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Table of Contents

1 Project Overview
2 Administrative Information
3 Team Documents
4 '''Project Background'''
5 '''Problem Statement'''
6 '''Senior Design II (Final Documents)'''
7 '''Detailed List of Prototype Cost'''
8 '''P08004 Poster'''
9 '''Final Paper & 2 Page Project Summary'''
10 ''' Assembly Manual'''
11 ''' Assembly Drawing and Custom Parts'''
12 '''Prototype Test Results'''
13 '''Senior Design I Documents'''
14 '''Presentations & Customer Documents'''
15 '''Drawings & Bill of Materials'''
16 Off The Shelf Parts
17 Other P08004 Documents

Project Overview

From Michigan State University Adapted Sports Festival

Athletes will benefit from the physical competition as well as their new ability to participate in a social sport.

The primary challenges of this project are:

Designing a system that can be used by individuals with a wide variety of disabilities
Designing a system that is portable and easily transferred from one athlete to the next

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Award No. BES-0527358.

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Administrative Information

Project Name: Adaptable Bocce Ball Launcher
Project Number: P08004
Project Family: Assistive Devices
Track: Assistive Devices and Bioengineering
Start Term: 2007-2
End Term: 2007-3
Faculty Guide: Dr. DeBartolo (ME)
Faculty Consultant: consultant name here (consultant dept here)
Graduate Teaching Assistant: none
Primary Customers: Laurie Kennedy, Regional Director; Julie Bell, Program Specialist; Robin Mitchell, Associate Director of Program
Customer contact information: Special Olympics New York (Genesee Region); lkennedy@nyso.org, 586-7400 x102; 1 Grove St., Suite 216; Pittsford, NY 14534

Team Documents

Project Background

A number of coaches and athletes in the Genesee Region of Special Olympics New York are interested in adding bocce to the selection of sports in which athletes compete. In order to compete, athletes must be able to throw out the pallina, and then roll the bocce balls onto the court. The current barrier to participation is that many athletes lack the strength and/or mobility to be able to throw or roll the balls used for bocce. The customer envisions a product that will be adaptable for athletes with a wide variety of sizes and abilities and usable on a variety of different bocce courts. The ideal device will provide assistance without removing elements of skill from the game that come with selective ball placement. Athletes will still be required to train for aim and proper launch speed/force. The device will make the game of bocce accessible to athletes participating in the Special Olympics, as well as casual participants.

Problem Statement

The fundamental problem for this project to solve, is to design a safe system that can be used by individuals with a wide variety of disabilities and be easily transferred from one athlete to the next and portability.

Objectives/Scope

1) Create a device that can be used for training local athletes to compete in Special Olympics bocce. 2) Create a device to make the game of bocce accessible to a wide range of participants. 3) Create an adapted bocce device that can easily be duplicated.