College students spend an average of 17 hours a week sitting down to study. In my sophomore year Product and Experimental Design course, my team and I designed an affordable, portable, and ergonomic chair to address the health risks students face from prolonged studying, such as neck strain, lower back pain, and heart disease.
Following the engineering design process, we developed need statements and metrics to guide our final prototype. Our measured data from our final prototype showed the success of our project, as we either met or exceeded each metric.
I used Autodesk Fusion 360 to create a thorough CAD model of our final chair design, shown on the right. As this semester was my first introduction to Fusion 360, I researched the software heavily as I completed the model, growing significantly in my CAD skills through the semester.
Final Prototype
We designed this chair to be easily portable by folding it in half and having a stylish leather bag strap. The chair is lightweight and easily assembled from its portable mode, with the final prototype weighing 8.4 lbs and having a 30-second assembly time.
One of this chair's main features is its ergonomics, with seat and lumbar support cushions for a comfortable and supportive posture. The lumbar support cushion is adjustable so that people of various heights can have optimal back support.
