In this program, students develop custom assistive technology devices for people with disabilities. Project ideas come from therapists and clinicians in Durham and Chapel Hill, who serve as project advisors throughout the semester. Students spend the entire semester working on the design and development of a device. At the end of the semester, they deliver their device to the therapist and client at no charge. Lectures and discussions in the class focus on engineering design and communications; working with people with disabilities; ethical issues in assistive technology; patents; and other issues.

This program has several objectives:

• to provide a practical engineering experience as well as a personally rewarding experience to the student; this may also encourage them to use their specialized skills in the future to benefit individuals with disabilities.
• to help individuals with disabilities become more independent by designing and building custom assistive technology devices that address their needs.
• to facilitate learning and reflection about the daily life of an individual who has a disability, as well as the daily lives of the family members, therapists and teachers who are in close contact with them

The following video has more information about the program and features the projects from spring 2011:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95HPHxqdWXk[/youtube]

Other universities around the country also have programs in which students develop custom devices for people with disabilities. Information about the student projects produced each year is available at this NSF website. More information about the nearby program at Duke is available at the Duke website.

Funding and support provided by:

National Science Foundation Grant CBET-0966571

UNC office of Undergraduate Research and the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships

Department of Biomedical Engineering at UNC and NCSU

APPLES Service learning program at UNC