As participants in the TU organization Make a Difference Engineering (MADE at TU), a group of mechanical engineering seniors built and designed a device for special needs children at Tulsa’s Kendall-Whittier Elementary. Nicknamed the “steamroller,” the three-piece set of children’s play equipment was developed as the students’ senior capstone project in the TU mechanical engineering program.
TU students began meeting with teachers and staff in the fall of 2018 to determine the greatest needs for children with physical and emotional challenges at Kendall-Whittier. Once a concept was approved, students spent months designing a prototype and building the final project for delivery. The steamroller is a device that applies deep-pressure therapy useful for children on the autism spectrum, among others. The project is combined with a climbing wall and slide and engineered to fit the limited space available in Kendall-Whittier’s special needs facilities.
The group of mechanical engineering seniors included team leader Rizka Aprilia along with Ahmed Al-Alawi, Almuqdam Al-Mawali, Ahmad Amsalam, Zach Freistadt, Hafsa Khan, Jacob Waller and Cong Xie.
