DARIUS ANTONOV
Independent 3D designer & art director,
creating outstanding designs.
What is Parkinsons?
Parkinson's disease is a progressive nervous system disorder that affects movement. Symptoms start gradually, sometimes starting with a barely noticeable tremor in just one hand. Tremors are common, but the disorder also commonly causes stiffness or slowing of movement.
Challenge Prompt
After conducting extensive research on Parkinson's disease, I focused on developing a solution for patients experiencing freezing of gait episodes that can increase the risk of falls. My goal was to help Parkinson's patients walk more confidently and reduce the frequency of freezing of gait.
What do I Come in?
Meet KIKO: the smart, retro-inspired product designed to tackle boredom and loneliness among senior citizens. With its own heartbeat, expressive eyes, and a brain of its own, KIKO is more than just a device – it's a companion that can connect you with other KIKO owners in your locality. Designed with simplicity in mind, KIKO is user-friendly and easy to navigate. Its intuitive design is based on the familiar radio format, which many elderly individuals already know and love.
Research Methodology
01
Direct User Interviews
02
03
Market research
Ted talks and verified articles
Finding patients suffering from Parkinson's Disease was a very challenging task because even if you found patients, every patient is on a different stage and most of them find it difficult to interact and talk about their problems generally. Initially i started with these three methods :
Learning coding
But this was not enough. I could still not figure what i could do for them so..
I volunteered For P.D.M.D.S ( an NGO for Parkinson's with branches in Ahmedabad and Mumbai )
I went every Sunday to spend time with these patients and do various activities with them where i could analyse the pain points even better and empathize in real time
Research Analysis
Observational Analysis
Freezing of gait (FoG) is a disabling symptom of Parkinson's Disease, which presents as a “brief, episodic absence or marked reduction of forward progression of the feet, despite the intention to walk”.
FoG is well-known to lead to falls & lower quality of life, making it an important target for treatment.
Alot of patients are afraid to get of the house alone due to FOG episodes
Intervention Opportunities
Market Research
Worldwide all the proven products that exist in market are either only available online, out of reach or are super expensive after importing to India. And India does not have specifically designed innovative products for patients suffering from parkinsons due to lack of awareness. Patients in India usually use normal walkers to deal with mobility issues as its cheaper and easily available.
Brief
To make a mobility aid that helps avoid freezing of gait (FOG) and helps avoid jerky movements while walking.
Ideating and Prototyping
Prototyping & material exploration
How it works ?
1 Each shoe has small vibrator and laser light installed which are wifi operated via the control band that the patient wears.
2 The shoe works on a simple principal of 'Cue'.
Vibrator in each shoe vibrates simultaneously to replicate walk pattern.
3 For instance when the right shoe vibrates the patient is supposed to pick that foot. The vibrator here is the cue to lift that particular foot to walk forward.
4 The circuit in the shoe in contact with ground gets gets completed and a laser beam is projected
5 The laser light from left shoe projects a beam in front of lifted foot, on which the patient has to keep the lifted foot until your left shoe vibrates. Laser beam helps in maintaining stride distance.
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Control band
Helps regulate desired vibrate speed depending or surrounding. Speed 1- 5 allows the patient to decide how fast he wants his walk cycle to be
p Lunger
Has a wifi based vibrator and circuit based laser projection system installed
Cuing helps patients to avoid or break the freeze episode and reminds patient to keep moving forward as during an freeze episode, the brain of the patient forgets what to lift and how to walk, sometimes resulting in a fall. Forgetfulness and motor skill loss is a common symptom of Parkinson's Disease.
The Vibrator and laser combined regulates a patients walk cycle by continuous tactile and visual cues. It helps maintain stride distance and avoids jerky steps.
*Because i could not fit the wires and electronics inside the sole of the shoe as the intended design (lack of engineering skills) i prototyped the final prototype with the electronics attached to the back of the shoe to avoid any visual hindrance.
Building final Prototype
Watch making and Testing
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