Greater than 15 p.c of the world’s inhabitants—higher than 1 billion individuals—dwell with disabilities together with listening to loss, imaginative and prescient issues, psychological well being challenges, and lack of mobility. EPICS in IEEE has engaged college students’ ingenuity worldwide to handle accessibility points by adaptive companies, redesigned know-how, and new assistive applied sciences throughout its 2023 Entry and Skills Competitors.
The competitors challenged college college students world wide to make use of their engineering abilities to assist with accessibility points. The EPICS in IEEE Committee obtained 58 proposals and chosen 23 tasks, which had been funded in early 2023.
EPICS is a grant-based program for IEEE Academic Actions that funds service studying tasks for college and highschool college students.
The groups, which embody college members and IEEE members, create and execute engineering tasks in partnership with organizations to enhance their communities.
“Some avid gamers with arm or hand deficiencies play with their toes, nostril, mouth, or elbows, or they use gadgets not supposed for that goal and are compelled to adapt. I noticed that if there was a devoted machine designed for such people, they’d have the ability to play and expertise the enjoyment of gaming.” —John McCauley.
The 4 EPICS in IEEE pillars are entry and talents; setting; training and outreach; and human companies. Within the Entry and Skills Competitors, scholar groups obtained between US $1,000 and $10,000. Every workforce had 12 months to construct a prototype or resolution in collaboration with its group companions. The tasks, which concerned greater than 350 college students and 149 IEEE volunteers, aimed to assist an estimated 8,000 individuals within the first 12 months of deployment.
The groups included contributors from IEEE scholar branches, IEEE Ladies in Engineering teams, IEEE–Eta Kappa Nu honor society chapters, and IEEE sections.
Initiatives included a sound-detection machine and a self-navigating robotic strolling support.
The competitors was funded by the Taenzer Memorial Fund in 2019, with $90,000 allotted by the IEEE Basis. The fund was established with a bequest from the property of Jon C. Taenzer, an IEEE life senior member.
The coed groups submitted their ultimate studies this 12 months.
Listed here are highlights from 4 of the tasks:
Adaptive mouse for gaming
Members of the adaptive mouse EPICS in IEEE workforce on the College of Florida in Gainesville designed a tool that accommodates keyboard capabilities and can be utilized with only one hand.EPICS in IEEE
A workforce of 10 biomedical engineering college students on the College of Florida in Gainesville designed their mission to assist individuals whose palms or arms have an abnormality, so they might extra simply play video games.
The workforce constructed 5 adaptive mouse gadgets and plans to ship them this 12 months to 5 recipients concerned with Palms to Love, a Florida-based group that helps youngsters with higher limb abnormalities.
The workforce integrated the keyboard parts of gaming right into a mouse, permitting gaming gestures and actions with only one hand. The 3D-printed mouse combines current gaming know-how, together with the inner mechanisms of keyboards, a Logitech mouse, and Microsoft Xbox controller emulations. It permits the participant to maneuver and goal whereas gaming with only a mouse.
Gaming fanatic John McCauley, a junior within the college’s biomedical engineering program, was behind the mission’s conception.
“Some avid gamers with arm or hand deficiencies play with their toes, nostril, mouth, or elbows, or they use gadgets not supposed for that goal and are compelled to adapt,” McCauley says. “I noticed that if there was a devoted machine designed for such people, they’d have the ability to play and expertise the enjoyment of gaming.”
The workforce used its $1,000 EPICS in IEEE grant to buy the prototype’s elements.
Making campus extra accessible
Universidad Tecnólogica de Panamá college students take a look at their microcontroller-based prototype, designed to assist make their college extra accessible.EPICS in IEEE
A workforce of 15 undergraduate college students from the Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá in Panama Metropolis and 24 college students from 4 excessive colleges in Chiriquí, Panama, created a number of tasks targeted on individuals with visible or bodily disabilities. The workforce’s objective was to make their campus and group extra accessible to these with completely different talents. The tasks enhanced their classmates’ autonomy and improved their high quality of life.
