Eating Bowl for Visually Impaired

I've designed a bowl aimed to assist visually impaired patients when they are eating. It is sometimes difficult for these patients to find their food in bowls and locate the different food pieces, making eating frustrating and a hassle. This bowl is designed to make this easier. It has a downward ramp that leads to an edge in which the user can guide their food to with their silverware. There is also a spout by the edge to make it easier to drink the remaining liquid or food. Finally, there is a notch to the right of the bowl so the user always has a spot to rest their silverware.

PLA Filament

3D Printer

Autodesk Fusion 360

First, I found the problem that the visually impaired patients face when they eat. I was able to find a device on Instructables that assisted patients eating out of a bowl (https://www.instructables.com/Assistive-Dining-Device-for-Visually-Impaired/). I was inspired by the bowl to design my own. This bowl also helped people who struggle with speed-eating, hence the contours in the the bowl. I wanted to just focus on visually impaired eaters. From this, I researched a few more design ideas from rehabilitation sites and came up with a ramp-in-bowl design. Then I was ready to begin creating.

Once I had a rough idea of how I wanted to design the bowl, I started sketching on Fusion. All of the measurements I made were estimated using common bowl sizes. These are the steps I did to make my final project.

1. Sketched half of a U shape and revolved it 100% to form a regular bowl shape.
2. Sketched a circle in the middle of the inside of the bowl to create a coil shape. Plugged in the appropriate measurements so that the coil completely filled the bowl and formed a circular ramp.
3. Since a small gap was left in the middle of the coil, to avoid food getting trapped, the loft feature was used three times to close the gap and make it smooth.
4. A small sketch was made at the top of the bowl, near the flat side of the ramp, to form a spout. Once the sketch was created, the loft feature was used again to form the shape.
5. Finally, a small divot was cut from the top of the bowl, using the extrude feature, so that the silverware could rest when not in use.

Once the fusion file was exported as an stl file, it was printed with PLA filament in the 3D printer. The stand at the bottom of the bowl in the picture can be removed.

For an additional step, food safe, non-toxic epoxy can be painted over the bowl to make it safe to eat food out of. Here is a resin that can be purchased from Amazon and is certified food safe: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BX6893Y/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_olTXEbQ41APJ9.