A University of Alberta student club has 3D printed and donated more than 100 assistive devices that make everyday tasks easier. Occupational therapy student Vianna Aiello founded the club, called Layer By Layer, earlier this year.
Aiello studies in the university’s Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine. Her first design was a tap extender for her grandmother, who uses a wheelchair. The kitchen and bathroom taps in her home were out of reach. Aiello visited, took measurements and worked through sketches and repeated prototypes.
“It was the first design I ever made, and it means the most to me because it made such a difference in her life,” said Aiello.
The club now counts 35 designs. Projects range from tap extenders to a basket that attaches to a child’s walker. With it, the child can carry toys while walking.
Aiello had no experience with 3D design or printing when she started. Leaving a study session at the university’s Sperber Library, she came across an assistive devices fair run by the Neil Squire Society, a Canadian nonprofit. A volunteer told her about a grant from the society’s Makers Making Change program to help students start a club. She used the money to buy a printer and filament. Library resources, online sessions, advice from her brother-in-law and plenty of experimentation got her going.
As the club grew, volunteers joined from occupational therapy, computing science and engineering. Design leads now help newer volunteers develop their ideas. Some devices start from designs shared in online maker communities. Others are designed from scratch around one person’s task and environment.
Occupational therapy training shapes what gets made. Students look at how a person, an activity and an environment interact before they design anything.
“An OT lens helps us personalize a device for a client’s specific needs and design it to get them back to participating in their occupations,” said Aiello.
One project came from MilkJar Candle Co., a Calgary company that employs people with disabilities. Aiello had done an undergraduate practicum there. Workers had to insert candle wicks into small clips, a task that demands fine motor control and grip strength. Aiello teamed up with Janapriya Prathap Gajalakshmi, a computing science student and the club’s co-vice president of design. Together they developed a printed tool that opens the clip slightly so the wick goes in more easily. Silicone finger pads on the tool protect the workers’ fingers.
Requests now arrive through personal connections, clinical placements, community events and a public online form. A volunteer follows up with each requester to understand the challenge. At a community event this month, Aiello met a woman whose arthritis made plastic drink bottles hard to open. She lived alone and had to wait for her caregiver to open them. The club can make her a bottle-opening aid that adds leverage, at no cost.
Aiello hopes to keep making affordable assistive devices alongside her future clinical work. Her other goal is to build the systems and student leadership that will keep Layer By Layer going after she graduates. The club is seeking funding through the Field Law Community Fund Program so it can take on more requests.
Source: University of Alberta
