AT Intercollegiate Hackathon 2023 Project
Overview of Device
My group and I for the AT Intercollegiate Hackathon this year worked on a sunshade so Madison's AAC device. Madison is a child who uses a communication device as she is non-verbal. This ATD will help Madison use her communication device outside allowing her to play outdoors and speak at the same time. We designed the device to be removable so it doesn't have to be on the AAC indoors, durable so Madison doesn't break it easily, have panels on the sides and top to block the light, and be protective so Madison doesn't hurt herself.
Picture: Final Build of Device
Design Process and Reflection
This project was designed from ideation to final product in a week as it was part of the hackathon. We started in the ideation phase, figuring out what we design we wanted to do. We then drafted our thoughts and made a paper rapid prototype. From they we used the laser cutter in Bray labs to manufacture all the parts and then put the device together. This design process went fairly well in my opinion, I have done laser cutting before but it was a great experience to do it again and work with my small team on this quick project. The materials we used were black acrylic plastic, rubber tubing, dual lock Velcro, and crazy glue as an adhesive. The only machine we used was the laser cutter. Overall this was a very rewarding a meaningful project and I am really glad I participated in the Hackathon.
Above: Results form Ideation Process
Below Left: Rapid Paper Prototype
Below Center: Laser Cut Parts
Below Right: Final Build Displayed on Laptop, Note: The iPad the Device was Designed for is Slightly Smaller
