Winter Quarter 2008 Course Announcement:

with Professor Drew Nelson
and David L. Jaffe, MS
Winter Quarter, Tuesdays 4:15pm - 5:05pm
Location: Meyer Forum (Meyer Library, Room 124)

Assistive Technology Course Sequence

Winter Quarter - ENGR110/210: Perspectives in Assistive Technology (1 or 2 units)
Spring Quarter - ME113: Mechanical Engineering Design (4 units)

Instructors:
Drew Nelson, Professor of Mechanical Engineering (dnelson -at- stanford.edu)
David L. Jaffe, MS, Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering (dljaffe -at- stanford.edu)

Support Staff:
Alex Tung, PhD Candidate (tungsten -at- stanford.edu)
Public Service Coordinator, Office of Engineering and Public Service

Course Introduction:
This course sequence provides an opportunity for mechanical engineering and other interested students to learn about the medical, psychological, and social aspects of designing and developing assistive technology to improve the quality of life and independence of people with disabilities. The ENGR110/210 course will consist mostly of weekly lectures from experts in the field, including entrepreneurs, clinicians, and users. Beyond these lectures, students can choose to engage in a team design project experience that includes need finding, project identification, and design. Teams will interact with users of assistive technology, design coaches, and project partners.

The ENGR110/210 lectures, short assignments, team meetings, and design activities will serve as background and preliminary work for those students interested in participating in an assistive technology project in ME113 in the Spring Quarter. In ME113 student teams will develop, test, and evaluate a working prototype.

• Gain an appreciation for the psychosocial, medical, and technical challenges in developing assistive technologies,
• Learn about ethical issues in technology development, including intellectual property rights as well as best practices in community engagement, and
• Engage in a comprehensive design experience that includes working with a real user of assistive technology to identify needs, prototype solutions, perform user testing, and practice iterative design.

Course Logistics:
The Winter Quarter ENGR110/210 course will consist of a one-unit weekly seminar open to the general student population and the public, as well as a two-unit option for students wishing to work on the assistive technology projects. In the ideal case, all undergraduate students enrolled in ENGR110/210 for 2 units in the Winter Quarter should also commit to taking ME113 in the Spring Quarter. Graduate students can work on their projects in the Spring Quarter for credit as independent study.

One-unit option:
Students must attend all lectures to obtain credit. One lecture may be excused with notification to Prof. Nelson.

Two-unit option:
Students will work in teams starting in the Winter Quarter. ENGR110/210 will focus on preliminary needs finding and project identification work, consisting of site visits with individuals with disabilities and project partners, short research assignments, and developing an initial paper design prototype. In addition to weekly lectures, students will have weekly meetings with their groups and design coaches. Students will then continue to ME113 (or independent study), which will focus on developing a full-scale, functional prototype. Students will work closely with persons with disabilities throughout the design process.

Projects:
Project ideas will come from various public and private sources in the community, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Palo Alto Health Care System's Rehabilitation Research and Development Center, Whirlwind Wheelchair International, Beneficial Designs, as well as from foundations like the Muscular Dystrophy Association, or from individuals. Funding for the projects will come from internal sources, company partners, foundations, etc.

Course Background:
Assistive Technology (AT) is a generic term that includes both a description of a device and a process that makes it available to people with disabilities. An AT device is one that has a functional, adaptive, or rehabilitative benefit. Engineers employ an AT process to design, develop, test, and bring to market new devices. Other professionals are involved in evaluating the need for them, supplying them, and assessing their benefit. AT devices promote greater independence, increased opportunities and participation, and an enhanced quality of life for people with disabilities by enabling them to perform tasks that they were formerly unable to accomplish (or had great difficulty accomplishing, or required assistance) through enhanced or alternate methods of interacting with the world around them.

It has been estimated that today there are 54 million Americans (20.6 percent of the population) with some level of disability which limits their ability to fully participate in society. As the nation ages, the number of people experiencing limitations will certainly increase.

New AT devices incorporating novel designs and emerging technologies have the potential to further improve the lives of people with disabilities.

Assignments (for two-unit option only):
All assignments will be accomplished in teams of three or four.

Assignment One - Problem Identification
Report due Friday, 02/08/2008
Teams will engage in independent research to study the potential impact of a solution to a particular need, as well as determine feasibility in terms of material costs, market demand, etc. Reports will consider safety issues, information from user surveys and interviews, and methods to measure device performance. The content of these reports will be comparable to a scaled down "Background and Motivation" section of a typical grant proposal or research paper.

Assignment Two - Design Proposal
Presentations will take place on Tuesday, 03/11/2008
Teams will present their design proposal to the entire class as well as to a panel of faculty and project partners. The presentations should be performed as design engineers pitching their new product/device concept to a company or granting organization. That is, the proposals should sell the need, idea, and process to a solution. Presentations should include simplified prototypes (these can be scaled down non-functional models, sketches, etc.)

Design Proposal Report due Friday, 03/14/2008
Teams will describe the problem and need they have identified, and several different methods of solving the problem. Teams will also discuss how the end device will be tested and how success will be determined. Information learned from initial prototypes can be included. This proposal should be similar to the "Work Accomplished" and "Proposed Work" portions of a grant proposal. This design proposal will be combined with the problem identification report to comprise a full proposal.

End-quarter Reflection due Friday, 03/14/2008
Students will report on the design process for the quarter, noting any pitfalls, major challenges, consumer likes/dislikes, and suggestions for the future.

Updated 05/06/2008

Back to Homepage