The Snaker Spoon is a special spoon designed
for people with upper limb disabilities, especially
those who suffer from cerebral palsy and
rheumatoid arthritis and often need help with
eating.
Developed by Kristy Fung and her team from
the program of Occupational Therapy at PolyU,
Snaker Spoon aims at facilitating independent
feeding. Its handle is twistable, like a snake, and
consists of three parts: the spoon, the interface
for angle turning, and the handle. A spring
connects these parts to allow angle adjustment,
and the magnets between them ensures stability
during feeding. Both the spoon and the handle
allow six directions of twisting, so a total of 36
combinations is possible. As a result, Snaker
Spoon allows the users to twist both the spoon
and the handle to achieve the most suitable
feeding angles and eat without limitations.
The Snaker Spoon developed from a class
project. But although the concept seemed
interesting enough, it took some effort to
transform it into a tangible product. Given that it
is designed to solve a user-experience problem,
a lot of iterations were needed to finalize the
design, such as the size, shape and structure.
The traditional method to create such a product
involved CNC machining and molding. But
creating a mold for each design would be very
time consuming, to say nothing of the costs,
and Kristy and her team could not wait that long.
Furthermore, finding a material that was flexible
as well as sturdy also proved to be a headache.
Fortunately, the University Research Facility in
3D Printing (U3DP) at PolyU has a large number
of Stratasys 3D printers, such as the F900™,
the Fortus 450mc™, J750™, and the Objet30
Pro™, that were able to support Kristy Fung’s
endeavors. Working with the engineering experts
there, Kristy and her team were able to use the
printers to develop the Snaker Spoon.