9613587 Blanchard The goal of this research is to provide opportunities for senior students in the Biological and Agricultural Engineering (BAE) Department at North Carolina State University to design, build, and deliver projects to aid the disabled. The completed projects will be given to specific clients or groups of clients to the Tammy Lynn Center (which provides residential and educational programs for children and adults with developmental delays) and the Governor Morehead School (the only state-supported school in North Carolina specializing solely in comprehensive educational and residential programs for students with visual impairments), both in Raleigh, North Carolina. Through this effort, BAE students will be able to directly improve the quality of one or more lives while gaining valuable design experience for themselves. They will also be exposed to new possibilities for future study and work in rehabilitation engineering. Twenty-one potential projects have been identified by the staff at the Tammy Lynn Center (e.g., outdoor swing for an adult wheel chair, voice-activated multi-sensory toy with interchangeable parts, low cost bath chair for raising and lowering a 100%-assisted person, etc.), while six additional projects have been proposed by the staff at the Governor Morehead School (e.g., balanced ball that makes a sound or plays music only when triggered by a remote device, combination locks that can be used by the visually impaired on their school lockers). The proposal anticipates the design, building, and delivery of an average of 12 projects per year over a 5-year period. ***
