Project Summary: Biomechanical Rehabilitation Engineering Advancement in Kansas The primary goal of the Biomechanical Rehabilitation Engineering Advancement in Kansas (BREAK) program is to give Kansans with disabilities a BREAK and offer custom devices to improve their quality of life. Additional objectives are to educate students about the needs of those with disabilities, and offer them a real world, service learning, design experience to address those needs. Projects will focus on rehabilitation technology, assistive devices and recreational opportunities within with the engineering Capstone Design experience. Each year we expect to facilitate 3-5 rehabilitation engineering design projects as part of the BREAK program The BREAK program will be a multidisciplinary collaboration between engineering capstone programs in three departments at KU and a consortium of community organizations that will help identify and propose projects. The program will provide custom equipment to benefit organization rehabilitation programs (and their many clients) or to meet the needs of individuals. While projects will often address the needs of individuals, the design process will include universal design, whenever possible, so that developments are more likely to be commercialized. Intellectual Merit Summary: BREAK program will contribute towards discovery and innovation in rehabilitation and assistive devices of a broad nature, and will lead to advancement in fundamental engineering knowledge in some cases. The program will also serve as a model for multidisciplinary engineering education while inspiring and training students in the engineering of designs for assistive and rehabilitation technology. Each student project addressed a unique need for technology, and seeks to meet that need (which is not satisfied by existing commercial products). In the process of conducting the research, design, fabrication and testing work, students develop a variety of skills, including technical, project management, and communication skills. They will gain experience interfacing with clinical personnel and their client throughout the semester. Invention disclosure will be required of all projects funded through the program. All students will be required to attend symposia on commercialization, including topic such as licensing vs. entrepreneurship, business planning, and marketing. Broader Impacts Summary: The BREAK program will provide visibility KU engineering students of the needs of people living with disabilities. Even those students who do not choose to participate in the BREAK program will be exposed to the concepts and needs of those with disabilities. Students should receive great satisfaction at having immediately met a need in someone's life, as well as creating technology which may be commercialized. We expect the BREAK program will encourage students to consider employment in rehabilitation engineering. Promotion of the BREAK program to prospective high school students may help increase participation in STEM disciplines. Recruiters can promote the BREAK program webpage, especially for women (who historically gravitated to bioengineering applications) and minorities. We are certain the BREAK program will increase the quality of capstone design experiences. The project also will help students build their multidisciplinary teamwork skills, as they work among engineering students from different engineering disciplines. Some students will also have the opportunity and learning experience of presenting their design at a national conference. Not the least of the broader impacts is that individuals in Kansas will be served by providing needed technology to improve their quality of life! Further, we expect many of these innovations will be marketable and commercializable, thus benefiting thousands more individuals and providing an enduring benefit to society. If possible, commercialization may include new start-up businesses in Kansas, thus stimulating the Kansas economy.
