Design consulting is not for the faint hearted. The challenge to perform under significant time and budget pressures is not always easy, but the outcomes can be rewarding. Designing and engineering a mobility walker for Roami was one such project.

The core idea for Roami is that the walker easily adjusts to different angles and then reliably locks into position. This allows users to safely traverse stairs and inclines that would’ve previously been dangerous or impossible.

Starting with the client’s crude prototype as inspiration, we designed and developed a product that allowed a high degree of adjustment on-the-go in an easy, intuitive way. There were complex engineering considerations within the design to include robust, reliable locking mechanisms and failsafe features that were still easy to operate, particularly for people with limited dexterity.

Our engineers built test rigs and refined ideas. Gears, levers and frame designs were conceived, developed, tested and refined. Some failed and were discarded. All the while our industrial designers were running in parallel challenging UX and ergonomics issues. Given a huge part of the market was young Veterans in the US, we were also driven by a desire to make the product aspirational in appearance, something that people would be proud to use.

A product like this is not easy to realise. Our team members spent weeks onsite working with the manufacturer and the client to optimise manufacture, overcome functional and cost challenges. It was hard work over long hours with high pressure, but the outcome was worth it.

Katapult helped design and deliver a world first in a market that hadn’t changed much for decades. This application of global industrial design and creative engineering is where we find the magic.