Drake College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences O3 students Allison Kanaly, Jayme Corry, Emily Nadolny, and Julie Girard were recently invited to attend the 2018 RESNA (Rehabilitation Engineering & Assistive Technology Society of North America) Student Design Competition Expo to showcase their adapted backrest for an exersaucer.
As part of their OTD 133 course, students were placed in teams and assigned to work with a client to develop a prototype that could be utilized to improve their overall independence. The O3 standouts were surprised by being selected as semi-finalists in the competition, but they were more excited that their design helped accommodate their client’s special needs.
“We recently found out that we made it to the top 12 semi-finalists out of 40 entries,” O3 student Jayme Corry said. “However, we did not design the exersaucer for our client because we wanted to win a competition. We wanted to help him be more engaged with his environment, family, and friends.”
The students’ prototype of the adapted exersaucer allows their client to sit upright and engage in his environment. The bright orange fabric was chosen to accommodate for the client’s cortical visual impairment, which makes it very difficult for individuals to see and focus on objects.
The RESNA Student Design Competition is an annual competition that showcases creative and innovative assistive technology designs that help people with disabilities function more independently. This year’s competition is scheduled for Friday, July 13th, in Arlington, VA.
“Entering the device into the competition was just a fun bonus we decided to participate in, to see what other engineers in related fields think of our design, too.” Corry said. “We’re so happy with the result of this project and are very proud to have made the top 12.”