Description
The Comfort Litter Experience or C.L.E. for short was inspired by the relationship not only between corpmates, but between themselves and the litter as well. Litters are the most commonly used equipment to transport those wounded or injured on the field of action. While they can be effective in some degrees they also offer an opportunity to better themselves. PTSD is a very common trauma that people suffer after fighting and serving on the front lines and most PTSD is triggered by sounds. So, is there an opportunity to mitigate those sounds that may cause PTSD later in ones life. On the physical side of things I noticed a lack of comfortability by both parties, those in the litter and the people carrying it, but we have decided to focus in on one of the groups. In addition, it feels as if there is a waste of energy in the sense that your corpmates have to stop what they’re doing and help someone else. This waste of energy now would be harnessed by grip sensors on the ends of each litter. Then the energy would be transferred into the built in speaker system within the litter that uses music to calm the nerves of whoever was injured. In hope to prevent PTSD later down the road for those who have been injured.
Takeaways
My biggest takeaway was beginning to look at a narrow problem in a broader lens. Thinking about problems relating to transport I always imagined the problem was with the transportation never device and hadn’t thought to think of it in other ways. Looking at the problem split into groups opens more opportunities as a designer to ideate and discover problems that may not have naturally revealed themselves. I also feel that while transferring energy from soldier into a speaker may be pointless, the fact that other soldiers have to carry litters offers a chance to play around with their energy and how it could be repurposed into something productive for all parties. Can energy be translated to help the injured? Do carriers even need to be involved? Is there a way the injured can fend for themselves and use something that autonomously takes them back. The questions I have began to generate for myself have deepened my understanding as well as opened the door to more opportunities of problem solving when looking at the problem through multiple perspectives.
