{"id":11278,"date":"2014-05-15T14:51:12","date_gmt":"2014-05-15T18:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/?p=11278"},"modified":"2015-12-17T13:50:58","modified_gmt":"2015-12-17T18:50:58","slug":"engineering-students-build-walker-shell-encourage-child-walk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2014\/05\/engineering-students-build-walker-shell-encourage-child-walk\/","title":{"rendered":"Engineering students build walker shell to encourage child to walk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Four UTC students have turned an engineering project into an opportunity for a child to learn to walk on his own.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"engineering-showcase-2014-06\"<\/a>Landyn is a six-year-old boy with paroxysmal tonic upgaze, a condition with symptoms similar to Cerebral Palsy. Practicing with his walker will build Landyn\u2019s leg strength and hopefully lead to the ability to walk unassisted, doctors say. However, Landyn showed little interest in his walker and preferred to use his power chair to get around.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where Taylor Myers, Suzanne Eslick, James Berry, and Taylor Baird came in. Landyn\u2019s mother felt that if they had a shell to clamp onto Landyn\u2019s walker to make it more inviting to Landyn, he would be encouraged to use it more often. The team chose this engineering project because they liked the idea of helping someone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounded like a good cause to encourage someone to use something they currently don\u2019t want to use that can help their health,\u201d said Baird. \u201cWe wanted to encourage him to move and to get active.\u201d<\/p>\n

This shell clamps onto Landyn\u2019s walker, moving with him as he uses it, so the team had to take special care to make the object child friendly and durable.<\/p>\n

Of crucial importance to the project was making the walker shell engaging for Landyn. Landyn particularly enjoys vehicles, so the team brainstormed a walker shell that might look like a tow truck, a train, or other vehicles. They eventually settled on a design that looked like a bus. There is a key to \u2018start\u2019 the bus so that it feels more real, as well as a moving steering wheel that allows Landyn to pretend to drive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we talked to his mother, we kept tossing out ideas of whether it should look like a bus, a tow truck, or a train,\u201d said Berry. \u201cWe met him twice, so we got a pretty good idea of what he wanted, but if we could do it again, we would probably spend more time with Landyn. It would have been easier to pinpoint exactly what he wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n

The walker shell also features a basket which allows Landyn to take things with him, like his backpack or paperwork, or just to transport toys to and from his room in his \u201cbus.\u201d<\/p>\n

One challenge for the group that built Landyn\u2019s walker shell was that some members had little to no experience with power tools.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hardest part was learning how to use new equipment. Some of us had never even used power drills before,\u201d said Eslick.<\/p>\n

Group members had their first experiences with table saws, power sanders, and nail guns.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hardest part was putting it together, assembling the structure of it,\u201d said Myers. \u201cWe had to get it just right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best part of the project was knowing that maybe, further down the road, he might be able to walk without his walker because we encouraged him to do it,\u201d said Baird.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Four UTC students have turned an engineering project into an opportunity for a child to learn to walk on his own.<\/p>\n

Continue Reading <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":857,"featured_media":11295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_slider":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_featurette":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[70,59,3,661],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11278","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-academics","8":"category-college-of-engineering-and-computer-science","9":"category-community","10":"category-students","11":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nEngineering students build walker shell to encourage child to walk | UTC News Archive: Jul 2007 - 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