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I am doing an AQA Design and Technology IGCSE exam and for my coursework I would like some answers to question about kitchen devices. I would like to know any problems you guys may have with them. Thank you. (self.Blind)
submitted by scrubadubadubadub
Currently I have ideas for a cutting tool which is a box that minimalises knife prone kitchen injuries. Are there any ideas that anyone would like to share and even any problems people would like to share. Thank you very much.
Superfreq2 6 points 3y ago
Knife guides are possibly valuable for newly blind people who still wish to cook, but they should only be considered a temporary crutch if it can at all be helped. There are multiple techniques and methods for chopping safely as a visually impaired person which already exist and require no extra tools, but knuckle guards and non slip cutting boards are already soled in the mainstream market if they are helpful.
Burns are similarly quite easy to avoid with common sense and patients in most cases. Yes, it takes training or trial and error, but even quickly touching most food while it's cooking doesn't cause a burn, and touching even the inside of a hot pan unless it's full of extremely hot frying oil rarely does more than cause a slightly painful singe that is forgotten within a few hours at most.
Grippy tongs, long silicone oven mitts with textured hand grips, dual handled frying pans, splatter guards, these things already exist and can help us augment our other skills and techniques if necessary.
​
​
So designing new tools isn't really what's needed for the most part, unless your making what already exists cheaper and more available, such as talking thermometers. No what we really need are simple improvements to existing devices.
​
​
Touchscreens with no raised lines or small dips/bubbles to feel when you've moved from one button to another, and dials that spin for ever and have no stops at either end can fuck right off, along with those controls on some ovens where you don't even touch them but use gestures near the surface.
When changing a value such as temperature, there should always be beeps for each press, and ideally, different sounds/pitched beeps for reaching the minimum and maximum setting. If you can use easily differentiated tones for other controls so that you don't get them mixed up, that's even better. E.G. temperature and time sound different from each other in some way.
Having long alert beeps for preheat temperature being reached (even if the oven was already on and you've since changed the temperature) are also important, and a clear way of knowing when the oven has been turned on or off is vital for safety.
Click stops for dials are great especially if it's only for common increments such as every 25F past 250.
Having a physical pointer embossed into or shaped into knobs, with a clear difference between one end of the pointer and the other (such as a sharp taper) really helps too.
With flush stove tops which have no traditional burners (such as on induction cookers) having a tactile ring helps us to center pots. It doesn't need to be anything much, just something we can feel like a dotted line or tiny ridge around each one, nothing tall enough to truly interfere with the smoothness.
Ideally, the most important settings/numbers around the outside of the dial (the non moving part) would be engraved, have small dots or raised lines, or even better, have braille labels on them, which should be allot more common than it is with the advent of 3D printing.
Most of these things apply equally to toaster ovens, microwaves, ETC as well.
Standardizing the use of braille on measuring cups and measuring spoons (such as on the handle just before the bowl part) is a long time coming, but still isn't there yet sadly.
When ever orientation is important for proper usage, any orientation markings, arrows ETC should be tactile as well, and preferably located in an obvious place on the device.
Any physical buttons/switches should have their identification symbols made tactile, either via engraving or raised print.
Packaging should be marked when possible in some way to show which side should be opened, as it isn't always obvious. Standardizing the marking/location would help with this allot.
​
​
I can't think of any more right now but I know I'm only just scratching the surface. Look at what some countries in Europe are doing and you will see how pathetically far behind other supposedly civilized countries are. At this point, these things should be a standard part of the manufacturing process chain, and not even questioned at all, but apparently stamping out the likely insignificant additional costs of doing this is worth the time of corporate lobbyists and pencil pushers, and government officials are willing to take their word for it instead of funding research on the issue for them selves. Yes, not all materials necessarily make this possible, but more than you might think, and with people actually bothering to try I think we could find alternative methods.
In the end, the most important thing is to get experienced blind cooks to do in depth physical testing for you, weather at home or in test kitchens with a range of scenarios and vision levels, and to take their advice into major consideration when developing solutions.
Thanks for your interest and good luck. I doubt your work will change anything as it's been this way for far, far too long, but even if I just educate you a bit and possibly cause you to become interested in helping solve these problems, it's worth my time already.
Burns are similarly quite easy to avoid with common sense and patients in most cases. Yes, it takes training or trial and error, but even quickly touching most food while it's cooking doesn't cause a burn, and touching even the inside of a hot pan unless it's full of extremely hot frying oil rarely does more than cause a slightly painful singe that is forgotten within a few hours at most.
