Jake, Sofia, and I all have severe anxiety, which makes it extremely difficult for us--and millions of other people--to function normally. Although we all fidget constantly in a subconscious attempt to distract ourselves from anxiety, fidgeting is not actually effective in helping anxiety. So, we designed a stylish wrist brace with discreet "fidgetors" placed over pressure points that relieve anxiety when stimulated. When the user is feeling stressed, all they have to do is fidget with the fidgetors, and the anxiety is alleviated. Our final product translates those instinctual, repetitive, hand motions into something both productive and a true distraction from anxiety.

People with Cerebral Palsy have trouble controlling/practicing their fine motor skills. Because of this, everyday clothing that contains zippers and buttons are difficult to put on. Changing clothing can be an annoying and anxious time for kids with Cerebral Palsy; we want kids to have a fun way to practice getting dressed.  We boiled down the skills involved with zippers and buttons and came up with games that would allow kids to practice these skills. This vest not only allows kids to practice the basic motions behind zippers and buttons, but is also naturally fun and entertaining.

The skills involved in zippering and buttoning are pulling, pinching, holding (two hands), and slipping through a small opening. The games associated with each skill vary from spinners to levers to fill-in-hole matching toys. Every toy on the vest has a specific purpose.

Many pieces of clothing made for someone with CP are adaptive and simplify the process of getting dressed and undressed, but the Skills Vest teaches the kids to possibly be able to use the zippers and buttons on everyday clothing. This eliminates the purchase of an entire adaptive wardrobe.

As we finished the first 2 week session, we were offered to continue working on the vest for another 2 weeks and we quickly accepted! As we began our 2nd studio on the Skills Vest, we transformed the vest. We delved into occupational therapy and why therapists recommend certain toys for children. After studying these toys and understanding their different therapeutic uses, we incorporated the existing toys into our vest. We then gave our vest an age appropriate theme (Farm) and reinvented our toys to farm animals. In the diagram above, each toy is shown and each of their individual skills are highlighted.  

Continuing the project for another week long period, we once again dove into the vest. We thought about how we could continue improving the project. Eventually, we thought about improving the quality of the toys. As we began to work, we decided that we would 3D print the toys instead of laser cutting them out of wood. This would allow the toys to be more durable. We tested out creating 3 toys (the sun, the cloud, and the hay), before we 3D printed all of the toys. 

Our vest is special because it can be individualized to each child wearing it. Since the toys are attachable and detachable, toys can be placed wherever is most convenient and beneficial for the child. Along with this feature, the vest can also be individualized by levels of games. If a child masters the beginners games, they can "move up" a level and attempt something more advanced.

Our first idea was to create a tambourine hand. When someone shook the hand, the tambourine would move back and forth and make noise. We then changed our idea to a hand that could have removable instruments and a single drumstick that would hit all of the instruments. Later, we met with David and he helped us realize that it would take the whole two weeks to make just the drum stick so we should only make that.

Our first design was 2D printed on wood. We fixed our small mistakes like having parts be too small, not having a hole for the drum stick, and not having a handle, and started working on building the hand in 3D.

Our first 3D model turned out well. The drum stick moved like we wanted, except that we couldn't attach the elastic to have the drum stick and hand because we forgot to make a part to hold it. Once we got the standard back to our hand, we made the piece to hold the string and elastic. It was really hard getting them to be exactly the way you want because the knots would come undone or they would be too tight or loose. 

Once we got the strings to be exactly how we wanted them, we started cutting the screws to be the size that we want and designing the front handle. We 3D printed it and it worked! The last thing we did was add velcro and then we finished!

One 1 in 1500 to 2000 people has trigeminal neuralgia that affects their daily life. Since one of the main triggers for the pain in these peoples' faces is wind, we decided to make a modular mask that shields affected parts of the face from the cold gusts of wind that people encounter on a daily basis during the colder seasons. Because different people with trigeminal neuralgia have pain on different places of the face, our mask is made up of seven parts that cover the face, and two earpieces to hold the pieces to the head. Each of the seven pieces can be taken out of the earpiece, depending on where the nerve damage is located on the person's face. This means that our mask can be altered to fit almost anyone's needs. By making this mask, we aim to try to solve the problem of wind hitting the faces of people with trigeminal neuralgia because if the problem does not get solved then the affected people will not be able to get around and do what they need to get done.