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spotlight: engineering education + community needs = MIT service learning
 

Service learning at MIT is a hands-on way for students to develop real solutions to real-world challenges, such as mobility and independence for people with disabilities. Or check out the other classes being offered this spring.


  
  Home - MIT 2.009 Product Engineering Processes
Final presentations: Monday, December 11, 7:30 pm - 9:45 pm
34-101, Edgerton Hall, reception following

The students and staff of MIT 2.009, Product Engineering Processes, invite you to review 7 new products related to independent living.
  • Stabili-bike, a bicycle for teaching developmentally disabled children
  • Share Chair, a manual wheel chair that facilitates rider/pusher communication
  • Stabili-track, a treadmill for the blind
  • A novel, assistive shower seat
  • A geared wheel chair
  • A braking walker
  • Mini-golf for the physically challenged
 We hope you will enjoy the evening and possibly be inspired by what you see. To learn more, visit the 2.009 class web site.

SP.784 Wheelchair Design in Developing Countries
For MIT graduate student Amos Winter, the initial appeal of doing a Public Service Center Fellowship in Tanzania was that it would allow him to be with his girlfriend for the summer. The project he ended up developing -- assessing wheelchair technology for the Tanzania Training Center for Orthopedic Technologies (TTCOT) in collaboration with San Francisco-based Whirlwind Wheelchair International -- allowed Amos to combine his background as a graduate student in mechanical engineering with his love for diving into the nitty-gritty of engineering problems.

Over the course of the summer, Amos observed and listened to people whose mobility was restricted by the poor quality of their wheelchairs. "I saw imported chairs rendered useless after breaking because replacements are nonexistent. I saw Western-designed chairs, supposedly suited to developing world environments, that would break or wear out quickly under normal usage." Working within the limitations of a developing country imposed a host of design challenges: part availability, cost, and the harsh operating environment being just a few.

Over the course of the summer, Amos took on these challenges, and this spring, he is teaching a course here at MIT to give other students the opportunity to help the 20 million people who need wheelchairs in the developing world. Students will learn about the issues around wheelchair use in developing countries (such as cost, terrain, operating environment, social stigmas, and manufacturing constraints), and will then divide up into teams to develop technical solutions that address them. Funded opportunities for summer travel to implement class projects will be available. To learn more, visit the SP.784 class web site or read more about Amos's experience in Tanzania.

Service Learning Oppportunities
Interested in service learning? Explore the classes below, being offered this spring:

SP.778 Toy Product Design: Toy Product Design is a PSC (Public Service Center) design course offered at the Edgerton Center in the Spring semester. This course is an introduction to the product design process, designing for children, and design for entertainment. Students work with a local elementary school and Hasbro mentors to develop new toy concepts. To learn more, check out the dental toys for 2nd graders designed by last year's class, or visit the SP.778 class web site.

SP.713 Promoting the Arts Through Design: Undergraduates in this seminar work with a local non-profit, an avant-garde chamber music group, to design an interactive website with sound, visual, and text components.

SP.776 Humanitarian Demining or Design for Demining: Millions of landmines are buried in more than 80 countries resulting in 20,000 civilian victims every year. MIT Design for Demining is a design course that spans the entire product design and development process from identification of needs and idea generation to prototyping and blast testing to manufacture and deployment. Students learn about demining while they design, develop and deliver devices to aid the demining community. Some tools designed in previous years are in use worldwide in the thousands. To learn more, visit SP.776 on MIT OpenCourseWare.

SP.777 Product Design Using Water Jet Technology: The mission of this class is to improve the learning environment at the Learning Center, a school for developmentally disabled children, located in Waltham, Massachusetts. To learn more, visit the SP.777 website.

2.00B Solving Real Problems: In 2.00B, student teams focus on a real problem and work directly with individuals and groups that will benefit from their efforts, while at the same time developing skills in creativity, visualization, mathematical estimation and modeling, prototyping, and team management. Example projects might include devices to assist the handicapped, toys for children, or products for use in developing countries. 		 
2.009: final presentations tonight

 

SP.784 wheelchair design in developing countries
SP.784: wheelchair design in developing countries

 


2.009: student-designed shower seat