Sample ELeVATE Projects

Design of an Assistive Robotic Manipulator Evaluation Tool (ARMET) | Development of the International Society of Wheelchair Professionals (ISWP) | StrongArm

PROJECT: Design of an Assistive Robotic Manipulator Evaluation Tool (ARMET)

The goal of this project is to design and develop an assistive robotic manipulator evaluation tool (ARMET). The intern will design and develop a task board for the ARMET, which will include multiple daily activity tasks for users to complete using ARM. The task board needs to be portable and easy to operate by clinicians. Project activities include designing the layout of the task board using Solidworks; building a prototype in the machine shop; and testing the task board.

PROJECT: Development of the International Society of Wheelchair Professionals (ISWP)

The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is proposing to develop the International Society of Wheelchair Professionals (ISWP), a self-sustaining network of international and regional partners dedicated to the professionalization of wheelchair (WC) services around the world. ISWP will be built around a federation of regional and international Affiliate Members which will help ensure ISWP activities are culturally relevant, timely, and focused on the most important WC-related issues. ISWP will initially be led by a group of WC experts at Pitt, with strategic partnerships that have already been established with USAID & WHO and will be the basis for two outcomes. In the near-term, ISWP will be started and an Affiliate network will grow; in the long term, Pitt plans to use ISWP as a starting point for a WHO Collaborating Centre on WCs. The intern will develop target competencies by interviewing clinicians trained in the WHO Wheelchair Skills Basic and Intermediate Training courses; draft the Intermediate Knowledge and Skills assessment; review the assessment for face validity and perform test/ retest reliability measurements

PROJECT: StrongArm

The Strong Arm is a specialized wheelchair attachment designed to help wheelchair users transfer in and out of their electric powered wheelchair to other surfaces (e.g. chairs and beds) with the assistance of a caregiver. Unlike current technologies used to transfer people such as a floor lift, which is bulky and less easy to transport, the Strong Arm attaches directly to the EPW for transportation and use in the community. 

The Strong Arm uses direct interaction to allow a caregiver to lift the person using the wheelchair with literally one finger by directing a handle located at the end of the arm. It moves around the wheelchair on a track to transfer people on either side, and for easy stowing at the back of the wheelchair. Designed for transfers in confined spaces, it runs on the same battery source provided by the wheelchair without drawing much power. The intern will assist with stability testing and analyze study data.

APPLY NOW

Support for this program is provided by the National Science Foundation, Grant # EEC 1232336.

Education > Veterans > ELeVATE > Sample Projects