Untitled - Institute of Technical Education

Get A Grip!
Project Title
Arms & Finger Rehabilitation
Gadget
College
ITE College Central and
ITE College East
Members
Liang Zhenwei
Chan Zhuowen Wesley
Chee Shi Yang Gerald
Farhan Bin Kusine
Lim Si Yin
Muhammad Hasif Bin Mahmood
Getting a firm grip on things is probably an
insignificant action for most people, but for
recovering stroke patients or those plagued
with joint ailments, such as arthritis, it could
be painful.
To help such patients, a cross-College team of
students from ITE College East and ITE College
Central, developed a strength training device
equipped with the unique feature of providing
immediate feedback to the users on their
progress. Current rehabilitation machines used
in hospitals and nursing homes, do not have
this feature.
This battery-operated device also incorporates
two simple, interactive games – one using a
touch-screen and the other using two sensorequipped
stress balls. The touch-screen game
exercises the users’ reaction skills and eyehand
coordination, while the stress balls help
the users build the strength of their fingers.
Upon the completion of each task, the “score”
is flashed on a display panel and a pre-recorded
voice message advises the user on his results.
Team Leader, Liang Zhenwei, a Higher Nitec
in Mechanical Engineering student, shared,
“We took around five months to complete
the project – from brainstorming, to designing
the product, to fabricating the prototype and
troubleshooting.”
To make sure their brainchild was practical
and easy to use, the team invited a few senior
citizens to try out the prototype, and even
brought it to a hospital to get expert opinion
from the resident therapists there. The verdict?
“They all gave it the thumbs-up!” quipped a
delighted Zhenwei.
44 42