Innovative Handle Design and Evaluation of Woks for Middle-Aged and Elderly People

Wu, Fong-Gong; Lin, Yu-Chi; Sun, Hsiao-Han

With the enhancement of medical technology and human living standards, the world is showing a trajectory towards an aging society. The elders generally suffer from degeneration, which may cause problems in their daily lives. Aging has since become a major issue of scientific researches.

Elders in Taiwan mostly live alone or with a partner. Because eating out is not a habit, cooking often plays an important role in their lives. Due to the degeneration happening to their bodies, the danger during cooking activities increases. Therefore, it is necessary for them to seek help from assistive devices.

In this research, we will make assistive design models that help elders use woks. The designs are for the task we have chosen from our investigation. We will also evaluate the effect of the aids objectively using the EMG system, and collect the iEMG value for evaluation. The iEMG values were collected from four muscles (FDC, FCR, Biceps and Deltoids). Eight middle-aged participants who will become elders in the near future were invited to participate in the experiment. Four design solutions were chosen from seven working models. The design solutions were all helpful to the task, and the performances of the stove design solutions are significantly better than the original wok. The degrees of hand trembling while performing tasks were also measured, however the differences were not significant.

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