We designed ShoreGlider, a beach wheelchair developed to improve mobility for individuals with accessibility needs in sandy, beachy terrains.
ShoreGlider was my first group project for my introductory engineering class, ENGN0032. Our task was to build a chair (any kind) that fits the needs of our chosen persona.
Emelie Nguyen, Olivia Wang, Razan Haweizy, Claire Luo
Laser cutter, drill press, various saws.
My team and I wanted to create a chair that was accessible. We settled on a wheelchair because two of our teammates have close relatives that use wheelchairs. After discussion about common issues they face, we settled on a beach wheelchair because going to the beach is a common recreational activity that is heavily impacted by being wheelchair-bound.
For our user persona, we created Laia: a retired grandmother that enjoys spending time with her family at the beach. Below is a journey map of her experience with a typical beach wheelchair.
We used ideation techniques such as brainstorming and writing ideas down individually and sharing aloud, sketching, and combining separate ideas and features to generate around 200 ideas. Additional techniques we used were analyzing gaps in the market using our literature review and competitive analysis and basing our ideas off of our user persona’s specific needs. Eventually, we identified the gap in the market for an affordable, reclining beach wheelchair that’s use case would be someone renting it at a beach or resort to use for the day.
After our idea sketch generation, we identified a variety of issues we wanted to alleviate in our prototypes: rigid arm rests, lack of head support, limited recline for the chair back, cushioning for the seat and back, lack of shade adjustability for independent users, and push bar instead of two separate handles for the wheelchair pusher to better navigate through sand. A component we took from existing designs is wheels with large surface areas which are necessary to not get caught in sand. However, we couldn’t order the large rubber wheels that typical beach wheelchairs use so normal thinner wheels are used in their place.
After researching other chair options, we concluded that a pin mechanism similar to a gym bench would be the most feasible for a recline adjustment given our mechanical constraints. Building off of that idea, we believed a “spine” running down the middle of the chair bottom would be the connector for the chair seat and two wheel axles.
To be conscious of materials and time, we decided to make our prototype ¼ of the actual scale, making our seat 5 inches wide by 4 inches deep. Initially, we believed using a PVC frame similar to that of existing wheelchair solutions because of its durability, lightweightness, and affordability. However, upon attempting to build an actual PVC chassis, we realized bolting wood to PVC is extremely difficult given our skillset and available tools/materials.
Therefore, we decided to pivot to a wooden frame taking heavy influence from the gym bench mechanism.
Overall, we are very satisfied with our final product. As shown on the right, our chair comes with handles with 270° of rotation to allow for seamless transfer into and out of the chair. A pin mechanism similar to that of a gym bench is to be used by an external user to adjust the height of the chair. Our chair comes with a proper headrest to ensure comfort, as well as cushioning present on the seat, headrest, back, and armrests. A canopy made of bamboo straw with rotational freedom is used for shade, allowing protection from the sun regardless of the sun’s position or seat recline. Furthermore, compared to existing beach wheelchair solutions, chair prioritizes both functionality and aesthetics. We chose birch plywood and baby pink striped fabric to capture the beach aesthetic.
This was my first engineering project and looking back the biggest piece of advice I’d given my future self is have foresight when planning. This applies to material constraints, time constraints (especially), and constraints from the laws of physics. All around, the project was very fun and I made three great friends who taught me lots about CAD and industrial design.
