Shubham Iyer

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Adjustable Ladder Foot

Case Western Reserve University, design project · Jan to May 2026

Ladders tip when one foot sits lower than the other. I led the design of an adjustable foot that lets each side be set to the ground under it.

How it came together

It started as a whiteboard list of ways to raise one side: a pump, a ratchet and pawl, a pin, a screw lift and a scissor lift. I narrowed that down in sketches, built it up in CAD, then made a rough prototype.

The whiteboard list of raising mechanisms.
The whiteboard list of raising mechanisms.
Concept sketch, drawn to scale.
Concept sketch, drawn to scale.
Early prototype.
Early prototype.

From there I took it through a consumer-product presentation and a mass-manufacturing presentation, and changed the design after the feedback at each one. The final version uses a ball-joint pivot at the foot.

Final assembly on the ladder rail.
Final assembly on the ladder rail.
The ball-joint pivot.
The ball-joint pivot.
Exploded view.
Exploded view.

Next project: Composites and Thermoforming →