When occupational therapy school is fun and games
When a group of second-year occupational therapy students were tasked with designing an assistive device for one of their classes, it was game on!
The students, Jacob, Tenzin, Maddy and Tali, learned about assistive technology, human factors, and design in the context of occupational therapy in the Applied Skills and Technology course led by Professor Rosalie Wang.
For their final project, the students reached out to Makers Making Change, a Neil Squire program that connects makers to people with disabilities who need assistive devices, which put them in touch with a community member, Mike.
Mike had been an avid video gamer until a spinal cord injury left him unable to control the buttons on the video game controller.
The occupational therapy students met with Mike to learn more about him and how they could work with him to design a one-of-a-kind device that would let him play video games. “It was interesting to meet with Mike and learn about what he wanted to get out of this project and how we could tailor this project to his needs,” says Maddy. "We learned that since his injury, he had been playing video games with his partner as a copilot, but he wasn’t able to use the buttons and switches himself so he wanted us to make a controller that he would be able to operate on his own.”
Mike had wanted to get back into gaming, but his injury made it difficult to use a standard video game controller with two joysticks and 17 different buttons. “There are a lot of buttons that need to be pushed rapidly, so you need very precise fine more control,” says Jacob.
Before getting started on the design, each student met with Mike individually to better understand his situation – asking him questions about his previous experiences with game controllers, what games he is interested in playing and evaluating his grip strength and range of motion.
After learning more about Mike’s situation and gaming goals, the students got started on designing a device.
“We started with drawings, and then we worked on the prototype – using a neck pillow from the dollar store, we added different switches to it to see how many would fit on the pillow and how we could position them for Mike to push them with his head,” says Maddy. “Then, we worked on constructing a demo of the adaptive play tray with different buttons and switches suited to his abilities.”
After the students had created the prototype, they brought their design to Mike so he could test the different set ups and switches and decide on a design that would work for him.
Once everyone was happy with the design, it was time to build! The problem? The cost of building a customized controller could run into the thousands of dollars. “Through Makers Making Change, we had access to affordable switches and joysticks, so he was able to get the controller without significant cost,” says Jacob.
In the end, Mike was presented with the final prototype of the customized controller. But Mike was inspired to keep working on it. “Using their controller project as inspiration, as well as the information they shared on building switches, I was able to use my 3D design and printing skills to create an all-in-one solution that met all my requirements and more,” says Mike.
Mike adds, “The controller that the occupational therapy students produced was a great re-introduction to get me back into playing video games. Since then, I have gone from being a ‘wingman’ to flying solo. I’ve spent well over 400 hours of exploring open worlds, fighting mythical creatures and embarking on new adventures. The controller has not only opened new worlds of entertainment for me, it has also been an amazing form of therapy for my hands and arms. I am forever grateful to Jacob, Tenzin, Maddy, Tali, the U of T occupational therapy program and Makers Making Change.”
