Week 2: (Outside-Lab) Modeling Design

After researching the detrimental effects of Kyphosis on the spinal alignment, multiple virtual designs were created to establish a physical design of the improved walker. These ideas were illustrated through Creo Modeling, as well as Visual Analysis to determine the appropriate angle to be used for the front legs of the walker. This will essentially make the physical building process easier because the dimensions have already been established through these tools, as seen in Figure 1.

Figure 1: This figure displays the basic Creo Model of the proposed walker design.

Although is only a basic design of the proposed walker, it includes features such as the user-friendly braking system located at the end of each arm rest, arm and back rest padding, as well as the foldable seat located on the back of the walker. The angled front legs will provide support as well aid in the braking system features. The angle of these legs were determined in Visual Analysis to find the amount of force that could safely be applied to each of the legs, as seen in Figure 2.

Figure 2: This graph represents the load applied on the front legs with the degree of the angle used for these legs.

Using Visual Analysis, the ideal angle determined for the front legs was between 10-15 degrees. This was based off of the load distribution and space that the additional material of the angled legs would be accounting for.