{"id":158488,"date":"2024-12-20T13:09:17","date_gmt":"2024-12-20T18:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/?p=158488"},"modified":"2024-12-20T13:11:15","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T18:11:15","slug":"putting-play-within-reach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/2024\/12\/20\/putting-play-within-reach\/","title":{"rendered":"Putting Play Within Reach"},"content":{"rendered":"

BU student engineers adapt and donate 100 toys to kids with disabilities<\/strong><\/h3>\n

By Patrick L. Kennedy<\/strong><\/p>\n

A challenge can be fun, but if you\u2019re a kid with limited motor function, an ordinary child\u2019s toy isn\u2019t just challenging; it might be inaccessible. Just in time for the holidays, a team of BU student engineers is switch-adapting bubble machines and other toys for young children with disabilities. Applying their skills in reverse engineering, soldering, and small parts assembly to this task, the BU Mars Rover Club has added accessibility features to more than 100 toys. They\u2019re donating the toys to the nonprofit Easterseals<\/a>, who will distribute them to disabled kids for free around the holidays.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea is for them to realize they\u2019re not limited by their disabilities,\u201d says Abdulaziz AlMailam (ENG\u201924,\u201926), a master\u2019s student in electrical and computer engineering and president of BUMRC.<\/p>\n

The club\u2019s raison d\u2019\u00eatre<\/em> is designing and building a Mars rover, which they\u2019re entering in the 2025 University Rover Challenge<\/a> in Utah next May. But after an assistive technology class at the BU Engineering & Product Innovation Center brought the issue of inaccessible toys to some club members\u2019 attention, \u201cWe thought, \u2018Hey, we have lots of engineers here. Let\u2019s use our resources and adapt as many toys as we can,\u2019\u201d says AlMailam.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Above, a Baby Einstein toy to which BUMRC secretary Soud Alkharji (ECE\u201927) has added a mono jack connector. This will hook up to an easy-to-push auxiliary button, as seen in the picture below.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The club held a weeklong workshop last spring at BU\u2019s Singh Imagineering Lab, drawing about 50 students from across the university, each adapting two toys under the direction of BUMRC members.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe reverse-engineer it,\u201d says AlMailam. \u201cIt\u2019s basically circuits\u2014you just have to figure out where the button connects and then solder two wires to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
A kid-size desk fan with auxiliary button added.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The way ordinary toys come out of the factory, their switches are often tiny and hard to find. Switch-adapting involves connecting the original switch to a large, easy-to-push auxiliary button. \u201cThink of a young amputee who couldn\u2019t otherwise interact with this CoComelon bubble machine, which plays music and makes bubbles,\u201d says AlMailam. \u201cWell, now they can use their elbow to operate this big, round surface button. Now more people can use it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The newly adapted toys can help many disabled children engage in independent play, boosting their confidence.<\/p>\n

The club was especially motivated to adapt and donate a large number of toys when they learned about the black market for the product. Bad actors, AlMailam explains, will adapt a toy and sell it at a steep mark-up to parents unaware of their options.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe original CoComelon, for example, costs around 20 bucks, but these people will sell it for $120,\u201d says AlMailam. \u201cWhen the materials cost a few cents, and it takes five minutes to adapt. So we\u2019re trying to put a dent in that market.\u201d<\/p>\n

The BUMRC members took inspiration from the BU College of Engineering\u2019s emphasis on the Societal Engineer\u2014producing professionals who will use their engineering skills to make a positive impact on the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a big influence,\u201d says AlMailam. \u201cWe said, \u2018Hey, there are families that are in need, and we can help them.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BU student engineers applied their skills to add accessibility features to 100 toys, which they’re donating to children with disabilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2662,"featured_media":158494,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[236,907,1000],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158488"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158488"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":158499,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158488\/revisions\/158499"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}