D2.2: Student Design Competition
Overview of Process:
This is an annual multi-institution student design competition that solicits innovative approaches for making medical devices and/or their interfaces more accessible and usable. It is unique in its focus on user-centered accessible design of health-related products. It is motivated in part by our opinion, one shared by many engineering educators within the rehabilitation field, that accessible design principles should become part of the design curriculum. There are also federal and state laws mandating accessibility.
Specific design goals, criteria and budgets for each year's design competition are formulated based on evolving results of RERC R1 (Needs Assessment) and R2 (Usability Analysis), and input from advisors and the D2.2 design committee.
Short proposals, addressed to Dr. Enderle, are required to enter the competition, which is announced in August of each year (e.g., see 2007-2008 Announcement, also available as pdf file). Once approved by the D2.2 design committee, funds are available to help the design team implement their project, typically up to $2000/project. See also the contest rules (also available as pdf file). Web-based project reports are required that are then judged by the D2.2 National Design Panel in June of each year. These final project reports must include a section that addresses universal and accessible design principles, and how features of the design address the needs of any targeted hypothetical clients. Students entering this competition are expected to use appropriate rehabilitation and disability terminology and to read available resources on accessible and universal design principles.
Note: the Year 5 competition is being closed off at the end of December 2007, with 25 teams participating, with each of the 3 categories having 5-10 entries.
Awards are made each June, based on reviews of the web pages by a collection of expert panelists, 3-4 panelists for each of the 3 competitions. This process is coordinated by Don Marlowe of the FDA. Each year the winning teams are announced at the RERC-AMI booth at the annual RESNA meeting in mid-to-late June. Here is a summary of past competitions:
Year 4 (2006-2007) (also, Projects as pdf, Results as pdf)
Year 5 (2007-2008) (also, Projects as pdf, Results as pdf)
For the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 competitions, RERC-AMI staff from various sites supervised summer students who prepared technical reports for each competition that summarize the approaches and innovative ideas that emerged from this process. These reports also make recommendations on how to proceed toward subsequent development or transfer. Based on this process, in addition to student awards, faculty supervisors and possibly students from winning projects that have special potential for technology transfer may be invited to participate in Phase II design development support, working with the RERC to help bring the prototype through the next stage of the development process.