Prior Art
Within the walking aid device space, we saw an opportunity for improvement on common rollator devices in order to address grip strength, modularity, and comfort. We immediately noticed that the most common rollator required users to grip their handles, like they would in a bike, to brake, and we wanted to remove that burden.
We found push-down rollators, a more niche device
which allowed users, without any gripping, to "fall" or apply their weight downward on the rollator to brake. This method for braking was more tolerant and intuitive, but it had a narrow range of usage. If a user applied more than 15 pounds of force as a heavier person or just with a bag of groceries, the rollator would engage its brakes and effectively become a two-legged walker device. We wanted to accommodate a wider range of loads and usages.
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Bike Brake Rollator
Push-down brake rollator
Friction-controlled brake rollator
Even more custom solutions like the U-Step Neuro rollator added some features we liked, like variable resistance wheels, but it required frequent manual tuning for a desired resistance, forced users to constantly grip the handles in order to move, and, like all existing rollators, did not offer handle modularity between the arched and upright positions. Moreover, due to its custom frame and engineering costs, the U-Step rollator had a base price of $595 and weight of 30 pounds, whereas most rollators cost less than $150 and weighed from 10 to 15 pounds. We wanted to address issues with rollators within the cost, size, and weight constraints of common and accessible devices.
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