[fubarred]

In order to be successful, as mentioned in other comments, such a project would need more end-users as active co-designers / field testers. Otherwise, it's a pure "design for design's" sake that won't get used. And that would be sad if some extra attention were the difference between a large, branded product company that would be able to reduce the damage and discomfort to millions vs. a concept on a shelf.

[pnathan]

I ... don't think that the end users are going to care about buying a branded product. I think the best possible outcome is a simple adjustment that reduces the damage and discomfort. Seriously. Look at the the pictures of the end users. It's a stick of a certain size and diameter. The replacement has to be... a different kind of rope & stick arrangement, equally cheap, equally trivial to put together.