Programme: Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Economics

Course: MT2569, Design Thinking

Corporate partner: Volvo CE

Challenge: Identify a problem concerning the safety of people around construction sites and develop a user-centered solution to increase the safety.

Solution: People are generally distracted from devices such as phones and earphones. The distraction makes the users less aware of their surroundings as they are focusing on the phone and the music in their ears. The ability to hear is also compromised by the noise from the earphones which makes the users vulnerable if they are not paying attention to moving vehicles. A ground sign has been developed to draw attention from distracted people. The board is shaped in form of a rectangle and has a border of bumps around it. In the middle, a replaceable sign is mounted to inform pedestrians of the situation ahead. The idea is to place these on the ground in advance of every construction site entrance where vehicles could move in and out. Another feature that ensures user friendliness is having the possibility to fold the sign which makes it easier for a construction worker to carry it around.

Impact: The sign is used to warn and guide pedestrians, so that passing a construction site will become safer. in general, making people aware that there are possible dangers around construction site will increase the safety for them. Furthermore, the sign could be adjusted over time to work out to warn different types of vehicles on the pavement and reach more markets (electric scooter or bike cycle). 

Prototypes: A prototype of the sign was made in the woodworking area of BTH. A plywood sheet of thickness 0.8 mm was chosen as a base. The base was cut to the length 1500 by 1250 mm. The sides of the board were iron planed in order to avoid tripping. Small chunks of wood were carved out and glued to the edges of the board. The board was cut into four pieces, and they were all connected by hinges in order to make it foldable. The upper sign was made by cutting out a thin sheet of plywood in a square shape, both sides were painted with appropriate construction site themes. The plate was held into place onto the board by anchoring it in the corners with small pieces of wood.

Project team: Oscar Claesson, Mechanical Engineerin ,class of 2018 Mohammed Al Jafari, Mechanical Engineering, class of 2018 Albin Landers, Industrial Economics, class of 2018 Lea Höll, Mechanical Engineering, exchange studies