9/27/22 Adaptive Adventures What a great week in Engineering! We had Chris Weigand (Owner) from Adaptive Adventures share all his knowledge and experience with building orthosis and prosthetics. Chris had a very interesting path to his current career. He started fresh out of college as a neuroscientist and paid his time as a military medic in Afghanistan. After having his troops Humvee blown up by a landmine, having his spinal cord damaged and being told he would never walk again, he went on to overcome paralysis. This event changed his life and his perspective. Seeing the importance of play and how so many people with disabilities lack the access to play, Chris started Adaptive Adventures which after 20 years is the world’s largest mobile outdoor adaptive sports provider, helping over 100.000 participants find independence With this inspiration and motivation, students put the finishing touches on their teams orthosis Thursday. We are preparing our panel with real world experts in the coming weeks.
To get things off quickly, and get the class comfortable with the Project Based Learning (PBL) platform. Students will be challenged to:
Design an Ankle Foot Orthosis.
There are many ways to solve a problem! Sometimes solving a problem is simple and fast, and other times it is complex and takes years to develop a solution. For engineers, it is helpful to use a specific set of steps to find the best solution to a problem.
In this activity students will work in a team of four to solve an instant design challenge. Small group teams will work to understand and define the needs of a person with a physical challenge, then design, build, and test a prototype to help that person. As designers, they will document and explore the steps used to solve this problem.
GOALS/ OUTCOMES OF THIS CHALLENGE:
Design an Ankle Foot Orthosis.
There are many ways to solve a problem! Sometimes solving a problem is simple and fast, and other times it is complex and takes years to develop a solution. For engineers, it is helpful to use a specific set of steps to find the best solution to a problem.
In this activity students will work in a team of four to solve an instant design challenge. Small group teams will work to understand and define the needs of a person with a physical challenge, then design, build, and test a prototype to help that person. As designers, they will document and explore the steps used to solve this problem.
GOALS/ OUTCOMES OF THIS CHALLENGE:
- Work in a team to solve an instant design challenge.
- Design, build, test, and modify an orthosis that stabilizes the ankle and foot.
- Explore the steps of a design process.
- Use a decision matrix to evaluate product prototypes.
- Orthotist