Grippy tongs, long silicone oven mitts with textured hand grips, dual handled frying pans, splatter guards, these things already exist and can help us augment our other skills and techniques if necessary.
​
​
So designing new tools isn't really what's needed for the most part, unless your making what already exists cheaper and more available, such as talking thermometers. No what we really need are simple improvements to existing devices.
​
​
Touchscreens with no raised lines or small dips/bubbles to feel when you've moved from one button to another, and dials that spin for ever and have no stops at either end can fuck right off, along with those controls on some ovens where you don't even touch them but use gestures near the surface.
When changing a value such as temperature, there should always be beeps for each press, and ideally, different sounds/pitched beeps for reaching the minimum and maximum setting. If you can use easily differentiated tones for other controls so that you don't get them mixed up, that's even better. E.G. temperature and time sound different from each other in some way.
Having long alert beeps for preheat temperature being reached (even if the oven was already on and you've since changed the temperature) are also important, and a clear way of knowing when the oven has been turned on or off is vital for safety.
Click stops for dials are great especially if it's only for common increments such as every 25F past 250.
Having a physical pointer embossed into or shaped into knobs, with a clear difference between one end of the pointer and the other (such as a sharp taper) really helps too.
With flush stove tops which have no traditional burners (such as on induction cookers) having a tactile ring helps us to center pots. It doesn't need to be anything much, just something we can feel like a dotted line or tiny ridge around each one, nothing tall enough to truly interfere with the smoothness.
Ideally, the most important settings/numbers around the outside of the dial (the non moving part) would be engraved, have small dots or raised lines, or even better, have braille labels on them, which should be allot more common than it is with the advent of 3D printing.
Most of these things apply equally to toaster ovens, microwaves, ETC as well.
Standardizing the use of braille on measuring cups and measuring spoons (such as on the handle just before the bowl part) is a long time coming, but still isn't there yet sadly.
When ever orientation is important for proper usage, any orientation markings, arrows ETC should be tactile as well, and preferably located in an obvious place on the device.
Any physical buttons/switches should have their identification symbols made tactile, either via engraving or raised print.
Packaging should be marked when possible in some way to show which side should be opened, as it isn't always obvious. Standardizing the marking/location would help with this allot.
​
​
I can't think of any more right now but I know I'm only just scratching the surface. Look at what some countries in Europe are doing and you will see how pathetically far behind other supposedly civilized countries are. At this point, these things should be a standard part of the manufacturing process chain, and not even questioned at all, but apparently stamping out the likely insignificant additional costs of doing this is worth the time of corporate lobbyists and pencil pushers, and government officials are willing to take their word for it instead of funding research on the issue for them selves. Yes, not all materials necessarily make this possible, but more than you might think, and with people actually bothering to try I think we could find alternative methods.
In the end, the most important thing is to get experienced blind cooks to do in depth physical testing for you, weather at home or in test kitchens with a range of scenarios and vision levels, and to take their advice into major consideration when developing solutions.
Thanks for your interest and good luck. I doubt your work will change anything as it's been this way for far, far too long, but even if I just educate you a bit and possibly cause you to become interested in helping solve these problems, it's worth my time already.
scrubadubadubadub [OP] 2 points 3y ago
Thank you. This is extremely helpful and even If i may not change anything with my designs and awareness, it has been an awesome journey learning about all these things. I hope you have a great day and I thank you again for this helpful advice.
scrubadubadubadub [OP] 1 points 3y ago
>Knife guides are possibly valuable for newly blind people who still wish to cook, but they should only be considered a temporary crutch if it can at all be helped. There are multiple techniques and methods for chopping safely as a visually impaired person which already exist and require no extra tools, but knuckle guards and non slip cutting boardsare already soled in the mainstream market if they are helpful.
>
>Burns are similarly quite easy to avoid with common sense and patients in most cases. Yes, it takes training or trial and error, but even touching most food while it's cooking shortly doesn't cause a burn, and touching even the inside of a hot pan unless it's full of extremely hot frying oil rarely does mroe than cause a slightly painful singe that is forgotten within a few hours at most.
>
>Grippy tongs, long silicone oven mitts with textured hand grips, dual handled frying pans, splatter guards, these things already exist and can help us augment our other skills and techniques if necessary.
>
>So designing new tools isn't really what's needed for the most part, unless your making what already exists cheaper and more available, such as talking thermometers. No what we really need are simple improvements to existing devices.
>
>Touchscreens with no raised lines or small dips/bubbles to feel when you've moved from one button to another, and dials that spin for ever and have no stops at either end can fuck right off, along with those controls on some ovens where you don't even touch them but use gestures near the surface.
