Industrial 
Product
Design

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Assistive technology (AT) enables people to live healthy, produc-tive, independent, and dignified lives. Current AT in Bolivia is developed from a “top-down” and industrial engineering perspec-tive. With this technology people with disability can participate in education, the labor market and civic life.
aradoxically, several studies on the field report high rates of rejection and abandonment. Some of the reasons pointed out as responsible for these phenomena are lack of overall fitness, high costs and experiencing high barriers while procuring the device.

 

A more “bottom-up” and user-centered approach is DIY-AT. At the request of our local partner ‘Hu-manity & Inclusion Bolivia’ we aim to implement a community-service learning program bringing together industrial engineers, occupational therapist and rehabili-tation centers. It includes a multidisciplinary and human centered approach on how to implement open-design principles within real-life rehabilitation & inclusion contexts.

 

This project is conducted by design for (every)one (D4E1). D4E1 is an interdisciplinary research group and a experiential education methodology that focuses on open-ended design principles within the context of design for wellbeing.

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VLIR-UOS - South Initiative

01/01/2019 - 31/12/2020

 

# human & sustainability driven innovation

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