UC student group helping improve lives of disabled veterans
Enable Cincy provides custom adaptive technology to people in need
Fox19 highlighted the work of a University of Cincinnati group that helps people in need by creating custom adaptive technology.
Enable Cincy helps people with everyday problems by crafting custom solutions using their skills in engineering and design.
Enable Cincy's Scott Bingham talks to Fox19 about the group's work with disabled veterans. Photo/Michael Miller
“We make devices that will help them with simple tasks,” group member and former President Scott Bingham told Fox19.
Students have crafted inexpensive custom 3D prosthetics for people with missing fingers or hands and a myriad of creative devices to help people navigate their lives more easily.
Some are simple such as a plastic pop-tab opener to help people with limited manual dexterity open a can of soda or a plastic toothbrush grip for people who have trouble closing their fingers tightly around a narrow toothbrush. The toothbrush simply slips into the top of the grip, which doubles as a sink stand.
Other projects are more complex and require various iterations to perfect.
The students have provided custom prosthetic hands that close with the bending of a wrist for several children, including one little girl who later was invited to throw out the first pitch at a Cincinnati Reds game.
“We can make new custom devices as they grow up,” UC biomedical engineering student and group President Teresa Hawk said. “They might not otherwise be able to afford them.”
Hawk said each project starts by asking the disabled person or their parents what they want to get out of an adaptive device.
“It could be something functional or something more aesthetic just to get back into their daily lives,” she said.
Like many members of the group, she is a student in UC’s College of Engineering and Applied Science. But the group is open to students from any college and has recruited several members from UC’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, among other colleges.
UC students Anish Gangavaram, left, and Teresa Hawk are helping provide custom adaptive technology to improve people's lives. Photo/Michael Miller
Medical science major Anish Gangavaram said he is learning a lot about engineering even as he pursues a career in medicine.
“I didn’t come in thinking like an engineer, but now I feel I can problem-solve and work on design aspects in an innovative way,” Gangavaram said.
Enable Cincy use design and engineering to craft custom solutions to help people. Photo/Michael Miller
“It’s something I’m really interested in,” he said. “Our biggest philosophy is we’re open to all problems. Creativity is a big part of the engineering mindset that you develop as part of this club.”
The biggest reward, students said, is helping to make a difference in other people’s lives.
“I came into the college wanting to give back to the community,” biomedical engineering student Harshitha Munigala said.
“I wanted to use my biomedical engineering skills. Our motto is bridging the gap between engineering and medicine,” she said.
To that end, she is working on a project now to design a prosthetic to help a Cleveland resident play the guitar.
Featured image at top: UC College of Engineering and Applied Science student Harshitha Munigala inspects a 3D printer as a member of UC's Enable Cincy. Photo/Michael Miller
UC student group Enable Cincy designs custom adaptive technology to help people in need of it. Pictured are members Harshitha Munigala, Scott Bingham, Anish Gangavaram and group President Teresa Hawk. Photo/Michael Miller
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