>
>When changing a value such as temperature, there should always be beeps for each press, and ideally, different sounds/pitched beeps for reaching the minimum and maximum setting. If you can use easily differentiated tones for other controls so that you don't get them mixed up, that's even better. E.G. temperature and time sound different from each other in some way.
>
>Having long alert beeps for preheat temperature being reached (even if the oven was already on and you've since changed the temperature) are also important, and a clear way of knowing when the oven has been turned on or off is vital for safety.
>
>Click stops for dials are great especially if it's only for common increments such as every 25F past 250.
>
>Having a physical pointer embossed into or shaped into knobs, witha clear difference between one end of the pointer and the other (such as a sharp taper) really helps too.
>
>With flush stove tops which have no traditional burners (such as on induction cookers) having a tactile ring helps us to center pots. It doesn't need to be anything much, just something we can feel like a dotted line or tiny ridge around each one, nothing tall enough to truly interfere with the smoothness.
>
>Ideally, the most important settings/numbers around the outside of the dial (the non moving part) would be engraved, have small dots or raised lines, or even better, have braille labels on them, which should be allot mroe common than it is with the advent of 3D printing.
>
>Most of these things apply equally to toaster ovens, microwaves, ETC as well.
>
>Standardizing the use of braille on measuring cups and measuring spoons (such as on the handle just before the bowl part) is a long time coming, but still isn't there yet sadly.
>
>When ever orientation is important for proper usage, any orientation markings, arrows ETC should be tactile as well, and preferably located in an obvious place on the device.
>
>Any physical buttons/switches should have their identification symbols made tactile, either via engraving or raised print.
>
>Packaging should be marked when possible in some way to show which side should be opened, as it isn't always obvious. Standardizing the marking/location would help with this allot.
>
>I can't think of any more right now but I know I'm only just scratching the surface. Look at what some countries in Europe are doing and you will see how pathetically far behind other supposedly civilized countries are. At this point, these things should be a standard part of the manufacturing process chain, and not even questioned at all, but apparently stamping out the likely insignificant additional costs of doing this is worth the time of corporate lobbyists and pencil pushers, and government officials are willing to take their word for it instead of funding research on the issue for them selves. Yes, not all materials necessarily make this possible, but more than you might think, and with people actually bothering to try I think we could find alternative methods.
>
>In the end, the most important thing is to get experienced blind cookings to do in depth physical testing for you, weather at home or in test kitchens with a range of scenarios and vision levels, and to take their advice into major consideration when developing solutions.
>
>Thanks for your interest and good luck. I doubt your work will change anything as it's been this way for far, far too long, but even if I just educate you and possibly cause you to become interested in helping solve these problems, it's worth my time already.
hey mate, would it be ok if i quoted some of your paragraphs in my coursework? i will write you account name and quote it from you if that is ok. would really help me out.
>
>Burns are similarly quite easy to avoid with common sense and patients in most cases. Yes, it takes training or trial and error, but even touching most food while it's cooking shortly doesn't cause a burn, and touching even the inside of a hot pan unless it's full of extremely hot frying oil rarely does mroe than cause a slightly painful singe that is forgotten within a few hours at most.
>
>Grippy tongs, long silicone oven mitts with textured hand grips, dual handled frying pans, splatter guards, these things already exist and can help us augment our other skills and techniques if necessary.
>
>So designing new tools isn't really what's needed for the most part, unless your making what already exists cheaper and more available, such as talking thermometers. No what we really need are simple improvements to existing devices.
>
>Touchscreens with no raised lines or small dips/bubbles to feel when you've moved from one button to another, and dials that spin for ever and have no stops at either end can fuck right off, along with those controls on some ovens where you don't even touch them but use gestures near the surface.
>
>When changing a value such as temperature, there should always be beeps for each press, and ideally, different sounds/pitched beeps for reaching the minimum and maximum setting. If you can use easily differentiated tones for other controls so that you don't get them mixed up, that's even better. E.G. temperature and time sound different from each other in some way.
>
>Having long alert beeps for preheat temperature being reached (even if the oven was already on and you've since changed the temperature) are also important, and a clear way of knowing when the oven has been turned on or off is vital for safety.
>
>Click stops for dials are great especially if it's only for common increments such as every 25F past 250.
>
>Having a physical pointer embossed into or shaped into knobs, witha clear difference between one end of the pointer and the other (such as a sharp taper) really helps too.
