Challenge:  Surf Transfer
Challenger:  Rosemary Salak, Army Veteran, and above-the-knee amputee
University Partner:  Colorado School of Mines
Student Team:  Antonio Belmonte,  Brittany Hesson,  Morgan Marmarelli,
and, Zack Reinecke.
Faculty Advisors:  Dr. Greg Kremer,  Dr. Timothy Cyders, and Cody Pettit
QL+ Program Manager:  Amber Humphrey

Project Summary:

The goal is to make an assistive device for an above-the-knee amputee, so that she can move from the sand to the ocean and then back to the sand as independently as possible.

Our Challenger, Rosemary loves visiting the beach with her friends but is tired of damaging her prosthetic.  A typical beach day for her begins by taking all of her personal items out of her car, finding a place on the beach to settle down for the day, she then removes her prosthetic and runs into the problem of how she will get to the water.  She solely relies on help from her friends in order to maneuver the beach day; she has even tried to use a lawn chair as a crutch!

We were able to complete a few different experiments in order to analyze and gain information.  First, we tried different shapes and sized to represent the foot.  With that being said, we built a wooden crutch, more like a peg leg, to test the foot that we chose and to put ourselves in Rosemary’s shoe.  With this idea, we kept the ball rolling and decided to design an aluminum platform for an actual crutch.  We made different types of “holders” for Rosemary’s residual limb and sent the experiment to her.  Unfortunately, it was not what we expected, but we did receive a great amount of information from this test.  With these results, it became clear that a prosthetic socket needs to be used.

Working with Kiczek Prosthetics, we were able to create a prototype to send to Rosemary.  Unfortunately, COVID-19 did not allow us to come back to school and we needed to finish the project remotely.  The Kiczek’s were more than happy to work with us through this tough time and deliver a new and improved socket.  Once that was completed, Brittany was able to put together the pieces and mail the leg to Rosemary, where she will attach the base adapter and foot

Challenge:  Transfer Step
Challenger:  Jeffery Dolezal, US Air Force Veteran
University Partner:  Ohio University
Student Team: Kenneth Bement, Trevor Fields, Nathan Schollaert, and, Kasey Somers
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Greg Kremer
QL+ Program Manager: Amber Humphrey

Project Summary:

Our Challenger is an Air Force Veteran who retired in 1980 due to a spinal cord injury. He has short legs and uses a make-shift transfer step to off-set his short legs as he transfers in and out of his van, and in and out of bed, etc. He is a T3 complete paraplegic and uses a wheelchair for his mobility.

This project was given to the group to design a more efficient and ergonomic transfer step for the challenger to get in and out of their wheelchair. The challenger previously used bent sheet metal and thick phonebooks as ways for him to put his feet on and use as a leverage point to get into another chair and vice versa. Our new design for the challenger includes the ability to change the height of the transfer step for when transfers may require a higher or lower leverage point. Rubber caps on the bottom of the new transfer surfaces allow for grip on all surfaces.

One major requirement was that the new design could fit in small suitcases for travel. The new design is able to fold in a compact manner allowing it to fit in small suitcases and backpacks for stress-free travel. This video provides some of the steps taken in designing the transfer step and testing of multiple designs.

We hope you enjoyed watching as much as we did helping Jeffery!

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