Engineering Commons^™

Designing For Success: Developing Engineers Who Consider Universal Design Principles, Kimberly Edginton Bigelow

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Engineers must design for a diverse group of potential users of their products; however, engineering curricula rarely include an emphasis on universal design principles. This research article details the effectiveness of a design project implemented in a first-year engineering course in an effort to raise awareness of the need for engineers to be more inclusive when designing. Students were asked to apply universal design principles to redesign an engineering laboratory to make it more usable to all, including individuals with disabilities who use the room. A representative from the university’s disability services staff, as well as individuals with first-hand experience …

Estimation Of The Centre Of Mass From Motion Capture And Force Plate Recordings: A Study On The Elderly, Sebastien Cotton, Michele Vanoncini, Philippe Fraisse, Nacim Ramdani, Emel Demircan, Andrew P. Murray, Thierry Keller

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

The estimation of the centre of mass position in humans is usually based on biomechanical models developed from anthropometric tables. This method can potentially introduce errors in studies involving elderly people, since the ageing process is typically associated with a modification of the distribution of the body mass. In this paper, an alternative technique is proposed, and evaluated with an experimental study on 9 elderly volunteers. The technique is based on a virtual chain, identified from experimental data and locating the subject's centre of mass. Its configuration defines the location of the centre of mass, and is a function of …

Reflections Of College Students Promoting Engineering Through Biomechanical Outreach Activities Indicate Dual Benefits, Kimberly Edginton Bigelow

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Recent work by the National Academy of Engineering revealed that the public has a poor understanding of what engineers actually do on a day-to-day basis. This issue is compounded for non-traditional fields in engineering, such as biomechanical engineering. This is particularly problematic as such fields could draw interest from students not interested in traditional engineering careers, resulting in increased diversity.

To address this, mechanical engineering students taking an elective course, Biomechanical Engineering, were given an outreach assignment to teach at least one individual under the age of 18 about the field of biomechanical engineering through a hands-on activity. Students worked …