For my senior capstone project at Tufts University, I worked with team to develop a product for our client named Ryan who is a quadriplegic (pictured below).  

Due to his injury Ryan has limited mobility but strives to achieve independence, particularly in the kitchen. Ryan’s daily meal preparation consists of retrieving  pre-made meals from his refrigerator and heating them in the microwave. Even this seemingly simple task requires multiple wheelchair maneuvers and becomes frustrating and time-consuming. Since Ryan is limited by his restricted reach and dexterity, he struggles to grab containers from where they are stored and place them where they need to be heated up. In this process he must make transitions from sitting to standing and use tools to reach the containers without burning himself or spilling.  Our goal is to increase Ryan's independence by facilitating safe and efficient movement of food containers into and out of the microwave.

Below are images of the final prototype...