Project·2025·Assistive Tech · OnShape · Open Source
Parametric Cup Holder
Built at the TOM Atlanta Makeathon for my "needknower," a wheelchair user on a Permobil chair with no way to hold a cup or phone. The result is a fully parametric, open-source cup and phone holder anyone can adapt to their own chair.
My needknower's Permobil wheelchair had no built-in way to hold a drink or a phone, which meant he simply couldn't have either with him while out in the chair — a small-sounding gap that has real friction in daily life. The brief for the makeathon was to design a fix that solved his specific problem without requiring a bespoke rebuild for every other wheelchair user with the same gap.
I designed the holder in OnShape as a parametric assembly, so the mounting geometry, cup diameter, and phone dimensions can all be adjusted for a different chair or a different user rather than starting the design over from scratch.
The files are open source, so anyone can copy and modify them for their own wheelchair configuration — the goal was a fix that outlived the 24-hour makeathon it was built in.