uOttawa students engineer foot-controlled TV converter for man with … – Ottawa Citizen

For Ottawas Jorge de Almeida, watching television can be an exercise in frustration particularly when he wants to change the channel.

Almeida lives with cerebral palsy and controls both his wheelchair and his TV remote with his left foot. But it can take five minutes or more to manipulate the remote control with his toes and find his favourite shows: CSIand the evening news.

So he beamed Wednesday when University of Ottawa engineers unveiled a new TV remote they designed and built for him using the schools 3D printer. Its a mountable unit, the size of a textbook, with six large buttons that Almeida can easily control with his foot.

Great work, Almeida announced after testing the device. (He communicates with a chair-mounted keypad that he also controls with his left foot.)

The TV remote was one of more than 100 engineering solutions on display Wednesday at the universitys second annual Design Day showcase. The event is the brainchild of uOttawa professor Hanan Anis, who holds a national research chair in engineering design.

Anis said the design competition is part of the universitys drive to ensure that its engineers graduate with the ability to create and deliver useful products.

Employers want students who are ready for the marketplace, said Anis, a former Nortel engineer with doctorates in both electrical and computer engineering. Theability to speak to a customer, understand their needs and see the product development process all the way from discussion to delivery is something thats extremely useful.

The facultys second-year students tackled 16 real-life accessibility problems for Design Day.

Their projects included a smart park app that allows people with disabilities to reserve designated parking spaces in advance of a trip; a fire alarm bracelet for the hearing impaired that vibrates in an emergency; and a smart watch app that alerts caregivers when its wearer suffers a fall.Engineers also designed a waterproof hearing aid, a hands-free cafeteria tray and all-terrain crutches safe enough for Ottawa winters.

Harjot Chahal, 18, was one of five students who met with Almeida in February to understand the issues he had with his TV remote.

He was using a basic Rogers Cable TV remote taped to the side of a table and he was kicking it with his toe, said Chahal. Try to imagine it: the buttons were so small, it was crazy. We tried it; we couldnt do it.

Almeidas straightforward request was to build him a remote big enough to operate with his foot.

So Chahal and his classmates Matt Ignaczak, Samir Naik, Prashanth Sivoththaman and Abdalla Osman brainstormed possible design solutions. They met twice a week, and came up with a cardboard prototype that they took to Almeida, who works part-time at ComputerWise, an Ottawa social enterprise. Heselected the button sizes and shapes, and approved the final design.

The engineering team used the universitys 3D printer to make parts for the device, which features six buttons that control the power, volume and channels. Its mounted on an adjustable frame and connects to a table with large C-clamps. The unit cost about $200 to make.

Chahal said it was immensely rewarding to present Almedia with their solution Wednesday. It feels like weve accomplished something, he said.

Naik said the engineering team had to overcome a number of obstacles, including limitations with the 3D printer that required them to make the unit in six separate pieces. The team assembled the remote Tuesday night.

Its one thing to plan it; its another thing to see it all come together, Naik, 20, said.Im just glad Jorge can now watch TV without so much hassle.

The TV remote project won third place overall on Design Day, and first place in the accessible designs category.

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uOttawa students engineer foot-controlled TV converter for man with ... - Ottawa Citizen