Project by: Olivia DeTraglia (10th through 11th Grade)
Project Advisor: Kelly O’Shea
Student(s)’s Advisor(s): Kelly O’Shea

Description of the Project: Over the summer (2019), I worked with a school for differently-abled students and spent some time in the classrooms and got to know the students and the ways that they struggled in a world that wasn’t built for them to thrive. While talking with the students, I learned that for some of them, something that seems so important and that I take for granted being able to do, is something they struggle with and some of them aren’t even able to do at all. Many of the students I met didn’t have the fine motor skills and/or the hand strength that would be necessary to grab a doorknob and turn it. Being able to open a door is something that is extremely important for one’s independence and it made me think about how changing that one thing could impact someone’s life so much. I began discussing with one student the way that we may be able to alter the doorknob so that they could actually turn it. I learned specifically for them, they were able to hold things of specific shapes, such as their phone. After I got to better know them and the specific reasons why turning a doorknob was difficult for them to operate, we decided that creating a door handle, which was something that they had been comfortable using, that would adapt and be able to attach to spherical doorknobs and turn them into the standard push down door handle would be the best method of allowing them to open doors independently. After that summer of working with those students and hearing about their stories, I decided to actually begin to design a prototype. I was also able to submit my design to the Cooper Design challenge and see what others think of it.

Final Product:

These are images of the final product:

Final Reflection on Learning: This project made me think about a lot of different things. I learned about the ways that this world isn’t built for people that don’t fit the expectation of “normal” and how because of it, these people are often overlooked and their struggles are ignored. I was able to work with students who had very different lives than I did, even though we were about the same age and enjoyed similar things. I learned about the ways that they struggled and they told me about how something that could be so easy to create would make a large impact on their lives. I took that knowledge from these students and I worked to create a design that may help improve one aspect of their lives. In order to do this, I first planned out my design on paper through some sketches. I then used an online CAD software called PTC Creo to create my initial prototype. After multiple attempts of designing the product, 3D-printing it, and testing it on doorknobs around me, I was able to create what is my current final product of this design. Finishing the design doesn’t mean the end for this project though, in the future I could patent and begin the actual production of the design so that people could actually use it in their everyday lives.

Update on Progress from End of Summer – First Trimester (2019) (include any photos or video if relevant):

At the beginning of this project, I spent most of the time planning out a design and creating the first product on CAD software. I also 3D-printed the first prototypes and began testing them out and noticing flaws. I then went back in and adapted the design so that it would be easier to use on doorknobs of different sizes. I also altered it so that it would take less effort to push onto the doorknobs and so that it would be easier to turn. After adding all of these changes to it I once again reprinted it and continued trying it out on different knobs. I used different materials as well to try and make the product better fit to different types of knobs and I continued to experiment with what worked best.

Update on Progress from End of First Trimester (2019) – Begining of Second Trimester (2020)  (include any photos or video if relevant):

The middle of this project was mainly focused on finalizing the design for the product. At this point, I had already been experimenting with the shape of the product and with the different textures that would best allow for the quickest and easiest ways of attachment. At this point, I had also started to think about how my product could actually be put back out into the world so that it could fulfill that initial purpose and reason that I began working on it in the first place. I brainstormed possibly patenting the design and began researching how to go about that. I wasn’t able to actually accomplish that, but during the process of researching, I did learn a lot about the process of actually patenting something and all that actually goes into it.

Update on Progress from End of Second Trimester – Now (include any photos or video if relevant):

At the end of the project, I now have a complete, final, printed version of my design. It isn’t completely ready yet for what would be considered mass production and distribution, because at this point I don’t yet have a patent, and the software I created it on doesn’t allow me to profit off of products designed on it (because it is the student version of the software). If I were to continue this project in the future, I think I would consider redesigning it on a different platform so that I would be able to transfer it and maybe begin producing it in some capacity. I would also focus on patenting the product and thinking about ways that I could distribute it that wouldn’t burden the people who are in need of it by requiring them to pay for it.