Design of a cyborg NERF blaster for children with physical disabilities

Abstract

This graduation report aimed towards the vision „ Transform the needs of the minority into the wishes of the majority“. Children with physical disabilities face the issue to be excluded from the toy world of the able-bodied children. Toys with small buttons, heavyweight or the need of two hands for operating are examples which let children with physical disabilities experience failure. Alternative toys are mostly just suiting their abilities but forget about their actual needs. These needs are for example group play, rebellious play and active play. Further, these alternatives lack when it comes to pop culture topics or an aesthetic outer appearance. This insight showed the opportunity to create a toy for the mass market which takes inspiration from the abilities and needs of children with physical disabilities. The project was executed in cooperation with the toy brand Hasbro. Thus, it was possible to base the project on one of their products called NERF blaster. These toy blasters shoot non-harmful soft foam darts. This toy was chosen since it offers team play, active play, role play, rebellious play as well as it covers pop-cultural topics. Thus it is a perfect toy to satisfy the needs of children with physical disabilities.
The project was executed in the following steps:
Analysis
At the start of the project knowledge regarding the topic of physical disabilities, inclusion and the toy itself needed to be gathered. To gain this knowledge, a literature research was conducted. Further, a school for children with physical disabilities was visited as well as a basketball wheelchair club, a trade fair for rehabilitation products and an occupational therapist.
The research concluded with the insight of how a blaster could support the inclusion of children with physical disabilities. Also, a universal criterion was defined which tries to summarise the various kinds of physical disabilities.
Direction forming
The insights taken from the analysis phase were translated into inspirational guidelines.
A matrix was created which combines three determined abilities with the tasks needed to operate a blaster. By using multiple “how-to” questions, different ideas to operate a blaster were generated. Promising ideas were clustered and visualised. Two loops of expert evaluation lead to one final direction.
Concept Development
The core elements of the concept direction were defined to set a focus for the upcoming steps. Necessary measurements of the to-be-designed toy were determined to create reference points. By using CAD modelling, sketching and rough mock-ups, the defined core elements were further developed.
Company Visit
To bring the concept to the next level, one needed to get feedback from the toy industry. Therefore the concept was presented to individuals at the Hasbro headquarter in Pawtucket, USA.
The feedback emphasised the need for a good story for the toy. Instead of going already too much into detail about technical solutions, first of all, the story needed to be convincing. Further, it became apparent that the toy’s trigger had to become universal.
Integration of Feedback / Final Design
As a final step of the project, the feedback was evaluated and integrated into the concept. The outcome was the definition of a theme as well as the market positioning. Further, two parts were changed regarding their function. A test with seven children with physical disabilities was conducted to evaluate one of the reworked parts. Also, the overall styling was adapted to the defined theme.
The report finishes with an evaluation of the created concept. An upcoming step would be to build a fully functional prototype and test it regarding the designs mechanical functionality and ergonomics.