The workforce made braille indicators utilizing a 3D printer, and so they designed and constructed a personalised wheelchair. The scholars additionally automated the doorways throughout the engineering division to offer higher entry to school rooms and corridors for these with disabilities.
“This mission will probably be very helpful, particularly [in Panama], the place buildings haven’t been tailored for individuals with disabilities,” stated workforce member Gael Villarreal, a highschool junior.
Whereas working collectively on the mission, workforce members honed their technical and interpersonal abilities. They got here to understand the significance of collaboration and communication.
“I discovered that it’s worthwhile to have new experiences, be sociable, meet and get together with new individuals, and work as a workforce to achieve success,” highschool junior Gianny Rodriguez stated.
The workforce used its $8,100 EPICS grant to buy supplies and practice the group on utilizing the brand new instruments.
Serving to youngsters with listening to impairments
A workforce of scholars from the SRM Institute of Science and Know-how scholar department, in Chennai, India, labored with the Dr. MGR Dwelling and Greater Secondary Faculty for the Speech and Listening to Impaired, additionally in Chennai, to construct a tool to assist youngsters with listening to aids and cochlear implants be taught Tamil, the native language. In rural areas, younger youngsters typically would not have entry to specialised speech and listening to well being care suppliers to be taught crucial language abilities. The workforce’s assistive machine helps native language ability improvement, serving to mother and father and trainers help the youngsters in language and sound acquisition.
The mission is designed to offer entry to aural rehabilitation, together with figuring out listening to loss and therapies for youngsters removed from hospitals and rehabilitation facilities.
The kiosklike machine resembles an ATM and consists of surround-sound audio system and touchscreens. It makes use of a contact monitor and microphones to entry duties and assessments that assist younger youngsters be taught Tamil.
The workforce labored with 150 pupils on the college between the ages of 5 and eight to develop the prototype. The built-in app consists of duties that concentrate on enhancing auditory consciousness, auditory discrimination (the power to acknowledge, evaluate, and distinguish between distinct sounds), and language acquisition (how individuals understand and comprehend language).
The machine assessments the pupil’s listening to vary based mostly on sounds with visible cues, sounds at low depth, sounds within the presence of noise, and sound path.
The audio system emulate real-life conditions and are used to relay the trainer’s directions.
The workforce obtained a $1,605 grant to execute the mission.
This video spotlights the challenges children with listening to disabilities in Chenni, India, face and the way the assistive know-how will assist them.
Caption: This video spotlights the challenges children with listening to disabilities in Chenni, India, face and the way the assistive know-how will assist them.
Self-navigating robotic strolling support
College students from the IEEE Swinburne Sarawak scholar department in Malaysia introduced a prototype of their strolling support to Trinity Eldercare, their group accomplice.EPICS in IEEE
To assist senior residents with mobility points, a workforce of scholars from the IEEE Swinburne Sarawak scholar department on the Swinburne College of Know-how, in Malaysia, created a self-navigating strolling support.
The workforce wished to enhance current walkers available on the market, so that they surveyed residents at Trinity Eldercare to seek out out what options can be helpful to them.
The scholars’ prototype, based mostly on a industrial walker, features a wearable haptic belt that detects obstacles and alerts the person. Strain sensors within the hand grips sense which path the person desires to go. One of many senior residents’ most requested options was the power to find a misplaced walker. The workforce was capable of handle the difficulty utilizing sensors.
“I gained substantial data in robotics programming and synthetic intelligence and deep studying integration for individual monitoring and autonomous navigation,” one of many workforce members stated. “Moreover, presenting our good walker prototype on the Worldwide Invention, Innovation, Technolgy Competitors and Exhibition in Malaysia enhanced my presentation abilities, as I efficiently articulated its viability and usefulness to the judges.”
The mission obtained a $1,900 grant.
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The EPICS in IEEE program is celebrating its fifteenth 12 months of supporting and facilitating service-learning tasks and impacting college students and communities worldwide