>
>With flush stove tops which have no traditional burners (such as on induction cookers) having a tactile ring helps us to center pots. It doesn't need to be anything much, just something we can feel like a dotted line or tiny ridge around each one, nothing tall enough to truly interfere with the smoothness.
>
>Ideally, the most important settings/numbers around the outside of the dial (the non moving part) would be engraved, have small dots or raised lines, or even better, have braille labels on them, which should be allot mroe common than it is with the advent of 3D printing.
>
>Most of these things apply equally to toaster ovens, microwaves, ETC as well.
>
>Standardizing the use of braille on measuring cups and measuring spoons (such as on the handle just before the bowl part) is a long time coming, but still isn't there yet sadly.
>
>When ever orientation is important for proper usage, any orientation markings, arrows ETC should be tactile as well, and preferably located in an obvious place on the device.
>
>Any physical buttons/switches should have their identification symbols made tactile, either via engraving or raised print.
>
>Packaging should be marked when possible in some way to show which side should be opened, as it isn't always obvious. Standardizing the marking/location would help with this allot.
>
>I can't think of any more right now but I know I'm only just scratching the surface. Look at what some countries in Europe are doing and you will see how pathetically far behind other supposedly civilized countries are. At this point, these things should be a standard part of the manufacturing process chain, and not even questioned at all, but apparently stamping out the likely insignificant additional costs of doing this is worth the time of corporate lobbyists and pencil pushers, and government officials are willing to take their word for it instead of funding research on the issue for them selves. Yes, not all materials necessarily make this possible, but more than you might think, and with people actually bothering to try I think we could find alternative methods.
>
>In the end, the most important thing is to get experienced blind cookings to do in depth physical testing for you, weather at home or in test kitchens with a range of scenarios and vision levels, and to take their advice into major consideration when developing solutions.
>
>Thanks for your interest and good luck. I doubt your work will change anything as it's been this way for far, far too long, but even if I just educate you and possibly cause you to become interested in helping solve these problems, it's worth my time already.
hey mate, would it be ok if i quoted some of your paragraphs in my coursework? i will write you account name and quote it from you if that is ok. would really help me out.
Superfreq2 1 points 3y ago
Absolutely fine by me. I just wish I was a more experienced cook so that I could tell you more. I'm totally blind so I also don't have the outlook of a partially blind person. And considering that only a very small portion of visually impaired people are fully blind...
IMO what you really need is a survey with a reward, or at least an entering into a draw, then to spread it all over the place in our community.
Talking to rehab centers and blind schools might help allot as most of them have cooking elements incorporated, but I'm not sure how far you want to take this.
​
I guess another thing I could add would be that, when possible, the recipe published online and on the product packaging should augment visual indicators of progress (when you see small bubbles popping every few seconds for simmering) or (when crust is golden brown) with tactile and audible indications such as (crunchy texture) (soft bubbling sound) ETC. I know this would cost more to print extra, and that sometimes it wouldn't fit well without shrinking the print to unacceptable levels, but online instructions wouldn't have those limitations.
Speaking of online product recipes, they aren't always easy to find for certain products. I think at this point it should be required that they be easily findable if the company is big enough, even if a more central database needs to be built. This would help everyone, not just people who have trouble reading the packaging.
As much color coding as possible for things like silverware trays or storage containers would be useful too. I know it's pretty common already and that sometimes it would mess up a coordinated set, but it could still be more common in certain places.
Tactile fill lines, not just on the outside, but much more usefully on the inside of the container are important too. It can be done with most materials as a simple raised up line.
When ever possible, things should have large print instead of regular font. I know sometimes it takes up too much space, but if it won't, then why not right? I'm talkinga bout use instructions on devices and warnings on packaging. Expiration dates where are already cryptic and overly hard to find, left/right indicator symbols and degrees. I know that already is the case allot of the time anyway, but making it more standardized would probably help.
Additionally, the color of the writing should not blend into the material it's on when ever possible. I know that most manufacturers wouldn't do this on purpose (they don't want people frustrated with their product) but making it an important guideline could help bring the point home.
IMO what you really need is a survey with a reward, or at least an entering into a draw, then to spread it all over the place in our community.
Talking to rehab centers and blind schools might help allot as most of them have cooking elements incorporated, but I'm not sure how far you want to take this.
​
I guess another thing I could add would be that, when possible, the recipe published online and on the product packaging should augment visual indicators of progress (when you see small bubbles popping every few seconds for simmering) or (when crust is golden brown) with tactile and audible indications such as (crunchy texture) (soft bubbling sound) ETC. I know this would cost more to print extra, and that sometimes it wouldn't fit well without shrinking the print to unacceptable levels, but online instructions wouldn't have those limitations.
