We just received the aluminum cut Core77 Design Awards for the Social Impact category for the Skills Vest created by two of our students, Devin Lewtan and Noah Saldana! The Skills Vest allows kids with Cerebral Palsy to practice their fine motor skills associated with zippering and buttoning. Here's the brief on the winning project:
Kids with Cerebral Palsy have trouble with fine motor skills and need extra help with clothing that include zippers and buttons. We wanted kids to be able to wear the same clothing as their peers, and to help them with this, we created a vest that would allow kids with Cerebral Palsy to practice the skills associated with zippering and buttoning. Our farm-themed peg-board vest allows kids to customize their vest. The felt for the two-layered vest was laser cut as were the wooden toys, which were later painted. The backing for the toys was 3D printed. We worked directly with an organization in Monterrey, Mexico to receive feedback during our design process and then were able to travel to Monterrey to get feedback on the projects, which we integrated into the projects using the facilities at Monterrey, Tec.
Also, if you're curious, here's the story behind the design of the Core77 aluminum award:
Motorola Prototyping Services manufactured the final artifact: an aluminum mold that can be used to cast an unlimited number of award facsimiles for distribution to design team members, researchers, engineers, clients, and mom & dad! The fun part? The material used for casting could be anything from chocolate to silicone to jello.
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