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Paddle Battle!
Paddle Battle is a project developed in collaboration with a student from Al Noor Training Centre for People of Determination, using re-iterative co-design methods to best cater to his needs. This project was conceptualised and materialised over the course of one semester, and 6 periodic meetings with the student.
Our initial meetings involved getting to know the student, a 13 year old boy named Hassan who has cerebral palsy. The brief was to design a product that catered to his needs, and improved an aspect of his daily life. In order to do this, it was important for us to first understand him- his daily routine, his likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses, and above all, the daily struggles he faces due to his disability.
Hassan knew from the start that he wanted something that would allow him to play sports with his friends, which helped narrow down the scope of the project considerably. Upon considering the extent of his abilities, such as movements of joints, focus, hand-eye co-ordination, etc., we ruled out a number of different possibilities, finally deciding to focus on racquet sports. After consultation with him, we began to create an inclusive variation of table tennis.
Our initial prototypes were simply pieces of cardboard that allowed us to understand the scale with which he was comfortable. The 'racquet' needed to span the width of the table, since hand-eye co-ordination was something Hassan struggled with. Moreover, movement in his arms were limited, and required great effort.
Therefore, an additional component was designed- a clamp that attaches to the table, while serving as a stopper for the paddle. This required several iterations to perfect the angle at which it lay.
The paddle initially included a brace that connected it to the table, using a rod. Upon testing however, we realised that it provided no support to keep the paddle upright, which was crucial since it would otherwise fall to the other side, out of the player's reach, and prove difficult to retrieve.
Final Prototype
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