Cyborg Athletes (ADVANCED @MIT)

*ADVANCED STUDIO - Recommended for High School Students, Post-High School Gap Year Students and/or Returning NuVu Students*

Sports is one industry that is pushing the capabilities of prosthetics technology, allowing athletes and others to achieve higher levels of performance while transforming lives. New advances are creating smarter prosthesis that allow individuals to store energy, absorb shock better, and maneuver in efficient ways. Harnessing brain waves to control prosthetics is providing amazing possibilities for amputees, paralyzed, and disabled individuals. With these technological advances, athletes can become “cyborg athletes” who have the potential to outperform athletes without these enhancements. What are the possibilities presented by robotic prosthetics in the sports world? And how will these transform sporting competition as we know it?

In this studio, we’ll be exploring the future of sports prosthetics by creating adaptive robotic mechanisms for motion and sports. Using innovative textiles, materials and technologies, you will learn to how to design sports prosthetics that will improve the lives of people in the sports world. These devices will augment the capabilities of able-bodied individuals in addition to assisting those with disabilities. Based on the user group and challenges, students will design, build and program these prosthetics from the ground up, test them, and analyze how their products perform. Through this process, students will learn the basics of electronics, microcontrollers and computer programming. They will learn how to integrate external sensors (from simple switches and buttons to heat/temperature, light, gas, touch) and actuators (such as motors, lights, speakers, solenoids, valves, fans) into their designs to create responsive products. Students will also learn the engineering, 3D modeling, robotics, and programming skills to bring their vision to reality!

REGISTER HERE!

Focus Skills/Subjects/Technologies:

Industrial Design