AT Lab making others’ lives easier
Every semester, USU students work together in a lab to create devices specifically to make others’ lives more independent.
The Assistive Technology Lab helps persons with disabilities all over Utah and into many surrounding states. It is operated by students with the help of Lab Director Stan Clelland.
At the AT Lab, located on the east side of the Janet Quincy Lawson building, previous projects are on display such as adaptable spoons for people without the ability to grip it with their hands, a Tickle Me Elmo that is rewired so a child who can’t squeeze the toy will be able to play with it, and children’s book stands to keep books open while being read.
Clelland said the lab is a place where students design, construct and test the new devices.
This year the AT Lab worked on two main projects, a hiking chair and an oven rack adapter.
The projects were not finished as quickly as possible, but rather time was taken to help students learn and to create a better product. Many of the projects have a three-month lag for training purposes, Clelland said.
The two main projects started out being assignments for students in a communicative disorders class, but when the projects weren’t finished after receiving a final grade, the students wanted to continue until the devices were completed.
THE OVEN RACK
The oven rack is being designed for a woman who loves to cook but has bad balance. If she tries to bend over to take a baking tray out of the oven, she will collapse and fall into the oven, said Tyler Sorensen, a graduate student in communicative disorders and deaf education.
The woman originally went to the AT Lab with the request more than two years ago. Normally she said she has a friend come over and help her cook enough meals for a month, and then she freezes them for later, Sorensen said. With the new device, she will be able to cook on her own. It has taken two prototypes, but now the project is nearly finished, he said.
“We actually had a student the year before us with the idea, but the design was completely not working,” Sorensen said. “I liked being able to work through the problems on it.”
Mike Lambert, junior in biomechanical engineering, said now the rack is almost finished. It looks like a forklift with a square base and four wheels. On top of the base there is an electrical motor that has a shaft that can raise up and down, he said. It can also be strolled around like a walker, but it is taller than a walker, standing about 40 inches high.
A tray sits atop the moving shaft to help move the tray from the counter to the oven and back again. The woman will also use a type of stick to push the tray into the oven as well as pull it back out, Lambert said.
“It’s kind of an interesting project… but the applications for this can be modified for use in nursing homes. It doesn’t have to be just for cooking,” he said.
Lambert said he suggested it could be used for other settings possibly in a nursing home or any home in general.
“The concept opens up for more than just cookies,” he said.
Clelland said the rack will be sturdy enough for cookies as well as a turkey or ham.
All of the projects in the AT Lab are multidisciplinary, where many students studying different majors come together and work on a project.
“(The project goes) from a lot of different viewpoints to create something that will help somebody in their lives,” Sorensen said. “So it’s not just the science side. It’s the heart side too and I really like that.”
Another student on the project said he agrees.
“It’s just a rewarding experience,” said Eric Dutson, graduate student in speech and language pathology. “When we’ll turn it in and give it to her, she’s going to be very pleased and happy with it, and that’s rewarding.”
THE HIKING CHAIR A 7-year-old girl, Annie, is losing her ability to walk, but her family loves to go hiking, and they wanted her to be able to go with them. So five students worked on a team to make a hiking chair for Annie, and they all “kinda tweaked it together,” said Autumn Newson, a graduate student in speech and language pathology. “We started with just little sketches on a napkin kinda thing – just on paper – and then we actually drew up the designs in auto cad,” Newson said. Then the group designed a cardboard model, afterward moving on to aluminum and steel, Newson said. Not until they brought Annie in to test it did they realize that the rickshaw-type hiking chair needed to be modified, Clelland said. They had to move the wheels out so they were wider, and then they dropped the bucket seat down so that it was more stable, he said. Dallin Hubbard, a sophomore in biological engineering, said every project has to have an engineer to receive money from the grants. He and his younger brother, Thomas Hubbard, worked on the hiking chair together. Hubbard said his younger brother, who is now on an LDS mission to Peru, was the “mastermind” on the project. They both put in about 15 hours a week to finish the project. The idea began in October 2006 and was completed around April this year. Hubbard said the hiking chair kind of looks like a rickshaw, with two handles in the front to pull it, a bucket seat and two bike tires as wheels. The chair also has some built-in shocks and suspension to make a smoother ride for Annie.
Newson said the end result was great.
About the best part of the project, Newson said, “I think seeing Annie’s face when we actually brought it over and her mom pulled her around, and then finding out that she’s actually been able to use it over the Tetons and other camps.”
This was Hubbard’s first project with the AT Lab, which he said he enjoyed being a part of. “It was really cool to actually use your education for something useful for someone else,” Hubbard said.
To request something to be made by the lab or to find more information about their projects or how to get involved, contact them at 800-524-5152, 797-0699 or visit www.uatpat.org.
-ranae.bang@aggiemail.usu.edu