According to the CDC, over 39 million people in the US live with physical impairments, challenging their independence. Sustained efforts in the research community and industry have led to hardware and software solutions for improving mobility. However, widespread adoption of these tools by the community is hindered by the lack of collaborative design and conversation between stakeholders, i.e., individuals with lived experiences with mobility challenges, caretakers and clinicians, researchers, and developers from engineering, medicine, and business.
To address this barrier, Krithika Swaminathan and Hannah O’Day developed and hosted CHAT: Co-design for Healthcare and Assistive Technology, a co-design workshop on March 8, 2025 focused on using user-centric design thinking to innovate assistive technology. The workshop adopts a collaborative approach that actively involves end-users, customers, and other stakeholders to ensure the design outcome meets their needs.
In that spirit, the event brought together 10+ individuals who shared mobility challenges and co-designed solutions for those challenges with over 30 Stanford undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, research staff, clinicians, industry experts, and other stakeholders. Over the course of the day, attendees developed innovative solutions for real-world mobility challenges, including a soft exoskeleton sleeve to provide arm strength so a participant could play his trombone and a lightweight, foldable ramp made from PVC pipes to help load a 50 lb powered wheelchair into the car.
The event provided a unique platform for dialogue, connecting across perspectives and disciplines, and hands-on problem-solving, reinforcing the value of inclusive design in assistive technology development.
If you’re interested in learning more and connecting with the CHAT community, join the LinkedIn group here: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/10067081/
The event was supported by the Mobilize Center and the Restore Center. Krithika Swaminathan is a postdoctoral fellow, supported by the Mobilize Center and the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance at Stanford University. Hannah O’Day is a staff member of the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance at Stanford University.