Speaking of online product recipes, they aren't always easy to find for certain products. I think at this point it should be required that they be easily findable if the company is big enough, even if a more central database needs to be built. This would help everyone, not just people who have trouble reading the packaging.
As much color coding as possible for things like silverware trays or storage containers would be useful too. I know it's pretty common already and that sometimes it would mess up a coordinated set, but it could still be more common in certain places.
Tactile fill lines, not just on the outside, but much more usefully on the inside of the container are important too. It can be done with most materials as a simple raised up line.
When ever possible, things should have large print instead of regular font. I know sometimes it takes up too much space, but if it won't, then why not right? I'm talkinga bout use instructions on devices and warnings on packaging. Expiration dates where are already cryptic and overly hard to find, left/right indicator symbols and degrees. I know that already is the case allot of the time anyway, but making it more standardized would probably help.
Additionally, the color of the writing should not blend into the material it's on when ever possible. I know that most manufacturers wouldn't do this on purpose (they don't want people frustrated with their product) but making it an important guideline could help bring the point home.
vwlsmssng 1 points 3y ago
Gorenje did an interesting project where they used silicone cutouts to identify the active portions of an induction hob.
https://www.gorenjegroup.com/en/media/news/2017/03/7596-Gorenje-donates-a-cooking-hob-adapted-for-blind-and-partially-sighted-persons
However I don't think that hob with tactile rotary controls is still available.
The Smeg "Victoria" range of induction hobs have tactile rotary controls that offer good feedback. That's the only one I know of.
https://www.gorenjegroup.com/en/media/news/2017/03/7596-Gorenje-donates-a-cooking-hob-adapted-for-blind-and-partially-sighted-persons
However I don't think that hob with tactile rotary controls is still available.
The Smeg "Victoria" range of induction hobs have tactile rotary controls that offer good feedback. That's the only one I know of.
codeplaysleep 2 points 3y ago
Like a mitre box?
I'm not sure that's a problem that needs solving. I do have some vision (as do most blind people), but I could cut veggies, etc. with my eyes closed - have tried it before. It's not that hard to learn to handle a knife without sight. If I'm doing something more dangerous - like using a huge knife, cutting tougher foods, or using a mandolin, I'll sometimes wear some cut-resistant gloves.
Generally speaking, I feel like we're so used to using our hands for things that our spacial awareness in that regard is pretty good.
There are tons of assistive devices for the kitchen - probably more than exist for anything else, many of which I use; buzzers to tell you when the liquid you're pouring nears the top of the glass, guards to keep grease from splattering, talking food thermometers, large print/braille/raised number measuring cups and spoons, talking food timers, high-contrast cutting boards, talking kitchen scales, etc.
I'm not sure that's a problem that needs solving. I do have some vision (as do most blind people), but I could cut veggies, etc. with my eyes closed - have tried it before. It's not that hard to learn to handle a knife without sight. If I'm doing something more dangerous - like using a huge knife, cutting tougher foods, or using a mandolin, I'll sometimes wear some cut-resistant gloves.
Generally speaking, I feel like we're so used to using our hands for things that our spacial awareness in that regard is pretty good.
There are tons of assistive devices for the kitchen - probably more than exist for anything else, many of which I use; buzzers to tell you when the liquid you're pouring nears the top of the glass, guards to keep grease from splattering, talking food thermometers, large print/braille/raised number measuring cups and spoons, talking food timers, high-contrast cutting boards, talking kitchen scales, etc.
scrubadubadubadub [OP] 1 points 3y ago
Alright. This is awesome advice. I have found many more ideas of what to either create or improve but the box cutter thing was merely a concept which has already been made that I was attempting to make more useful.
By this I meant with an underside that can slide out from the side which allows all the food you have cut to fall to where you would like it. Of course you can tilt the box for more control or even just take off the lid. But it was just something to show that I was interested in helping.
Anyways your answer did help me. And I thank you for this. I hope you have a good day.
By this I meant with an underside that can slide out from the side which allows all the food you have cut to fall to where you would like it. Of course you can tilt the box for more control or even just take off the lid. But it was just something to show that I was interested in helping.
Anyways your answer did help me. And I thank you for this. I hope you have a good day.
vwlsmssng 1 points 3y ago
Have you checked out what is already available from the $1?
TrippingWithNoSight 0 points 3y ago
Use Reddit/Google search. Good luck.
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