Developing and Donating Adaptive Devices for Those in Need

Program: FIRST Robotics Competition
Location: Carney’s Point, New Jersey, USA
 

Our team, Lunatecs, cares deeply about meeting unmet needs in our community. We use the skills we have learned through FIRST® to design, fabricate, and donate adaptive devices to improve the lives of physically challenged individuals and the organizations that serve them. The nonprofit we created, South Jersey Robotics, provides college students the opportunity to volunteer as Adaptive Device Project Leads who work directly with us on everything from project management and budgeting to engineering design and fabrication.

We designed, engineered, and donated Jump Assist, a device for a 5-year-old-boy with a congenital amputation who wanted to jump rope with his classmates. We also designed an adaptive volleyball launcher that helped a quadriplegic adult launch a volleyball into play at the Delaware Easter Seals’ annual fundraiser. Most recently, we developed a swim fin and designed a custom mold to form the fin into an adaptive device for veteran amputees wounded in battle and for spinal cord injury victims so they could scuba dive and be free from gravity’s confines. This project benefited the Adaptive Diving Association and was so successful, they asked to create a pediatric version, which we are working on now.

Build The Future Spotlight: Team Lunatecs

SJ Robotics