March - June 2020
Awarded a Special Mention by clients Seqwater and Spinal Life Australia
Team: Emily Boehmer, Bradley Stevens, Damian Noviello + Duncan McGlinchey
Role: Research, Ideation + Design, Concept Presentation Drawings, Storyboard, Specification Report Writing
Render of The Platypus at a Seqwater site
The Brief
Design an accessible kayak launch for installation in Seqwater sites across Queensland that is independently usable by paraplegic users and usable with assistance by quadriplegic users.
The Process
Discussions were had with people from Spinal Life Australia who have spinal injuries themselves both at the start of the project and throughout to test and validate design ideas. Thorough online research about spinal injuries and existing accessible waterway designs was also conducted.
Summary of the impacts of spinal cord injuries at differnt places on the spine
We then progressed onto ideation, developing a range of ideas and refining them into concepts for presentation to the clients.
Concept sketches
Concept sketches
Concept 1 presented to clients.
Concept 2 presented to clients.
The Design
The Platypus is an accessible kayak launcher independently usable by paraplegic users and usable with assistance by quadriplegic users. The design features an innovative seat design that assists people with spinal cord injuries to gently move into a suitable position for transferring into their kayak, with overhead handles at multiple heights for the user to pull themselves along. The backrest of the seat is reversible and the leg rest form is mirrored on both sides of the seat so that the seat can be used both ways - on entry and exit upon return. The ramp is built from connected repeating pieces with pegs that can be used with a horizontal oar to pull the user in their kayak back up the ramp.
The Platypus
Transfer seat
Kayak entrance
The Platypus allows for simple and safe transfers on land instead of in the water which is more stable and allows carers greater access to the person with spinal cord injury if required. Existing accessible transfer bench designs for kayaking require the user to move up and down a terraced bench which requires more strength and control than transferring on a level plane on with The Platypus.
Sequence of use for The Platypus