assistive water control products for aging

What it does

This enables traditional water control products to achieve more complete reminder functions without changing their own structure.

Your inspiration

1.According to the National Bureau of Statistics, as of 2021, the population aged 65 and above in China has exceeded 200 million, accounting for 13.5% of the total population. It is expected that by 2035, the elderly population in China will exceed 300 million and enter an aging society. 2. The use of water is indispensable in daily life. As people age, their sensory, motor, and cognitive abilities decline, which can affect their interaction behavior with water control devices. These seemingly simple water usage operations can be difficult in practice and may lead to a series of usage problems and safety hazards.

How it works

1: This plan focuses on utilizing the relatively sensitive dynamic visual perception of elderly people, and assists elderly users in water use operations through the rotation of the product itself caused by the dynamic changes in water flow rate and water temperature, thereby improving water safety. 2: The small protruding part of the gasket in this scheme, which refers to the pufferfish's tendency to forcefully protrude spikes when facing dangerous situations, has the advantage of providing water temperature status feedback through three channels: visual (protrusion), auditory (internal running sound), and tactile (protrusion of arm movement). 3: This plan refers to the analysis of water use in nighttime scenes, using bionics and referencing that some starfish will turn red when they encounter crisis situations. It introduces a light strip that matches the shape and provides feedback on water temperature status to elderly users through brightness changes.

Design process

1. Five small holes are made in appropriate positions on the central circular, through which silicone hoses are inserted and routed downward along the outer wall of the hollow spherical shell, exiting through lower holes. The upper middle part of the model is interference-fitted with the outer wall of a bearing, and the inner wall of the bearing is connected to an acrylic pipe to simulate the installation transition zone, with the silicone hose placed inside. As water flows through the original pipe into the hose, the water movement generates torque to drive the auxiliary device, producing angular velocity proportional to the flow rate without external power. 2.Uses an electric push rod as an additional power source. The push rod is fixed inside the spherical shell, with elastic gaskets pre-installed at positions corresponding to each indicator. Indicators are connected to the outer side of the gaskets, while the top of the push rod is attached to the inner side. When the detected water temperature exceeds the set value, the push rod activates and pushes the indicator outward. 3.Draws inspiration from marine starfish, whose body turns red when sensing danger. A unique integrated starfish shape with a COB light strip is used, emitting a red glow to warn users of potential hazards

How it is different

In the form of interaction, the concept of aging adaptability and multi sensory interaction are creatively combined. By analyzing the shortcomings of existing water control products in the application of aging adaptability groups, it is proposed to solve the problem by using water control auxiliary products instead of transforming the original water control products. The implementation of separation and modularization is convenient for users to make choices according to specific needs. In specific products, multi sensory feedback and interaction elements such as vision, hearing and touch are integrated into water control auxiliary products, which makes up for the deficiency of single sensory input and interaction. The design concept coincides with the newly released aging home standards, and makes full use of the advantages of multiple sensory channels to optimize the functionality and interactivity of the product.

Future plans

At present, tools and systems such as voice assistant and family networking have allowed elderly users to control water and other household appliances through simple voice commands, reducing the complexity of operation. In the future, aging product design will be further integrated with emerging technologies to expand a wider range of application scenarios. Aging design needs to pay more attention to user segmentation and personalized needs, and provide adjustable functions for elderly groups with different cognitive and ability levels. In the future, multi scenario applications may also become the focus.

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