Application of quality function deployment in rehabilitation engineering

Rehabilitation engineers are highly dependent upon input from consumers, service clinicians and other technical professionals to guide them in the product development process. Designers of assistive devices are consistently striving to improve their products to remain competitive. New designs or modifications to current products that are cost effective yet truly reflective of the priorities of consumers and clinicians are often difficult to identify. A design strategy called Quality Function Deployment provides a method of organizing and structuring these priorities to focus the energies of the design team. A case study is presented that describes the application of Quality Function Deployment to the modification of the design of myoelectric prosthetic hands