Creative Dad CompanyCreative Dad Company
EngineeringScience

Biomedical Assistive Design

Log in to save
Grades 9-122-3 hoursSource: Creative Dad Company

Teens design and build a simple, non-diagnostic assistive device—like a jar-opener grip or a page-turner—around one real user's specific physical needs, testing it with that person until it actually works for them. It's user-centered engineering with a very personal payoff.

Choose your version

Every level teaches the same core idea — pick the one that fits your time, budget, and energy today.

Prep: 10 minActivity: 30 min1 session~$2/groupOne table for the Biomedical Assistive Design evidence and prototypeBeginner-friendly

Setup

Print or handwrite the four Biomedical Assistive Design challenge steps and place common paper supplies on one table. Prepare one small sample, dataset, scenario, or recycled-material model drawn directly from the project description; no device, paid tool, room decoration, or purchased kit is required.

Activity

  1. Read the Biomedical Assistive Design challenge aloud, then interview a real user about a specific daily task that's hard for them and predict what shape or mechanism might help.
  2. Use paper, index cards, recycled objects, or facilitator-provided sample data to build a first prototype of the assistive device sized to that person's actual hands or needs.
  3. Run one tabletop trial and have the user test it and discover it's too stiff, the wrong size, or awkward to grip, then rebuild based on their feedback.
  4. Finish by deliver the finished device to the user and record their honest reaction using it for the real task; record the evidence that supports the decision.

Done when: The group completes a defensible Biomedical Assistive Design solution, records at least one test result or comparison, changes one claim or design in response, and supports its final decision with that evidence.

Materials

foam grip tubing, wooden dowels, velcro straps, hot glue, cardboard

Shown for the Quick Start version — switch tabs above to see what changes.

Disclosure: Materials links below go to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, Creative Dad Company earns from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

Steps

  1. Interview a real user about a specific daily task that's hard for them and predict what shape or mechanism might help.
  2. Build a first prototype of the assistive device sized to that person's actual hands or needs.
  3. Have the user test it and discover it's too stiff, the wrong size, or awkward to grip, then rebuild based on their feedback.
  4. Deliver the finished device to the user and record their honest reaction using it for the real task.