Engineering Design Proposal
Research Design & Project Management
1st Period
The Rocking Chair
The Rocking Chair
Summary:
The Rocking Chair project is an innovation that is meant to provide mobility
and comfort to elders, or those who would enjoy a rocking and rolling experience. An
original design of a rocking chair has two curved bands attached to the bottom on
both sides called rockers. The innovated design will incorporate two sets of wheels
attached to the sides of the rockers in which would have latches to slide the wheels up
when you want to rock, or unlatch the wheels for the rolling experience.
The Rocking Chair
Introduction:
The objective of this project is to innovate a rocking chair that adheres to the
elderly’s wants and needs. Most seniors love the traditional idea of sitting in a rocking
chair and being surrounded by their grandchildren. The need for this rocking chair is
to have a rocking chair that is comfortable, stable, and has a sense of mobility, I will
utilize the engineering design process to successfully design a rocking chair that aids
to senior citizens. I will define the problem, brainstorm possible solutions, research,
specify my criteria and constraints, consider all of my solutions and pick a final
approach, develop my design proposal, make a model, refine and improve, and then
communicate the results.
Current Status of Product/ Technology:
Today’s rocking chairs don’t have any sense of mobility because their creation
still has an old fashion sense of style. Rocking chairs are used for a sense of relaxation,
but can be often uncomfortable because of the hard material in which it is made of.
They’re also very low making it hard on the knees for elders, meaning they have to
bend their knees for lower seating. Elders also experience their rocking chairs leaning
back too far when rocking them. My innovated design will incorporate wheels,
providing mobility, Cushions which will provide comfort, Higher seating to make it
easy on the knees, and a wedge attached to the rockers to prevent the chairs from
leaning back too far. The advantage of adding the wheels is that they will be able to
move the rocking chair with getting up, but the disadvantage is having to latch the
wheels back up when you want to rock the chair. The purpose of this Rocking chair is
to provide seniors with a traditional rocking chair with modern features allowing
them to roll their rocking chair around the house easily.
Problem Definition:
The rocking chair is an unique design that allows a chair to sway back and forth
smoothly. Seniors utilize rocking chairs for the sense of relaxation and its traditional
background of grandparents sitting in them with their grandchildren. Rocking chairs
are often uncomfortable because of the material in which they’re made of, the rockers
at the bottom makes the rocking chair lean back too far, and there is no sense of
smooth mobility. To solve these problems, I will...
