The challenge
For the Intercollegiate Assistive Technology Hackathon, my team and I co-designed a custom switch holder for Hamza, a video game enthusiast with specific mobility needs. We worked closely with him to understand his anatomy, preferences, and goals, then developed a stable, adjustable, and budget-friendly solution that supports his switches at a comfortable angle in bed.
Our design: a longboard with Velcro on one side and a personalized graphic with Hamza's name on the other. Four adjustable panels attach to the Velcro, each with additional Velcro to secure the switches — letting Hamza play his favourite PlayStation games with his feet.
My contribution
I contributed to brainstorming, prototyping, and fabricating the final design — a Velcro-based board with customizable panels — while staying within a $100 budget. It was a meaningful experience applying engineering to improve real lives.
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