators who utilize a wheelchair.

For example, they do not have storage for teaching materials an educator may need such as a notebook, a travel mug, planner, sweater/coat, phone, pencil case, laptop, and laptop charger.

Lift Research

After talking with educators in the classroom and seeing the current products on the market, I realized a way to get the sense of importance upon the user was to lift them up to standing height to speak face-to-face with students.

I did research on various types of lifts and lift methods until deciding to the adapt the Southworth Floor-to-Height lift table. The lift has the right amount of lift capacity and can be flat to the floor allowing for the user to easily get on the lift.

Design Criteria

The product needs to meet the following requirements based on my research:

Must comply with ADA requirements.
Must revise user positioning to convey a sense of importance and equality.
Must have appropriate space for all facets of classroom teaching.
Must accommodate multiple personal items and teaching materials.
Must seamlessly into the classroom environment.

Initial Development

After getting my design criteria, I started doing initial sketches and ideate various forms.

Testing and further development

I did about 5 rounds of testing with various people getting feedback based on form, size, and features.

Round 1

After 2 rounds of testing my testing rigs were starting to narrow down on the size and general shape of the podium and storage system.

Round 5

For the first round of testing, I wanted to mainly focus on desk surface shape and size. I tested a few different cardboard rigs based on the Illustrator image.

Round 3

For the final round of development I made a full scale cardboard rig, wooden platform, and ramp to get one of my users to standing height to test and see and how she felt in the podium. The rig is fully based on the model to the right. I made it so it fully represented the product to the fullest ability. This determined the final parts of the design.

Manufacturing

Once I had the general shape, I started sketching the final form and manufacturing for the podium. I decided on a system where the main body would be built from posts and sheets attached together with a wooden surface.