Assistive Medical Technologies (AMT) is an undergraduate club dedicated to designing, building, and distributing cost-effective models of assistive medical devices for non-discriminatory access and availability to all groups of people. We modify toy ride-on cars and develop custom devices for children with mobility restrictions. Through custom DIY technologies, awareness events, and educational workshops, we hope to foster a supportive community that addresses the individual needs of children with mobility restrictions in the local community.
In AMT, we’re always at work designing different devices that suit the specific needs of individuals. Our current projects include:
- Cars: We reach out to local physical therapists to reach the community of families with children who could benefit from a modified car. The cars we modify incorporate a physical therapy aspect. For example, our sit-stand car design only moves when the user is standing, encouraging kids to associate motion and play with standing. Other modifications we perform include supports and safety modifications, larger ‘go’ buttons to make the cars move, and personalizations based on the child for which we’re making modifications.
- Devices: We are not limited to modifying cars only! We also undertake projects that involve modifying various daily household objects to make them more suitable for those with mobility restrictions. In the past, we’ve worked on projects such as a pool walker, an Xbox controller, and a child’s jumper.
We also actively participate in community outreach and organize awareness events. Some of our outreach and awareness opportunities/events include:
- Workshops: We host biannual workshops as larger-scale car builds. During a workshop, families in need of a car come to campus and meet our members. Members then talk to families, learn about the child they’re modifying for, and then get to work modifying cars for each participating family. At the end of the workshop, families go home with their modified cars for free.
- Educational Outreach: In close collaboration with a local elementary school, we have taught students about empathy in STEM while working together to brainstorm ideas and problem-solve. Incorporating students’ visions in multiple projects, we have successfully built devices and modified cars for community members. Throughout this process, students gained insight into different disabilities and have been able to meet and get to know the families for whom we create projects. This collaboration is meant to inspire and educate the next generation and has been extremely successful thus far.
- Travel: In the past our members have had the opportunity to travel to different areas of the country to modify cars. Some of these traveling opportunities include hosting workshops out-of-state, attending conferences and tech fairs, and visiting hospitals to modify cars on the spot. Opportunities such as these raise awareness and make more medical professionals aware of the opportunity for cars!