WYOMISSING, Pa. — In a unique collaboration this fall, Penn State Berks engineering students in the college’s Futures in Engineering: Role-models Can Empower (FiERCE) student organization worked with the Berks County Intermediate Unit (BCIU) and area high school students to adapt toys to be more accessible for local special needs children.
Engineering for Inclusivity
Penn State Berks engineering students who are members of FiERCE, a student organization in which engineering students mentor middle- and high-school students, met with high school students to examine the toys they planned to adapt. The students worked with three button-activated toys: a singing chicken that lays eggs, a penguin that lights up and a drumming "Animal," the Muppet character.
The group deconstructed and analyzed the toys and their functionality, then brainstormed ways to make them more accessible to children who are unable to use their fine motor skills to squeeze the button that activates the toy. The high school students suggested solutions, with Penn State Berks students guiding the design and execution.
To make the toys more accessible, high school students reverse-engineered the electronics embedded in the toy. They developed a second parallel operating control outside of the toy that could be activated via a much larger button that was easier for children to operate with minimal effort.
After the high school and FIERCE students established the design criteria, Penn State Berks students created 3D-printed prototypes of the new button design. Based on the prototypes, molds were created to mass produce parts while others were 3D printed at the Berks LaunchBox, an innovation hub of Penn State Berks located in the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts in downtown Reading.
“At Penn State Berks, we are really focused on creating a community where DEIB practices are integrated into our programs," said Marietta Scanlon, associate teaching professor of engineering, chair of the electro-mechanical engineering technology (EMET) program and faculty adviser for FiERCE. "This project is a great example of putting those ideas into action. It allowed us to extend the idea of the importance of inclusivity and empathy in engineering to not only our students, but to the next generation of students.”
High school students wired the new buttons to the toys with guidance from the FiERCE students.
“My favorite part of this project has been interacting with the kids,” said Kira Corrie, a first-year EMET major. “It’s been great to mentor them and help fully actualize their ideas and concepts through the entire process.”
Chuck Stricker, assistant teaching professor of engineering at Penn State Berks, explained that the students had two previous sessions dealing with component design, part testing and small-scale manufacturing leading up to assembly day.