Sensory Stimulation Activity Board

Michael is a 46 year old man who resides at the Glavin Center in Central Massachusetts. He is diagnosed with profound mental retardation that limits his mental capacity to that of a two year old. Currently, the daily activities in which Michael participates do not provide sufficient sensory stimulation. Lack of sensory stimulation can potentially result in institutional depression. In order to prevent these conditions, Dr. Tommy Stoddard elicited help from WPI to design a means of improving sensory stimulation for Michael.

Design Specifications

  1. The design should provide a broad range and variety of sensory related activities or components
  2. The device should be durable enough to last at least one year
  3. Components of the device should be large enough so that they cannot be swallowed
  4. Interactive components should be suitable and intuitive for a 2 year old mental level
  5. Design maintenance should be minimal
  6. Design must be safe for an adult to stand or sit on
  7. Design must have no rough edges or sharp protrusions

Progress Log Text

August - October 2004: Class Project in Introduction to Engineering Problems Course

Eight student teams worked for three weeks on this project in ES 1020: Introduction to Engineering Design Problems at WPI in the fall of 2004. Each of these teams followed the design process through to the prototype phase, where they produced a 3-D model and accompanying report of their solutions to the design needs.

October - December 2004: Compilation of Prototypes & Testing of Components

During the remainder of the first semester, a team of volunteers comprised of graduate and undergraduate students (including participants from the course) formed the first WPI EPICS team and worked to take Dr. Stoddard's feedback and incorporate the best components from the class prototypes to test with Michael. Three activity board prototypes were sent to the Glavin Center during the winter holiday for Michael to use.

January - March 2005: Building & Testing of Final Prototype

At the beginning of C-Term 2005, the EPICS team obtained feedback from Michael, the Center staff and from Dr. Stoddard on the prototypes. Students used this feedback to design a final prototype for testing. This prototype was delivered and tested for one week at the end of March.

April - June 2005: Design of Final Board

The EPICS team finalized the design of the final board. Building of the board was started, and will be continued in the fall of '05.

Other Information

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Last modified: October 26, 2007 09:47:33