Make Life Accessible - Enabling Freedom with Motor Control: About This Challenge

element14Dave — Mon, 21 Mar 2016 10:16:19 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by element14Dave on 3/21/2016 10:16:19 AM

Make Life Accessible Design Challenge
The Prizes	Example Project	Overview Video
The Kit	Terms and Conditions	The Judges

Welcome to element14’s first Grand Design Challenge of 2016!

Enter your design project by 4th March 23:59GMT and be in with a chance of being selected as a sponsored challenger receiving the Official Challenger Kit free of charge!

15 of the most interesting project concepts will be selected by the official judging panel. Whether you receive the Challenger Kit or decide to enter on your own, you will still win atleast one fabulous prize for completing a project. Please see full Terms & Conditions.

Reminders:

Final challenge end date to submit your complete project is 6th June 2016. Projects posted after this date will not be eligible for prizes.
All winners will be announced on 21st June 2016

Motor control is central to most mobility solutions and this global grand challenge is designed to let you explore how tech can help hundreds of millions of people around the world who may have their mobility restricted by age-related illnesses or disabilities.

More than 1 billion people in the world have some form of disability. This corresponds to about 15% of the world's population. Between 110-190 million people have very significant physical restrictions on their freedom.

Further, with a rapidly aging population already in excess of 840 million and individuals mortality rates increasing, we all face an increasing likelihood of life changing challenges in later years.

There is now also a huge swing towards independent living than ever before with about three quarters of older people living alone at some point, so more home automation products are clearly needed to help people stay mobile at home.

We’re looking for motor control inspired solutions that will bring benefits to people who are disabled or considered vulnerable, enabling them to live well with their conditions as a result of your solution; remaining independent, confident, active, safe and socially involved.

You must make something that could truly improve another person’s quality of life or your own. However, if you choose to design a solution for someone else, please ensure you ask full permission for their involvement in advance.

We hope to select 15 official challengers across varied solutions, submitted in the first month of launching this challenge, who will set the pace and share their project blogs and progress. There are so many design possibilities in the field of motor control and ways to approach this challenge such as:

Affordable and/or aesthetically pleasing prosthetics for young, old, athletes, motorcyclists, and those injured in action – of course, feel free to go beyond prosthetics!
Assistive domotics, a field of home automation tailored towards elderly and disabled users – such as touch screens or direct eye controlled mobility, security, entertainment, and energy conservation
Smart thought-controlled bionic limbs
All-terrain mobility transportation or adapted vehicles for amputees
AAC/Augmentative and Alternative Communication to help people who find it hard to communicate by speech or writing, but can through gestures, signing, symbols, word boards, communication boards and books, as well as Voice Output Communication Aids (VOCAs)
One button gaming – there are segments of would-be gamers effectively locked out by color blindness and physical ability
...or infact anything at all that you can prove will make a positive difference to people's mobility

So what might a Make Life Accessible project look like?

How about...

Building a bionic arm for even less than $250 as this remarkable amputee did?
Making cool superhero character limbs like Limbitless Solutions have to help children better accept life using electronic prosthetics? They used 3D printing to create cheap, electronic prosthetics for children and gave away these for free.
Trying to replace a current day major mobilisation device such as the 'wheelchair' obsolete like the TEK Robotic Mobilization Device nearly has; it allows users to stand whenever they want to?
Connecting with non-profit organisations like the UK's AbleGamers Foundation and Special Effect to design gaming controls that will allow people to join in with the world of gaming who previously couldn't?
Enabling a service animal of a person with low vision or hearing loss to assist or perform vital activities?
Creating electronic signage for commercial businesses to communicate to absolutely everyone?
Inventing a cost effective control device for those affected and perhaps living in a lesser developed nation or disaster zone with mains electricity?
Developing any simpler age-friendly mobile communications device to aid our ageing generation to continue playing valuable roles within their family and community?

Good luck!

...and don't forget you can ask element14 experts and fellow global members any questions online.

There will be 15 Challengers selected to receive a FREE official Maker Life Accessible Kit. Below you will find more information on what’s in The Kit – a variety of components and peripherals for you to sink your soldering iron in to and connect to the NXP FRDM-KV31 FRDM-KV31 and FRDM-MC-LVPMSM.FRDM-MC-LVPMSM.

Tags: inclusive_technology, electronic, entertainment, androids, aids, accessible, augmentative_and_alternative_communication, security, assistive_domotics, energy_conservation, _technology, one_button_gaming, robots, assistive, life, bionic_limbs, elderly_disabled_users, make, cybernetics, mobility, Design, smart_technology, home_automation, smart, challenge, motor_control, Accessibility, limbs, aac, prosthetics, 3d_printed, about