The Shooting Star

Raphael Edwards and Aveen Nagpal

Aveen; The Shooting Star is a device designed to help Nico, a 9th grader at the Cotting School for disabled kids, shoot basketballs farther and with better form than before. Nico loves to play basketball and plays well, but he has trouble shooting the basketball into the standardly sized hoops because of his cerebral palsy; instead, he hands the ball to someone else, who shoots it for him. The Shooting Star provides physical therapy to try to change this and help him train his arm muscles to be able to shoot farther and with more accuracy. The device uses a 4-bracket system to grip tight around Nico's arm tightly enough not to slip off but not so hard that it hurts him. The 3D-printed brackets are strong enough that Nico can rotate his arms in perfect form without fear of the device breaking.

Raphael:
Shooting Star: A physical therapy device to help basketball players in wheelchairs to build strength to shoot farther and better.
Nico is a 15-year-old who loves to play basketball. But as he plays in a wheelchair, he told us it was very hard for him to reach the hoop when he shot the ball. We decided to create a device that would help him build the required strength to shoot a basketball in the hoop. It consists of creating resistance against two motions: the lifting of the arm (the shoulder movement) and the extending of the elbow (the triceps extension). Nico can add more resistance as he gets better by adding more resistance bands to the hooks. As Nico is a very independent person, this will improve his self-confidence and hopefully inspire others when they see the progress Nico made.