The Alumni Magazine for Worcester Polytechnic Institute. (WPI)
Issue link: http://wpialumnimag.epubxp.com/i/456562
12 Winter 2015 W π WHAT IF YOU COULDN'T TURN A KEY IN A LOCK, or put on your own socks? What if a simple device could enable you work, play, and get through the day with independence and dignity? First year students in courses affliated with WPI's Assistive Technology Resource Center (ATRC) spent A-Term learning standard engineering protocols while designing specialized devices for actual people with disabilities. The prototypes they produced and tested included a keyboard toy that teaches Braille and a ponytail elastic holder to help a girl fx her hair with only one arm. In higher-level rehabilitative engineering classes and MQPs done through the ATRC, students take on more complex challenges—such as designing a foot-propelled mobility device to allow a young pupil to maneuver in all areas of his elementary school, or improving the functionality of prosthetic limbs. Small changes can alter lives: One team designed a swing-away tray that enabled a wheelchair user to get to the toilet without asking for help. Another project allowed a carpenter who had lost parts of his fngers in a table-saw accident to apply aerosol fnishes with a spray can. "Instead of an academic exercise where they turn in the answer to a problem that some professor thought up, they see an end result that's useful," says Professor Allen Hoffman. He and co-director Professor Holly Ault assert that engineers ap- proach disability with a different perspective than teachers or thera- pists. In the case of the carpenter, the obvious solution was to come up with a mechanized device to control the spray button. But one student reframed the problem. Noticing that the carpenter could still push the button with the stump of his middle fnger, the student designed a holder that enabled him to support the can with his thumb and pinky. By focusing on what this man could do—rather than what he couldn't—the stu- dent created a simple, inex- pensive device that the car- penter could even make for himself. Hoffman observes that instead of pitying or being put off by severe disabilities, WPI students thrive on the challenge and work harder. As Ault puts it: "There's a big difference between 'What do I have to do to get an A?' and 'What do I have to do to make it right for that client?'" See more projects at wpi.edu /academics/me/ATRC. enabling L earning for Good Assistive Technology Resource Center projects have unique benefts for students and recipients