Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2010 - (Page 12)

The National Engineering Design Challenge iSTock by Kate Franklin & Lauren Naughton H OLDING A CHALLENGING, satisfying job that supports you and your family: It’s one of humanity’s most universal goals. If a disability prevents a person from pursuing that goal, it can be di cult or even devastating. at’s why the Junior Engineering Technical Society and the Ability One Program started the National Engineering Design Challenge (NEDC). is competition invites high school students to design and develop assistive devices to help people with all types of disabilities. In the end, everyone bene ts. phone numbers. From the onset of his tremors, Mr. Clark had been searching for a solution, working with two rehabilitation centers and multiple doctors in the process. Our goal was to build a device that would enable Mr. Clark to write legibly. It was a fairly ambitious project—a er all, we were aiming for success where professionals had failed. Over several months, our team engineers produced prototype a er prototype for Mr. Clark to try. e design process culminated in what we named the PAWD: the Portable Assistive Writing Device. To use the device, Mr. Clark would unfold it from its portable position, insert a pen or pencil, and then lay his hand on the device. In a way similar to how a computer mouse is used, Mr. Clark guided the device using his hand and forearm. Mr. Clark thought it was comfortable and easy to use—and most important, he saw an improvement in his handwriting when he used it. At our school, students participate in the NEDC by taking Engineering Design, a non-credit class that meets at 7:00 a.m. Coached by the pair of docs (or Paradox, as they call themselves), Dr. Larry Neznanski and Dr. Guy Hudson, our team of eight students set out to design a device that would make work easier for someone with a disability in our town. Meeting Mr. Clark We started by getting word out about our team through local facilities and organizations that help people with disabilities. We met Bill Clark, a land developer in our city, a er he learned about our team through his doctor at the Idaho Elks Rehabilitation Center. For the past ve years, Mr. Clark had been physically unable to write. Mr. Clark has what is known as an essential tremor, a neurological condition that makes the hands and wrists jerk or shake involuntarily. When he set pen to paper or moved from word to word, his entire hand jerked, pulling his wrist back from the desk. e signature he had intended to produce came out as an illegible scrawl. As a businessman, Mr. Clark found it frustrating not to be able to take notes or even jot down Our Design Goes National Once we had our nal design, we had to submit a report that described our research, our design process, and our product’s special features. More than 300 teams participated in this rst round of the competition, so we were excited to learn that we 12 imagine May/Jun 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2010

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2010
Table of Contents
Big Questions
In My Own Words
If They Build It
Design That Matters
Wired to Win
A Student at SPAWAR
Even When the Ground Shakes
Biomimicry
An Engineer in Training
Engineering My Future
Home Away From Home
Selected Opportunities & Resources
Middle Ground
Off the Shelf
Word Wise
Exploring Career Options
One Step Ahead
Planning Ahead for College
Students Review
Creative Minds Imagine
Sudoku
Knossos Game

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2010