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DWG NO. LOW-PROFILE-BA DATE 2024-08 PORTFOLIO

Low-Profile Balance Trainer Designed Not to Be a Trip Hazard

A floor-level balance device where the governing requirement was height — kept low enough to step over safely, with non-slip feet and dimensions specified in inches.

Low-Profile Balance Trainer Designed Not to Be a Trip Hazard
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The client was direct about the one thing that mattered: “the profile needs to be very low — I don’t want people tripping over it.”

The problem

A balance device sits on the floor in a space where people also walk:

  • Height is a safety requirement, not a styling one. Every millimetre of thickness increases the chance someone catches a toe on it.
  • It must not slide when stepped on — a device that moves under load is worse than no device.
  • The prototype was rectangular; the product had to be square, which changes the balance behaviour along both axes rather than just one.
  • Dimensions were needed in inches along both the inner and outer borders, since the client and their manufacturer work imperially.

The approach

  • Structure spread horizontally, not vertically. With height capped, stiffness had to come from the footprint and from the section shape rather than from depth.
  • Rubber feet along the base placed so the device is supported at its perimeter where the user’s weight lands, rather than at the centre where it would rock.
  • Square geometry designed from scratch, not stretched from the rectangular prototype, so the response is symmetric in both directions.
  • Drawn in inches with inner and outer border dimensions called out explicitly, as requested.

The result

A complete design and dimensioned drawings for the low-profile square device with non-slip base.

Where this applies

Floor-level products where safety sets the envelope: mats, platforms, ramps, trainers. When one dimension is fixed by a hazard, every other decision follows from it.

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fitness product design low profile design non-slip design consumer product CAD dimensional drawing imperial units design product engineering DFM