FRC 2019 Outreach: Izant Project
In the fall of 2019, a group of 2473 members worked on two outreach projects to help people with disabilities in our community. The first project benefited sailors from BAADS (Bay Area Association of Disabled Sailors). Many members of BAADS have limited upper body strength, which makes it challenging to participate in many recreational sports and activities, but the organization has made it possible for them to sail through specialized boats and programs. Our team members designed and built a rudder indicator to allow people with disabilities greater independence when sailing.
Those with limited upper body strength find it difficult to turn around in a boat and look at the position of the rudder, so our device allows them to view the position on a meter, and therefore navigate more independently. Our design consists of a circuit with a linear potentiometer connected to the moving parts of the boat, that changes resistance with those parts’ position. This is connected to a voltmeter, which is modified and tuned to show the position of the rudder based on the voltage in the circuit. The device was made waterproof by adding a box around the circuit and tubes surrounding the protruding wires, preventing the water from contacting the device.
A second project that we worked on was a motorized easel for Earl, a painter with limited fine motion, who has not let his disabilities stop him from pursuing his passion. Since he cannot hold paint brushes with his hands, he grips them with this teeth and creates beautiful paintings by moving his head.
The goal of our easel device was to allow Earl to work on large scale projects, with larger canvases. A motorized easel would allow him to reach more parts of a canvas, without needing assistance from others to reposition it. The easel we designed has horizontal motion with range of 24 inches, vertical motion with range of 15 inches, and center ball pivot of 45 degrees in any direction. The moving components - constant-force spring, round belts, bearings - are all protected by casings or guards to prevent anything from catching or being a potential danger.
The final easel gave Earl more freedom to do his recreational activity, and independence. He stated previously that he “would not want to keep someone waiting by all the time, adjusting the painting and his brushes”, since his paintings are incredibly detailed and take a lot of time and dedication to create.
Our team is extremely grateful for these opportunities to use our resources and skills to help those with disabilities continue to pursue their passions. This was an inspiring and eye-opening experience, and we hope to work on more projects like this in the future.
