Design Criteria One: Improved Effeciveness

• One important design criteria is to improve the effectiveness of the Liftware utensil.
• Liftware says that through clinical trials they have found their utensil counteracts 70% of a patient’s tremors.
• The goal of this product is to improve upon liftware’s 70% rate of counteraction.
• This can be accomplished by considering aspects of the utensil such as weight, size, and alternate force sensing technology.

Design Criteria 2: Improved Battery Life

• Liftware states that their utensil will last for an hour of continuous use, or approximately three meals.
• This one hour of battery life can function well for relatively short meals, but for events like holidays or family gatherings it might not last the entire time.  
• Since the Liftware utensil has to be plugged in for it to charge, either forgetting to plug it in or unexpected, on the fly plans can leave the patient without their utensil.  This will ruin their experience as the utensil takes three hours to charge so they will not be able to eat comfortably.
• Considering all these limitations, a large component of the design is to increase the battery life or to make sure that it is always available when needed.

 

 

 

Sources: : https://www.liftware.com/faqs/steady/

https://www.closingthegap.com/liftware-steady-level/#:~:text=Battery%20lasts%20for%20at%20least,meals)%20on%20a%20single%20charge.&text=Liftware%20Steady%20includes%20two%20parts,handle%20and%20a%20utensil%20attachment.