Annabel Heath

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University of Nottingham > Engineering > Departments > Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering > PDM Exhibitions > 2024 > BEng students > Annabel Heath

Designing a rollator for prople living with visual impairments.

My inspiration for taking product design and manufacture originated from a Women in Engineering Day I took part in before deciding what to do for my GCSEs. The day involved many women talking about their roles within the different companies, however one person stood out and her role involved the design of different products that ranged from pipe design to wind turbine blades. She had designed so many different products that had changed people’s lives, which encouraged me to create and inspire others to do the same. From my university research I believed the product design and manufacture course could teach me the skills to achieve my goals.

I have enjoyed all the different sections of completing projects which included design, research, modelling, and rendering. However, I particularly enjoyed working out the intricacies of how my products would work by investigating different materials and manufacturing processes and comparing them to see which one meets the most criteria. Project planning and organising has also been a huge enjoyment factor for me when completing projects as I like to ensure that all tasks are completed to the highest standards and are up to the clienteles’ standards.

Once completing my degree, I would like to develop all my project skills by experiencing different areas of production. The main roles I would be interested in would be project engineering or process engineering as I feel these will test my capabilities and push me to achieve my best work.

Annabel Heath, BEng Product Design and Manufacture

Rollator for the Visually Impaired

My inspiration to design a rollator originated from family members living with visual impairments who have struggled with rollators. Issues range from falling over on uneven surfaces to walking into objects. I wanted to create a device that could help them and others to have a positive experience when walking.

The rollor is a rollator that has features to help the visually impaired. To make rollators more accessible technology was included into the designs such as ultrasonic sensors and lights to ensure the rollator provides both stability and assistive technology. My rollator included suspension as there is a lack of this feature in the market.

The design is intended to have a friendly feel. My inspiration originated from some features of old cars, such as leather seats and wheel covers creating a luxurious feel to the rollator. There is also a variety of colours with my design compared to others on the market as I wanted the rollator to feel personalised.

The collapsibility of the rollator was also an issue for the user as some of the current rollator models cannot stand by themselves and must lean on objects for balance. However, current rollator models have a simple folding process so I needed to ensure that my design can stand up by itself and be simple for the user. There will be two steps to collapse my rollator. First will be to lift the top part up off the hook and the second will be to pull up the strap on the seat.

The standardised parts include the seating area, brake handles and wires although I did hide the wires for aesthetics. The material of the legs of the rollator was changed to a mixture of aluminium and carbon fibre tubing to ensure the rollator is light and relatively inexpensive.