Winter/Spring 2008

WHEN A LOCAL company’s rolling walker couldn’t be sold in Wal-Mart stores because the box wouldn’t fit on the shelves, the company came to the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) for help. A group led by GTRI senior research scientist Brad Fain solved the problem, reducing the volume of the cardboard box by 51 percent.

photo by Gary Meek Researcher Brad Fain shows the folding cane designed for Access Product Marketing.

“The carton became much smaller than we thought it could get,” says Phil Willis, president of the durable medical division for Access Product Marketing (APM) in Alpharetta, Ga. “We were very impressed with the way GTRI researchers aggressively and professionally attacked the problem.”

According to Fain, finding a new way of folding the walker to fit inside a smaller box was an engineering challenge.

“We added a few hinges to the frame that allowed the rear wheel assembly to be folded, and designed a new way of attaching the front wheels,” explains Fain. “Then we suggested they move a few support structures to allow the walker to be folded more efficiently.”

GTRI also kept the cost low with the changes, allowing APM to sell the rolling walker at discount chain Wal-Mart. GTRI’s assistance was instrumental in helping APM market its Hugo® rolling walker to seniors around the country.

When APM took the next step in elderly mobility devices from rolling walker to cane, it returned to GTRI for assistance. This time, APM asked Fain and his team to design a sturdy folding cane from scratch. Because many older persons perceive folding canes to be weak and unsafe, according to consumer research conducted by Willis, the new cane design needed to address these issues.

Fain pooled a group that included Tedd Toler, a mechanical engineer with GTRI, and Michelle Berryman, an industrial engineer with local design company Echo Visualization.

The group first focused on what material to use. They also studied what the inner and outer diameters of the cane shaft should be. Next, the group designed the tip of the cane, making sure it could bear heavy loads and be highly resistive to slipping.

The Hugo folding cane was successfully tested with 550 pounds of weight applied, while competitors broke at around 250 pounds, according to Willis.

Once the basic structure of the cane shaft was designed, Fain’s team moved its attention to the handle. Cane users feel a handle is the most personal and most intimate part of the cane, according to Willis. “It’s the one part of cane that’s unique to the user,” he says.

For this reason, the Hugo folding cane was designed with a removable handle so that each user’s personality could be on display, whether with a hook handle, a pink handle or a cushioned handle.

The personalized handle feature came to the attention of the producers of the FOX television show, House, M.D. The main character, Dr. Gregory House, used a Hugo folding cane with a customized handle in more than eight episodes last season.

“With all of GTRI’s work for very large government agencies, we were concerned that our project would be so far under the radar that GTRI might not be able to pay attention to it,” says Willis. “However, GTRI has been very welcoming to my small company. We received a tremendous amount of attention and some very deep thinking around our project, and we appreciated it.”

– Abby Vogel