A rapid ergonomic design intervention on a cordless stick vacuum cleaner handle to relieve discomfort

Cordless stick vacuum cleaners have been getting popular with the slimline and portable design, serving diverse user needs and wants. However, we found users began to feel discomfort or even pain in their hand as the current design caused pressure and friction on hand and fingers constantly and repeatedly, raising the need for ergonomic improvement of current handle. In this study, we tried to solve this problem by (1) identifying the mechanisms cause discomfort in certain areas of user's hand through laboratory experiment, (2) applying a block-type jig as a solution to evaluate a rapid ergonomic design intervention solution options. We improved its structural design in less than two months, minimizing any major structural changes as the product is currently on the market and still being manufactured. This paper demonstrates how such a traditional HCD (Human-Centered Design) based product design process can benefit from ergonomic approaches, which enables us to achieve a significant time and cost-effective redesign process.