The Mechanical Engineering Capstone Design course at the University of South Florida (USF) has evolved over the past several years into an ideal course arrangement. The course, based on a 15-week semester, gives students the opportunity to work on 'real-world' problems in a structured amount of time. The time constraints imposed on the students mimic the deadlines that industries must meet. The majority of the course project ideas, in the form of problem statements, are provided by the Center for Rehabilitation Engineering and Technology, which is based at USF. The center identifies barriers of accessibility for individuals with disabilities. The Center for Rehabilitation Engineering and Technology supplies an instructor and provides the funds to construct the prototypes. Additionally, the PI is the associate director of the Center for Rehabilitation Engineering and Technology and has close affiliations with the School of Physical Therapy, on-campus Shriners Children's Hospital, and the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital for access to the target population.
A highlight of this proposal is the inclusion of the development of recreational devices for persons with disabilities. Devices or systems to enable people to return to work or enhance function at home are crucial for one's independence, however being able to enjoy leisure activities greatly improves one's quality of life and restores human dignity. Several of the project ideas are an outcome from an exciting and unique collaboration with the Theatre and Dance Program in the College of the Arts at USF.
Intellectual Merit: The proposed design and development of the capstone projects will provide intellectual merit by furthering assistive and rehabilitative technologies to assist persons with disabilities to independently perform the activities of daily living. Not only will the students become knowledgeable and skilled in engineering principles, the design process, and product development, but there is great potential for any developed technologies to advance technical and scientific knowledge, via broad dissemination.
Through the dance and engineering partnership an exciting, rare, and inventive opportunity is presented to incorporate the arts perspective in engineering design. The students benefit from this novel educational experience, which encourages them to design innovative devices for a dynamic and diverse problem set. This allows the students to stretch creatively and will likely have a far-reaching positive impact on their lives.
Broader Impact: This class will provide a broader impact in the engineering, assistive technology and rehabilitative areas through innovative research in rehabilitation technologies implemented at the undergraduate education level. Unlike traditional senior design courses, this class encourages students to pursue careers in rehabilitation engineering due to its focus on assistive technologies. The training that these students receive through this course will strengthen their job prospects.
Furthermore, through the Center the students will have direct and continual contact with professionals and people with disabilities who are potential users of the devloped devices. This contact will begin in the background gathering/brainstorming phases of project development and will continue to the prototype phase where the students will solicite feedback regarding the practical utilization of their devices. An opportunity, that is not currently available, will be provided through this grant for an undergraduate to be involved as an instructor helper. The Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program will be utilized to outreach to different underrepresented educational sectors. Also, the instructors have a close working relationship with the Engineering Office of Recruitment and Retention who provide access to a variety of students fitting the NSF inclusion criteria. Several students are currently involved in The Florida-Georgia Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation.
