Development of an exercise machine for the elderly

The purpose of this project was to develop an idea for a product that would help the elderly in their daily lives. The specific people that the product would target were those senior citizens who are still self-sufficient but are feeling the early stages of old age. This was an important project because such a product would have the potential to be beneficial for the elderly as well as marketable and profitable. There were many stages involved in coming up with an idea for a product. First, market research needed to be conducted in order to determine information about the target group. The research helped determine the size of the target group along with their lifestyles and opinions. Research was also done to analyze products that are currently on the market. After analysis of all the information, an exercise machine for the elderly was developed as an idea for the product. This exercise machine would be one that allowed the users to do moves similar to Tai Chi exercises. This would help the elderly with their range of motion, flexibility, and lower body strength. The product developed has a lot of potential for further research and progress.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Carson, Marcus R

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• David C. Gossard.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/40417

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/40417