9631744 Yamaguchi This proposal is a continuation of a program senior design project program which has been successfully implemented over the past six years at ASU. The program centers on a "bottom-up" approach to rehabilitation which requires the participants to interact directly with their clients; this permits the students to learn the needs of the client first-hand and to be open to suggestions, resulting in a sense of pride and ownership in the final products for both parties. Another philosophy conveyed to the students is the idea of developing "culturally appropriate" solutions which can be easily maintained by the clients and their caretakers. Fifteen senior design projects will be solicited each year to design prototype devices to aid persons with disabilities. A graduate student will act as a liaison to establish and maintain continuous connection between the biomedical engineering program at ASU and surrounding communities serving and/or supporting persons with disabilities. The ideas and feasible projects for the program will be generated through this connection. Each senior design student selected to participate will then establish contact, via the graduate liaison, with coordinating clinicians and a specific person with a disability, and work together with that person to generate the design specifications of the device to meet the specific need of that individual. The student will design, build, deliver and evaluate a prototype device to aid the individual in improving independence. Two undergraduate students will be supported each summer to follow up with each client to make necessary modification and completion to the device, which will ensure that the device can actually be used by the client, and train the students on quality control and custom service for biomedical devices aiding persons with disabilities. ***
