Making the Difference: Design of an Ergonomic Tool for People with Upper Limb Prosthesis
Student Team:
Naret Treviño, Industrial Engineering Senior Student
Alejandro Vigo, Industrial Engineering Senior Student
Verónica Báez, Industrial Engineering Special Project Student
Emmanuel González, Industrial Engineering Special Project Student
Faculty Mentors:
Betzabé Rodríguez, PhD
Cristina Pomales, PhD
Mayra Méndez, PhD
María Irizarry, PhD
Project Synopsis:
Making the Difference: Design of an Ergonomic Device for People with Upper Limb Prosthesis is part of a project sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) that seeks to benefit adults with disabilities. This particular project focused on designing an ergonomic device for people who have prosthetic hooks in both arms. The designed tool intends to allow the user to change a light bulb; an activity currently out of his scope due to the limited movements of his prosthesis.
This project was segmented as follows: Conceptualization, Design and Cost Estimation. During the conceptual design phase, the task of changing a light bulb was analyzed and product design specifications were collected. A robust brainstorming methodology provided four design concepts that were further evaluated to select a “champion”. The brainstorming session included high school students from the Residential Center of Educative Opportunities at Mayaguez (CROEM).
Various techniques related to Multi-Criteria Decision Making were implemented to choose the concept that best met specification requirements. Subsequently, the champion concept was developed into a final design considering safety and ergonomics. A job-order system was implemented to estimate the cost of using a MakerBot Replicator 2 3D printer to construct a device prototype. The production cost of the prototype was $220.59. Similar devices were not found in the market. The prototype was built and validated with an adult with prosthetic hooks in both arms.
This project was supported by the National Science Foundation contract CBET-1403753, “Making the Difference: An Industrial Engineering Capstone Design Experience to Benefit Adults with Disabilities.”
