This studio will address empathy and possible ways to help a user gain a genuine understanding of the experience of living with different disabilities. Students will work in teams to design and construct physical prototypes of devices that can embody empathy.

Functional Video: https://youtu.be/j-6JYVhHCxs

An arm brace that helps people to empathize with the symptoms of ALS. Using movable material made a device that refrained elbow joint mobility; with the use of paracord and surgical tubing, the arm brace shuts down the left arm which mimics the deterioration of the  upper motor nerve cells.

ALS is a disease that over time has become more and more common; with it being common doctors and scientists have not been able to figure out how to find a cure. ALS is a disease that over time, whether it is in a matter of months or years, deteriorates the nerve cells and motor neurons in the body. It is a very complex disease and through creating brackets that have been 3D printed along with the use of paracord and surgical tubing, this arm brace is able to mimic a stage of the disease by refraining movement of the arm. This project brings light to some of what people with ALS goes through, though it is only refraining the arm it can help people better understand what those with the disease go through.

We created this arm brace through many different drawings and models. Through these different models we have been able to create what we believe depicts the symptoms of ALS in a way that none of our other models would have been able to depict.  This model hopefully will be able to bring light to what people with ALS go through; even if it’s only for a short amount of time. The arm brace uses different materials such as, surgical tubing and felt that, normally would not be thought of as materials to use but we have been able to use them.

Concussion Simulator: A wearable,  interactive, and immersive headgear which allows users to understand what a concussion might feel like. The wearer experiences multiple common symptoms of a concussion, like nausea, sensitivity to light, and headaches, creating an accurate feeling of being concussed.

This Concussion Simulator embodies multiple symptoms that one may experience when  concussed.  As an invisible injury,  concussions  can be difficult to self diagnose. The symptoms are often feelings that can come with everyday headaches,  making differentiation tricky.  Here, we created a device that compiles many of the symptoms, to create a way for people to empathize with this relatively obscure injury. 

We created our "helmet" by first recording some of the most common concussion symptoms. We then designed and created a helmet which simulates what it feels like to experience these symptoms.  This "helmet" went through many changes and iterations. The first of which was a box that the user would wear as a helmet. After realizing this only fit some people, we made a felt head "strap" helmet that was adjustable via Velcro. Lastly, after acknowledging that the Velcro couldn't provide the snug fit that we needed the helmet to have, we created the third and final iteration of our helmet, made from adjustable webbing. The first symptom we took on was a simple headache, which the helmet simulates by applying a squeezing pressure to the wearers head. We also added special pads on the temples, to add extra pressure there to make the "concussion headache" more realistic. We built goggles with lights around the eye holes, to help simulate the sensitivity to light that one might feel with a concussion.  People with concussions also often feel nauseous, so we incorporated an app called Speech Jammer, which induces nausea by playing everything the user hears a split second later. Lastly, we added a free spinning weight atop a pillar attached to the top of the headgear. This weight spins to the direction that the wearer is leaning, helping to simulate the loss of balance that one might have when concussed. All of these symptoms combined into one wearable headgear provides for an accurate concussion-like experience for the wearer, allowing them to empathize with people who have had concussions.

People with dyslexia . From reading everyday signs or books,  to writing  an essay or paper, seemingly simple activities, can turn into an arduous, time consuming, and frustrating task.  This is why CF Productions has constructed  a device, to allow people the ability to  jump into the shoes of dyslexic person, an empathize with their struggles. 

The device is rather simple, it is constructed of two servo motors, a programmed ardino to tell the motors what to do,  a key board motherboard,  a wire that is connected to both motors, and a usb wire that transfers information from our device to . Attached to both motors, this wire sways back and forth, and sweeps across the key board mother board,