Student Design Projects for People with Disabilities at Duke University

PI: Bohs, Laurence N.和Caves， kevin提案号：0967221该提案要求支持杜克大学生物医学工程系的残疾人设备项目，该项目旨在让学生为残疾人设计和制造定制设备。该计划的主要目标是加强工程教育，改善残疾人的生活质量，服务社会。学生将参与一个创造性的，现实世界的设计经验，因为他们开发了独一无二的辅助，娱乐和治疗设备。在此过程中，他们将学习正式的工程设计方法，了解工程中的道德问题，提高沟通技巧，并提高他们对残疾问题的认识，在这项资助的支持下，将设计和交付70个项目，涉及约250名学生设计师，与过去的资助期相比，每年都有大幅增长。在过去三年中启动的客户反馈过程将扩大到包括基于魁北克用户对辅助技术满意度评估（QUEST）的定量措施。将开发新的评估工具，以最大限度地提高学生体验的影响，并改善学生和客户之间的反馈。学生将为他们的专题制作专业品质的影片，并将其纳入课程网站，以提供专题运作的全面示范，并增加其设计的传播。建议活动的智力价值项目总监和课程导师在康复工程和教授学生设计方面有超过40年的经验。在过去的13年里，他们指导了250多名学生，为罗利-达勒姆地区的残疾客户完成了100多个项目。该计划的优势包括在交付所建议的项目数量方面的成功记录，以及对后续支持的关注，以保持设备交付后的服务。杜克大学的原型设备在过去的资助期间有了很大的改善，在普拉特工程学院有了一个新的学生机械车间和全职机械师，致力于学生项目。这些设施将增强学生的实践经验，使他们对自己的项目有更大的自主权，并在制造方法上应用知识。拟议项目的成果将会是新颖的装置，以满足商业产品无法满足的残疾人士的需要。整个项目将建立和加强大学、当地社区以及在区域和全国辅助技术和康复领域工作的个人之间的联系。提议活动的更广泛影响提议的活动将训练本科生应用于现实世界中开放式设计问题的正式设计程序。学生将尽可能采用通用设计方法，以最大限度地提高其设计的适用性。残障人士将作为项目的客户融入活动，并在课堂讨论中与学生分享他们的经验。学生将通过以下方式向更大的社区传播他们的工作成果：1)在年度RESNA会议上发表演讲；2)在区域辅助技术博览会会议上的演讲；3)美国国家科学基金会年度出版物《帮助残疾人的学生设计项目》中的项目描述。此外，为当地合作伙伴OE企业设计的学生项目将参加NISH国家工作场所创新与设计学者奖的设计竞赛。通过为项目客户提供定制设备，创造和传播适用于其他残疾人士的设计，并激励学生在他们的职业生涯中为人类服务，从而造福社会。学生项目将从达勒姆/罗利/教堂山地区的众多联系人中选择，包括职业和物理治疗师、特殊教育教师、医生、当地康复中心和社区组织。由于项目将从许多来源抽取，客户池将包括范围广泛的残疾人。在此资助期间，一个特别的重点将是与达勒姆学校的治疗师合作，以确定将从定制辅助技术中受益的少数民族残疾学生。

PI: Bohs, Laurence N. and Caves, KevinProposal Number: 0967221This proposal requests support for the Devices for People with Disabilities program in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University, in which students design and build custom devices for people with disabilities. The main objectives of this program are to enhance engineering education, improve the quality of life of persons with disabilities, and serve the community. Students will participate in a creative, real-world design experience as they develop one-of-a-kind assistive, recreational, and therapeutic devices. In the process, they will learn formal engineering design methods, gain exposure to ethical issues in engineering, improve communication skills and raise their awareness of disability issues 70 projects will be designed and delivered with support from this grant, involving approximately 250 student designers, a substantial annual increase over the past grant period. The client feedback process initiated during the last three years will be expanded to include quantitative measures based on the Quebec User Evaluation of Satisfaction with assistive Technology (QUEST). New assessment tools will be developed to maximize the impact of student experiences and to improve feedback between students and clients. Students will create professional-quality videos of their projects, which will be incorporated into the course web site to provide a thorough demonstration of project operation and to increase dissemination of their designs. Intellectual Merit of the Proposed Activity The PI and course instructors have over 40 combined years of experience in rehabilitation engineering and teaching student design. During the past 13 years, they have supervised over 250 students in completing more than 100 projects for clients with disabilities in the Raleigh-Durham regional area. Strengths of this program include the record of success in delivering the proposed number of projects, and the focus on follow-up support to keep devices in service after delivery. Prototyping facilities at Duke University have improved substantially during the past grant period, with a new student machine shop and full-time machinist dedicated to student projects in the Pratt School of Engineering. These facilities will enhance the students' hands-on experiences, giving them greater ownership of their projects and applied knowledge on methods of fabrication. Outcomes from the proposed projects will be novel devices meeting needs of persons with disabilities not met by commercial products. The overall program will establish and strengthen ties between the university, the local community, and individuals working in the fields of assistive technology and rehabilitation both regionally and nationally. Broader Impacts of the Proposed Activity The proposed activity will train undergraduate students in a formal design procedure as applied to real-world, open-ended design problems. Students will incorporate universal design methods wherever possible to maximize the applicability of their designs. Persons with disabilities will be integrated into the activities both by being clients for projects, and also by sharing their experiences with students during in-class discussions. Students will disseminate the results of their work to the larger community through: 1) presentations at the annual RESNA conference; 2) presentations at the regional Assistive Technology Expo conference; and 3) project descriptions in the annual NSF publication on Student Design Projects to Aid Persons with Disabilities. In addition, students building projects for local partner OE Enterprises will enter the design competition for the NISH National Scholar Award for Workplace Innovation and Design. The proposed work will benefit society by providing custom devices for the project clients, creating and disseminating designs applicable to other persons with disabilities, and by inspiring students to serve humanity in their careers. Student projects will be selected from numerous contacts in the Durham/Raleigh/Chapel Hill area, including occupational and physical therapists, special education teachers, medical doctors, and local rehabilitation centers and community organizations. Because projects will be drawn from many sources, the client pool will encompass a broad range of persons with disabilities. A particular focus in this grant period will be to work with therapists in the Durham schools to identify minority students with disabilities who will benefit from custom assistive technology.