Old Slice

For this action project we were tasked with the challenge of creating a tool for the elderly. My partner and I decided to create a machete that would be safe for the elderly to use and one that was more efficient. When designing a product we use empathy to understand what it would be like to be an old person using a machete and what kind of challenges they might face. Some of the challenges we faced along the way were figuring out how to make a blade that was lightweight and that would be easy to keep in a garage without worrying about anyone getting cut or it falling. We are really proud of the aspect of the machete that involves the collapsible blade. We are also very happy with the fact that the machete has a rubber covering and holes in the blade that still allows it to be very sharp but it will not have too much resistance when cutting.

JB (2015) Old Slice story board

Before we started the creation process we did some research on how machetes function.The most important part of the machete, the blade is a thin wedge witch is a simple machine used to split things apart. The machete has three main parts: the handle, the extension and the blade. The handle we saw at Home Depot was a plain, orange, rubber handle. The Home Depot machete also did not have nay formal covering or way to protect the blade. This could become a hazard because the blade will be exposed witch could lead to injury. To innovate our handle we decided to make it include a jelly formfitting handle so that whenever you grip it the handle will form to your hand shape since we felt the one at Home Depot could easily slip out of an elderly weakened hand. The next important piece of the machete is the handle extension, it is an extra 5 inch piece of wood that allows you to reach into lower or higher places without bending over. To access the extension on the handle, you press the red button on the original short handle with the formfitting grip. The next important piece of the machete is of course the blade. The blade is made of steel and is about a foot and a half long. 

This next aspect really allows an elderly person of any level of strength to use the blade easily. We included large holes in the blade to reduce resistance when cutting, but they still get a strong clean cut. At the very top of the blade right before the tip is a small notch that allows you to cut cord and wire. When putting the machete away, press the red button to retract the extension handle, then fold down the blade by pressing on the back of the blade till it clicks into the handle. When talking to the elderly about what was really hard about using some gardening tools, one of the most common quotes that I found was," Having to bend over is the number one issue." This shows how eliminating bending over could really change their gardening experience.

JB(2015) Diagram of machete includes vector