When it comes to able-bodied engineers designing products for differently abled individuals, misunderstanding can lead to products that are perceived to be optimized yet actually miss the mark.Running blades are a great example of this important concept of human-centered engineering. This is because some argue the blades offer an advantage over able-bodied runners. But when you dig deeper with a human-centered approach, you might see that this is not truly the case.
“Current running blades are incredible devices. But for every perceived advantage, there are 10 to 20 disadvantages we see with things like health, mobility, psychology and the mental game of sport,” expressed Kevin Shinn, vice president of industrial design at Altair Thinklabs. “There is not an advantage there. At the end of the day, these people are differently abled, so they will need to adapt in some way compared to able-bodied people. You have to look beyond just the device themselves, and that’s what we’ve done.”
Engineers Learn Blade Runner Challenges to Optimize the DesignThe goal of human-centered engineering is less about finding solutions and more about understanding problems.
“These devices are so cool that people assume there is an advantage,” said Shinn. “Somebody with no legs with a pair of devices has an advantage. It’s kind of absurd when you think about it, but we needed to find that out to be sure and learn about the right questions to ask. To do that, we took a human-centered approach.”