Note to Editors: To receive photos, please contact Mary Wymer at 205/348-6444 or mwymer@coe.eng.ua.edu.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – University of Alabama senior mechanical engineering students have designed and built ride-on toys for limited mobility children in the RISE Program. Besides giving the children toys to ride, the toys will provide these children with experience in driving electronic devices and help prepare them for electric wheelchairs sooner.

The toys will be delivered to the RISE Center at 11 a.m. on Nov. 18 by UA’s Capstone Design I class. Dr. Steve Shepard, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, teaches the class and said he picks projects that have meaning to the students. In addition, projects are chosen that make the students work for clients facing real-life issues.

When thinking of projects for his class, Shepard decided to contact the RISE Center to see if they had any particular needs, and a physical therapist noted that there are no commercially available toys for limited mobility children to ride. Since insurance coverage for electric wheelchairs often depends on the child's ability to demonstrate proper operation of a similar type device, the physical therapist saw a double use for such a toy.

“It is difficult to think that children with mobility problems do not have the chance to play with motorized vehicle toys because of the standard designs,” said Shepard. “The mechanical engineering students have worked toward a meaningful goal, not only for their experience but for the kids.”

The class divided into three-member teams to produce six toys for kids ranging from age 2 to 6. The toys are very similar in form to the Fisher-Price® Power Wheels® toys. Some of the teams bought Power Wheels toys and modified them to suit the needs of the project. The teams added electronic speed control, electronic steering and safety cut-off switches in the event an obstruction is hit.

“I learned a lot more than just mechanical engineering during this project,” explained Jeremy Bailey, on the design team called The Mobilizers. “Working for a client that has real-life design issues was very challenging.” Bailey is a senior from Jasper.

For more than 25 years UA’s RISE Program has helped prepare more than 2,300 children, both disabled and non-disabled, for public school classes. RISE holds accreditation from The National Association for the Education of Young Children; a prestigious recognition only achieved by 7 percent of early childhood programs nationwide.

The engineering students involved in the Capstone Design I class are:

• Jeremy Bailey from Jasper
• Derrick Bell from Montgomery
• Brad Boyer from Birmingham
• Archie Brown from Tuscumbia
• John Campbell from Muscle Shoals
• McGhee Caperton from Flat Rock
• Patrick Coleman from Cullman
• Buck Dingler from Anniston
• Jessie Hanvey from Eva
• Jeremy Hunter from Mobile
• Zack Magnusson from Ardmore
• Patrick Merry from Guin
• Bethany Mitchell from Northport
• Meredith Raybon from Maylene
• Grant Redding from Birmingham
• Tiffany Roden from Pisgah
• Sam Spreadbury from Stettler, Alberta, Canada
• Morgan Wilbanks from Athens

In 1837, The University of Alabama became the first university in the state to offer engineering classes and was one of the first five in the nation to do so. Today, the College of Engineering has about 1,900 students and more than 90 faculty. It has been fully accredited since accreditation standards were implemented in the 1930s.