Thesis
Built in care: GripFlow as daily support for older adults' grip strength : research through design
Master of Science (M.S.), Drexel University
Jun 2026
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00011428
Abstract
GripFlow began because my grandfather had a stroke, and afterward his hand became weaker and shakier. The doctor only told him to move the hand around and do some training. I wasn't thinking about the medical report from the doctor, I was thinking about whether he could open his medicine bottle, hold a cup, button his shirt, do some cooking, or hold the counter when he stood up. When I watched these tasks become difficult, I felt this was an important topic for me. The family story is only a starting point because I still needed grip strength data, product checks on the market, interviews, a diary study, feedback from an occupational therapist on my prototypes, and I changed the design many times after people told me clearly what was wrong. This project focuses on adults around 65 to 75 years old, which is a stage where people are trying to keep what they already have rather than improve further. From early research, grip strength showed a clear connection to whether older adults can stay independent and maintain a good quality of life. There are grip training tools available, but most of them do not actually get used at home. People forget about them, or they feel uncomfortable, or they just do not want to pick up something that reminds them of getting weaker every day. So at first, this project was asking how to make a grip trainer that works better. But that question changed as the work went deeper. I used the Five Whys analysis method, human-centered design process, and got feedback from older adults. The occupational therapist's suggestions from Professor Brianna made it clear that grip strength itself was not the core problem. What mattered more was whether exercise had a real place inside someone's home, and what that exercise meant to them emotionally. One older adult in the interview said, "It's about designing a lifestyle." That one interview changed the direction of the project. Before that, grip support was treated as its own separate exercise, something you did because the therapist told you to, something extra in people's life. After that interview, the question changed: where does this kind of physical care fit into what people already do every day? The paper roll observation helped answer part of that. Holding a paper roll is an isometric holding method, similar to holding a cup. So the cup came in as the form, and grip practice moved into drinking, which is already a daily habit. But the cup only solved one part of the problem. Doing the same grip motion many times still felt like rehab, with no real reason behind it. The virtual companion came back in for that reason. When someone is taking care of a companion instead of just doing exercises, the repetition feels different, and the person is not thinking of themselves as a patient anymore. GripFlow is a smart cup with a virtual companion system. A simple charging base gives the cup a home when the cup is not being used. The cup puts grip practice into drinking, something people already do multiple times a day, so the exercise does not feel like an extra task added on. The companion gives the repetition a reason, something to look after, which makes coming back to it feel less like doing rehab. The project started with separate pieces and ended up as one daily object where the physical use and the emotional side work at the same time. This is not a clinical study proving the cup improves grip strength. It is a Research Through Design project about Built In Care, the idea that some health barriers older adults face do not have to be solved by asking people to try harder. Some of those barriers go away when the context around the action changes.
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Details
- Title
- Built in care
- Creators
- Yufeng Lu
- Contributors
- Diana S. Nicholas (Advisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Master of Science (M.S.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University
- Number of pages
- 66 pages
- Resource Type
- Thesis
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Architecture, Design, and Urbanism; Design Research; Drexel University; Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design
- Other Identifier
- 991022189596604721