Literature Review​

Designers were Introduced to Accessible and Inclusive design through Kalbag’s “Accessibility for Everyone” (Kalbag, 2017). This book speaks about inclusive practices in website design which can be translated to physical product design. Researchers took the knowledge of Kalbag’s work and applied it to Origami-Inspired design.

An introduction to Origami-Inspired Design was brought through a TED Talk titled “The Art and Magic of Origami by Robert Lang (Lang, 2008). Dr. Lang is an Origami Artist and Physicist who lectured about the variety of many aspects of the world of Origami. This taught the fundamental elements of Origami which influenced the rest of the project.
A large portion of Origami Inspired Design is centered around Soft Robotics or Origami Robots which is explored through “Magnetically Controlled Soft Robotics Utilizing Elastomers and Gels in Actuation: A Review” by Chung and Colleagues (Chung et al., 2020). Instead of traditional skeletal based robots that perform a specific task, Origami Robots can be used to perform a variety of tasks. This uses Origami in conjunction with magnetically active elastomers and gels. Even though this is not a robotic design project, the actuation (moving methods) can be useful in many applications.

“A Smart Mass Customization Design Tool: a Case study of a Portable Ramp for Wheelchair Users” by Kumtepe and colleagues was reviewed (Kumtepe et al., 2020). This explores a rollable (foldable) wheelchair ramp with a corresponding customization tool. Based on user interviews, “Concept of being a wheelchair user/person who uses a wheelchair… public space… transportation… [and] suggestions,” [9] were researched. This resulted in the design and analysis of a rollable ramp that can be deployed to help a person using a wheelchair navigate stairs. It would be beneficial to apply Origami to this concept to making folding/unfolding more efficient and user friendly.

Following the research described above, Kumtepe and colleagues wrote “Design Based Exploration of Medical System Adoption: Case of Wheelchair Ramps” to explore their previous findings (Kumtepe et al., 2021). An online survey was created to collect data on user perceptions of the above mentioned ramp. Personalization, cost, and flexibility of the product were highlighted as important factors. In addition, interesting findings included the different user perceptions based on demographic, economic, and other user characteristics. For example, more educated users felt more comfortable with the product. This enforces the importance of “Ease of Learning (EoL)” (Kumtepe et al., 2021) of a medical product.

Melanco and colleagues’ “Multistable Inflatable Origami Structures at the Metre Scale” was used to explore automatic actuation in Origami Inspired Structures (Melancon et al., 2021). Panels in triangular form can be connected together to form a chamber that expands and contracts with changes in air pressure. This technology can be used to help persons in a wheelchair to deploy and stow the ramp automatically.

In terms of legislation, standards from the International Standards Association (ISO) and Government of Ontario was referenced to create the Critical Project Drivers – See section 3.2.2. ISO 9999: Assistive Products for Persons with Disability provided many parameters to ensure the safety of the product (World Health Organization, 2016). This summary of the legislation was published by the World Health Organization. In reference to the built environment, The Ontario Building Code gave standardized height for curbs and steps (Government of Ontario, 2024). The legislative bodies were selected due to their reliability in the product design and accessibility fronts.

Finally, “Conceptual Design and Finite Element Method Validation of a New Type of Self-Locking Hinge for Deployable CubeSat Solar Panels” by Solís-Santomé and colleagues was used to explore hinging in deployable structures (Solís-Santomé et al., 2019). In this research, a counter-hinge mechanism was developed to stop the motion of solar sails. The design was then simplified to be used in the concepts for the folding ramp. Technology designed for aerospace applications is beneficial to design on earth!

 

References

Chung, H.-J., Parsons, A. M., & Zheng, L. (2020). Magnetically Controlled Soft Robotics Utilizing      Elastomers and Gels in Actuation: A Review. Advanced Intelligent Systems, 3(3), 2000186.
Government of Ontario. (2024, April 10). O. Reg. 332/12: Building Code. https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/120332

Kalbag, L. (2017). Accessibility for Everyone (1st edition). A Book Apart. https://www.amazon.ca/Accessibility-Everyone-Laura-Kalbag/dp/1937557618/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.VNkYo2Pyn5HC5w0Hi1XaWCbZT3HiO3lU_jUP2Gp_8dwRPJs1mOWSnP7KsIrspuT8Ea37bL_yXSqTmshPSrVDw4NE6wSk0QIVfIsfcE_3wo4fDRQyWnveTm9I6Ep-5YdYsC9m_wYzTat32QgIUXIUWz3AqlO9LJdArqaL1kW-0FB0I-zy-R7bdirQUQxff7pA1azQxeHvb46SDLTlPdfeGfGDZlqU42wd6uB48h39eOVYeuel_HLItrpgd25i8r7EoBXnXN3WBw7kEKts6gqTmGNv5uMCVybknBQ83BLxkLg.QuZ7Eu5oBes3qslyrY8a0rRSXgwvONf3XzcbDEZCGB0&dib_tag=se&hvadid=667799319760&hvdev=c&hvlocint=9000676&hvlocphy=9198949&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=14793889664087786875&hvtargid=kwd-431792862667&hydadcr=27648_14705428&keywords=accessibility+for+everyone&qid=1720713761&sr=8-1

Kumtepe, E. D., Başoğlu, A. N., Çorbacıoğlu, E., Daim, T. U., & Shaygan, A. (2020). A Smart Mass Customization Design Tool: A Case Study of a Portable Ramp for Wheelchair Users. Health and Technology, 10, 723–737. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12553-019-00400-w
Kumtepe, E. D., Çorbacıoğlu, E., Başoğlu, A. N., Daim, T. U., & Shaygan, A. (2021). Design based exploration of medical system adoption: Case of wheelchair ramps. Technology in Society, 66(101620), 11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2021.101620

Lang, R. (Director). (2008, February). The math and magic of origami [Video recording]. TED Talks. https://www.ted.com/talks/robert_lang_the_math_and_magic_of_origami
Melancon, D., Gorissen, B., García-Mora, C. J., Hoberman, C., & Bertoldi, K. (2021). Multistable inflatable origami structures at the metre scale. Nature, 592(7855), 545–550. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03407-4

Solís-Santomé, A., Urriolagoitia-Sosa, G., Romero-Ángeles, B., Torres-San Miguel, C. R., Hernández-Gómez, J. J., Medina-Sánchez, I., Couder-Castañeda, C., Grageda-Arellano, J. I., & Urriolagoitia-Calderón, G. (2019). Conceptual design and finite element method validation of a new type of self-locking hinge for deployable CubeSat solar panels. Advances in Mechanical Engineering, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/1687814018823116

World Health Organization. (2016). Assistive Product Specification for Procurement—Portable Ramps. https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/assistive-technology-2/aps/mobility/aps14-portable-ramps-oc-use.pdf?sfvrsn=456c069_2