The 2010 Winter Paralympic Games inspired a class of students at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, to consider how sports equipment can be improved to help athletes with disabilities.
The Firewalk is a snowboard whose remote-control bindings can release without being “stomped” by the opposite foot.
Images courtesy of Purdue University.
“Whether it’s a doorknob, pair of scissors, toaster oven, or snowboard, industrial designers evaluate the function and style of products for improvement,” said Steve Visser, professor and area representative of industrial design at Purdue. “We found the 2010 Paralympics to be a great catalyst to show our students how they can use creativity and science to improve people’s lives through design while learning about working in the medical-design industry.”
The Markhor is a prosthetic leg and foot for rock climbers.
The five-week class competition was sponsored by DePuy Orthopedics, Warsaw, Indiana, a medical-products company. Students were challenged during the fall semester to create a product that would assist Paralympic athletes in a sport that is currently not offered during the Winter Paralympics.
Three students received top honors from DePuy for their designs:
- Eric Chalko, a junior in industrial design from South Bend, Indiana, received the Best Presentation award for the Firewalk, a snowboard with remote controlled bindings.
- Sydney Minnis, a junior in industrial design from Indianapolis, Indiana, received the Best Research award for the Markhor, a prosthesis for rock climbers.
- Ben Rodgers, a junior in industrial design from Greenfield, Indiana, won the Best Concept award for the ASSIST, a device that could help people who have bilateral arm amputations to don and doff their prosthetic arms.
Minnis, an avid rock climber, says her design was inspired by people who either remove their prosthetic leg because it is too heavy to climb with or they turn the prosthetic foot backward so the heel would better grip notches in a climbing wall or in rock.
“The Markhor would be created out of carbon fiber, which would be a lighter material than most prosthetics,” Minnis said. “My design also has a hoof with an attachable foot. The hoof, which was inspired by mountain goats, would be user-friendly, especially with the alternative attachable foot. One climber I spoke with said his biggest problem was that he had to hike and climb with extra tools that he need to detach and turn around the foot on his current prosthetic.”
The students’ designs will be part of their individual portfolios and will be examples they can use when seeking internships and jobs.
Editor’s note: This article was written by Purdue University communications and marketing specialist, Amy Patterson Neubert, and appears here in edited form.
