Meeting with Henk 1: What are the problems

During the first meeting with Henk, we discussed the most important problems that he encounters if he has to weigh himself.


Problems:


- With a normal scale, Henk has to sit on the scale and try to balance. This is very difficult because he doesn't have stability in the lower part of his spine. He also has to grab his legs and while doing this he has to manage to read the little display. All these thing together make it a nearly impossible task to weigh himself.


- The scales that are designed to use with a wheelchair are very large, heavy and bulky. They are also expensive and are not designed for usage at home. 

- The scales that are designed for wheelchairs use a big plate onto which the wheelchair user has to drive. The wheelchair has a weight too, so in order to determine the weight of the wheelchair, the wheelchair user has to get out of the wheelchair, weigh the the wheelchair and get back into the wheelchair to determine his own weight. 


Possible solution:


- For Henk it's easy to switch between a wheelchair and a normal chair. So a possible solution is to design a scale with separate pressure sensors that can be placed under the legs of a chair. It's also important that the display is placed on a location where it's readable. Another important aspect is that the scale has to be as compact as possible so the scale can be put away. The scale also needs a 'zero button' to cancel the weight of the chair.